summer heat problems

[j-man the skater-man]

i live in the south and now that its summer it is averaging about 85-90 degrees and i noticed my tanks heat started to climb so i cut the heater off to see what it would do and it stayed around 84!

the tank is in my room on a wall that is close to a window (its about 1 foot away) and i dont think this is affecting the temp as much as the family leaving the windows open all the time so does anyone have a simple solution??? please help

p.s. i dont think that my parents are to willing to close the windows and turn on the ac just for a few fish

[Fishfirst]

well you can freeze ice cubes of dechlorinated water and add them throughout the day, but that is hard time consuming, and not very accurate. A chiller works well, but thats expensive. Maybe something as simple as a fan blowing over the water may cool it a few degrees.

[fishfreaks]

Originally Posted by Fishfirst

well you can freeze ice cubes of dechlorinated water and add them throughout the day, but that is hard time consuming, and not very accurate. A chiller works well, but thats expensive. Maybe something as simple as a fan blowing over the water may cool it a few degrees.

what he said ive seen these little fans at my lfs that attach to the sides of your tank and blow over the water.

[fishboy]

I have to keep a goldfish tank in 95 degree weather! Lucky though my room has ac...most of the time

[fishfreaks]

yup i know it sucks, luckily for me as soon as its 80 that ac goes on, as the so can't sweat. i found this article http://aquarticles.com/articles/mana...s_Chiller.html check it out, it should help you.

[TheOldSalt]

Blowing a fan across the surface of the water will cool it down a little bit, but you'll have to remember to add new water every day to make up for what evaporates. That's not so bad, really, since you can make sure the new water is a few degrees cooler.
The ice cube trick works pretty good, too, but it'll take some practice until you learn how much ice to add and how often.

[mrmoby]

I'd go with the fan too, though I would take it one step furhter. If your tank is near the window, try to use the fan at nite to dran in cooler nite time outside air. It will be more effective in bringin the temp down, which in turn, should increase the amount of time it needs to heat in the day.

[Gracie6363]

with using the fan and dealing with evaporation... I would do more frequant water changes rather than just adding new water. If your water has hardness to it then those minerals don't evaporate only the water does. I have had my AC on for like 2 months, mostly due to my fish tanks! But I hate a hot house anyhow. Good luck

[fish_doc]

A simple thing that will help keep the temp from rising is keep the lights out. In fact you may want to remove the hood alltogether and use the egg crate panels for flourcent lighting fixtures as a hood to keep larger fish from jumping out.
One thing to keep in mind is that during higher temps things like ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are more toxic. So more frequent water changes are more necessary anyway.

[fish_doc]

One more thing. The oxygen level decreases in higher temps, so you may want to add a extra airstone or create more surface movement. This is another place where the fan will help out.

[j-man the skater-man]

we turned the ac on and the tank is staying around 79-80 degrees exsept for around noon when it heats up a degree or 2 and i think that turning my heater down to the lowest setting it has may have fixed that but even if it stays around 79-82 it should be ok as long as its not a drastic change right? ( if it maters i have corys,neons, and plan to add gorimia and cherry shrimp)

[fishfreaks]

yup, as long as there is not a dramatic change in temp. you should be fine.

[fish_doc]

Drastic changes are hard on fish no matter what the changes are. Do what you can to keep the changes small and slow and there should be no problem

[mrmoby]

I shouldn't think a fluctuation of a few degrees over the course of the day should be too harsh, after all, water temp in natural settings will vary some as the sun heats the water in the day, and then some radiates off during the night.

[j-man the skater-man]

thanks for all the help and jsut to let you all know the hottest its reached is 82 at around noon then it slowly drops to 79 around 5 o'clock

[sumpthinfishy]

You can also add the gel filled ice packs. They won't release extra water in the tank and you don't have to worry about dechlor. I've done that on really hot days when we don't run the a/c. Just keep an eye on it until you see how many and how cool it gets the water.

[euRasian32]

Originally Posted by mrmoby

I shouldn't think a fluctuation of a few degrees over the course of the day should be too harsh, after all, water temp in natural settings will vary some as the sun heats the water in the day, and then some radiates off during the night.

Plus the surface water will be warmer than the water flowing on the bottom.