Does Anyone Turn The Heater Off For The Night?

[jimscott]

I've got essentially a terrarium in a fishtank, with mostly tropical sundews and most of them are Petiolaris Complex. The temperature tops out at about 95 F / 35 C. Room temp is about 73 F / 23 C. Would it be a good idea or not to turn off the submercible heater for the night as I do the fluorescent lighting, so as to mimic day/night temperature differential?

 

[sherkas]

I think it is. I dont think the plants will suffer from a small drop in temp, but the energy you would save would be worthwhile. It also would mimic a real environment which is always awesome.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

What is the temperature at night where petiolaris Drosera live? I think that would be the question to answer to decide if you should shut the heat off at night.

 

[jimscott]

I don't know exactly their distribution other than being in Australia. So I googled it and that just confirmed the obvious: "Petiolaris Complex: A group of tropical Australian species which live in constantly warm but irregularly wet conditions."

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Sorry I don't know much more myself other than they love heat. I don't grow them personally. Maybe ask in the Drosera area if any other growers have personal experience with various night temperatures. You can probably get away with a bit of a drop at night but how much energy will you save not heating the water at night if it has to run for a prolonged time period in the morning to reheat the jar?

 

[Brokken]

They'll be fine if the temperature drops slightly. I keep mine outside in a heated terrarium that goes quite low at night.

 

[Not a Number]

Find the species in question, and approximate the recorded locations on the maps for the climate averages in the regions:

http://florabase.calm.wa.gov.au/search/quick?q=drosera

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/index.shtml
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/map/temperature/IDCJCM0005_temperature.shtml

You can form an idea of what the day/night temperature differences are like etc.

 

[klasac]

Hello

I grow D. kenneallyi 'clump form' and D. paradoxa D. petiolaris in my humid hot aquarium and I do turn off the heater for the night. It goes off at the same time as the light does. Thus during the day there is 35C in the tank and at night it drops down to RT which in my case is usually 20-23C. I think the plants love night temp drop they grow very fast and propagate too Never tried not turning the tank heater off so cant really provide any experimental comparison to constant temps 24/7.

 

[jimscott]

Hello

I grow D. kenneallyi 'clump form' and D. paradoxa D. petiolaris in my humid hot aquarium and I do turn off the heater for the night. It goes off at the same time as the light does. Thus during the day there is 35C in the tank and at night it drops down to RT which in my case is usually 20-23C. I think the plants love night temp drop they grow very fast and propagate too Never tried not turning the tank heater off so cant really provide any experimental comparison to constant temps 24/7.

That's essentially the same temp differential I have. Scared myself the first night, though. The pilot light is either out or blocked or otherwise no longer visible and it took many hours to perceive the temp being warm again. But when I came back from work the tank was warm. I still don't trust that heater! May have to get a replacement.

 

[kruegersc4]

I bought a thermostat that lowers the temperature in my greenhouse at night, but that is not a growroom or lowland.

 

[jimscott]

Hello

I grow D. kenneallyi 'clump form' and D. paradoxa D. petiolaris in my humid hot aquarium and I do turn off the heater for the night. It goes off at the same time as the light does. Thus during the day there is 35C in the tank and at night it drops down to RT which in my case is usually 20-23C. I think the plants love night temp drop they grow very fast and propagate too Never tried not turning the tank heater off so cant really provide any experimental comparison to constant temps 24/7.

Thanks for providing those links!!!! I love statistics! Mind you, my water temp is 95 F, but the air is probably in the 80's. At night they are likely to be in the low to mid 70's when I turn off the heater. I think that as long as I do this consistently and give them time to acclimate, all will be well.