Reference thermometer...anyone use one?

[mrjbacon]

Most of the el cheapo aquarium thermometers have so much variance that I find myself wondering what the temperature actually is in the tank. For example on my two 10g apisto tanks I have a cheap glass and a digital that are in opposite corners of each tank and the temperature variance is like ~3 degrees F from the highest to the lowest.

If spawning is tied so closely to swings in temperature, how do all of you ensure that you're getting the temperature that you want in your tanks?

 

[Norman Fenske]

Never thought much about that but thinking about it the closer the thermometer is to the heater the higher the temp the farther away the cooler the reading. Whether its right or wrong I try on some of the tanks to bury the heater on the bottom my thoughts are that I may get a more even reading then if I have it in a corner on my larger tanks I use 2 heaters one in each corner. Just my thoughts?

 

[gerald]

A bottom thermometer with its base under the sand can be several degrees cooler than the water above if the room is much cooler than the heated tank water, since there's not much water movement in the substrate. I use floating or hanging ones (away from the heater) that a give a better estimate of temps that the fish are exposed to.

 

[Mike Wise]

My fish room is heated, not the tanks, so lower tanks are a bit cooler and the upper tanks are a bit warmer. If you're 1 - 2° F /1° C off it really doesn't matter much. When I want a cheap thermometer, I go to a pet store and compare all of the thermometers on a hook. They will vary somewhat. I choose the one that shows the average of the group. This is the one most likely to be most accurate. If one is far off from the others, then I ignore that one.

 

[mrjbacon]

Nice tip Mike, never thought to look at the other ones and average them.

 

[allentwnguy]

Like Mike I heat the fish room not the tanks. I do use heaters in tanks where the fish require higher temp water like the wood cats (80*). The main use I have for the thermometer (cheap laser) is to match temps for water changes. It doesn't matter how off the thermometer is as long as I get a close match in both waters. Streams and river temps fluctuate with the rains so if the tank fluctuates a little it's ok with me. I do monitor temps when fry come out to keep temps on the low side to push for more females. I've never had the need to "tweak" water temps to get apisto's to spawn. I think feeding good food for the female to have the energy to lay eggs has more to do with my apistos spawning.