JAMarlow Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 I'm six months into the fun of a shrimp tank. The setup is a 5 gallon nano tank with Bloody Mary Neocaridina shrimp, lots of plants, pond snails, a nerite snail, and two Amano shrimp. After all the talk in a previous forum post about heater disasters, I'm now looking sideways at 25 watt Penn Plax adjustable heater (rated for up to a 5 gallon tank) I have in one corner set at 73 degrees. Half the year I live on the desert, so the days can heat up and the nights really cool down. While the tank is inside, the temperature in the house also fluctuates. I've been testing the water and have noticed that if I turn the heater off the temperature will hover around 74 to 75 degrees during the day, but drop to 68 to 70 degrees at night. The tank doesn't have much volume of water, hence the temperature swings that a larger tank might not have. Is this too much of a temperature swing for the Bloody Mary shrimp or will it stress them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyzazz Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 That's a pretty decent temp swing, I'd look to find some way to keep those swings down a bit. A larger tank volume is probably your best bet. I'm not a fan of heaters, but if you must, then give it a shot. Just be prepared for it to fail at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madcrafted Posted July 17, 2018 Report Share Posted July 17, 2018 A small fan blowing over the water surface can bring your peak temperature down a few degrees. The trade off is more evaporation. You'd probably be ok just running it along with your light cycle since fixtures tend to heat water up a few degrees. I'm not a fan of heaters on a shrimp tank either. Shrimp do better in cooler water anyways. While they grow and breed faster in warm water, they are also more susceptible to bacterial infections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMarlow Posted July 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2018 Thanks for the comments! The space I have for an aquarium is very small. The 5-gallon is really all that will fit there. A fan won't work because of space issue, as well. The LED light doesn't put out any heat, so no help there. So, looks like I'll just keep the heater in there set to keep the temperature from dropping too low to try to keep the temperature from ranging to far up and down. I just adjusted it to turn on when it hits 70 degrees. I have 3 berried females (out of 9 adults, with 3 teenagers that I still can't sex yet) so they must not be totally unhappy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tibee Inc Posted July 20, 2018 Report Share Posted July 20, 2018 Hey, if they're breeding then I'd leave the heater out of that equation. Totally, I agree w/the others about the temp swing. However, if you can keep it under 10 degrees then no worries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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