Plecos require heat. Winter’s on its way and our house will not stay warm enough to keep the pleco alive without heat. I’ve added a 100 watt heater but as the tank feeds the plant wall which cools the water, I don’t think the 100 watt heater’s going to be enough. I may have to buy a bigger one. We’ll see how it goes.
And now Wadly’s glaring at me because I have an aquarium and he doesn’t. Maybe I’ll gift him the aquarium as long as it stays in situ feeding my plant wall. He can fuss over it, add things (no plants, but more fish and/or decorative stuff). I’ll continue to feed the fish and top it up with water as needed. That might work.
I haven’t got the ideal configuration of pump and heater yet. The water running through the plant wall provides plenty of oxygenation. I need to get the two appliances in the right place in the tank to do the most efficient job. The pleco’s saying he’s still cold.
I think I need the heater at one end and the pump at the other. I probably need to crank the heater up a bit more as well. I’ll keep messing with this until I get it working. I’ll get a bit longer pump tubing and move the pump to the other end of the tank. Then I can position the heater under the plant wall drain. We’ll see what that works.
I’m going to pick up a screen for the pump inlet. If I do it now I won’t end up losing a fish or a snail (assuming I haven’t already lost the snail) to the inner workings of the pump.