How cold is cold?

[Snausy]

Hello, I have a question regarding temperature. I moved my fish into a big new 300 gallon tank but it's in the attatched garage for testing and and it's a bit cooler out there.

Waiting on a new heater and pumps the tank went to 68-69 degrees for about a week straight. Now lower than 68. I've got it sorted out now and it's up to 74 degrees but I was wondering if the fish can be harmed or is it terribly bad for them to be at 69 degrees for so long?

Everything seems fine but I guess I've never considered the lower limits of a healthy tank's temperature before and wanted to know. O2 obviously insn't a problem.

How low does it have to be before it's a problem for your FOWLR tank?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[sandwi54]

for typical tropical water fishes, 70 is pretty much the lowest you want to go. i would recommend that you raise it SLOWLY asap (no more than 2 degrees per day).

it's surprisingly costly to heat a 300g to 77-78 degrees in the winter. my electricity bill would be $80 more in the winter months just from the additional electricity needed to heat my 225g.

 

[jhentr]

IMO it should be fine. My tank that's in my garage is around 68 in the winter (no heater) with no issues to my fishes.