Temperature is probably the most under-estimated part of the scheme. All I
hear people talk about is watts per gallon, substrates, etc. Temperature is
often over-looked!

If you want to be half way serious about keeping plants... I would
personally suggest trying to identify the plants you have. I do this with
my tanks, and I then list the optimal temperature for each species. I then
set my temperature for the "middle of the road". I have the luxury of
having my tanks in our finished basement, which is cool (even in the
summer). My temperature stays very constant. I keep my tank at 75 degrees,
which is within the optimal range for all of my plants. Even 78 degrees can
be slightly high for a lot of the plants people seem to keep. There are a
lot of fast growing "easy care" plants that'll simply start to "melt" away
once higher temperatures are reached. I had a 29 gal. tank when I lived in
a trailer. Even with air conditioning, the water temperature would often
hit 82+ degrees. Very hard to keep plants in this situation.

Basically... I wouldn't think you need a heater. Really depends on the
plants you have, their specific temp. range, and whether or not you really
want to obtain optimal growth (which I suspect most people do).

--
Craig Brye
University of Phoenix Online

"Sam" wrote in message
om...

I have a 30 g long tank that has 1-2 wpg light and a yeast bottle that
feeds into the macerator of the waterfall filter. I have one large angel
and
one ditch minnow. See image under same subject at
alt.binaries.pictures.gardens (if it ever shows up).

I also have about 30 small plants that, while they are growing, they
are
growing slowly. By that I mean one leaf every 6-12 months. I suspect it
may
be a combination of lights and temp. My A/C keeps the tank at about 78f.

Do I need a heater?

--
Sam-I-Am
Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you
plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson