Ah! Temperature Changes!

[cjpf]

Hey guys! I really need some advice. I have a 55 G tank and unfortunately theres no air conditioner in my room. Yesterday I woke up and the temperature was at 88 degrees (F)! SO I spent the day putting cold water bottles and such. Last night I decided I would get a Portable AC for my room, to help with the fish temperature, but I dont keep it on constantly because I dont want to end up paying hundreds of dollars in electric. haha. Anyway, I'm starting to feel that the changes of temperature in the aquarium are stressing out my fish. a felmale swordtail i have didnt come out to eat last night or this morning. What should I do? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

turn heater down?

 

[nessar]

You can get chillers for aquariums to keep the temp down, google it, they are expensive but will likely cost a lot less to run than using air conditioning to cool down the entire room.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

turning the heater down won't do anything because it won't come on when the water temp is higher than it is set at anyway

 

[cjpf]

Thanks, yeah, the heater doesn't come on at all. I will look into the aquarium chillers, but do you think that the temperature fluctuation is terribly bad as in i have to get a chiller right away? or do you think is not tooooooo urgent? I don't want any to die while I figure out the situation.

 

[nessar]

IMO drastic temp changes are worse than being at a slightly wrong temp, although of course 30 degrees is more than a little wrong.

I would advise setting the air conditioner to keep the room at about 26 or 27 degrees, its not a huge amount to bring it down by so the air conditioner wont be on all the time I imagine (never been to Pennsylvania so no idea what the temp is like throughout the day there) but it will keep the tank at a safe temp. Keep all electrical equipment in the room (computers, lights, tvs etc) off as much as possible, as they all chuck out heat, and keep the aquarium lights off too as much as possible, which of course depends on your plants. In the meantime get yourself a chiller asap so you dont spend loads of electric with the air conditioner.

edit: also keep your curtains closed if the sun comes in your window.

 

[cjpf]

Thank you for your reply. Yeah. I have kept the blinds closed and set the air for 26 degree. Thank you so much. Do you think the behavior of the swordtail can have anything to do with the temperature changes? she doesn't seem to have anything else visible. Though, she's been hiding behind rocks at the bottom of the tank since yesterday.

 

[drtmima]

Hi, I'm in no way an expert but I also have problems with very high room temperatures & running a/c all day is cost prohibitive, and my plants need light. I found that by opening the top of the aquarium & buying 2-3 small desk fans which can clip on to the top of the aquarium the water cools somewhat (mine is a 600L). Not sure if this is electrically the safest option but the fan & plugs are far enough away from the water (I lowered my water level slightly) and it helped my fish calm down- some were acting quite aggressive & others lethargic in the heat.
Good luck

 

[cjpf]

Wow, that sounds like a great option! I will have to give it a try. Luckily the past two days the temperature has gone down, so I haven't suffered much about it. I thought about leaving the covers up, but I was afraid the fish would jump out. Had you had that happened?

 

[fluttermoth]

You could always freeze, or chill, some water in old pop/soda bottles and stand those in the tank to cool the water somewhat.

 

[DJH584]

Bear in mind that with higher temperature water you will also have less oxygen in the water column.
Do you have an airstone in there to help agitate the surface of the water?

David

 

[cjpf]

I did the bottle with cold water. Well actually I used a zip lock bag because I didn't have bottles laying around lol the issue was that I had to use several because of the size of the tank. And as far as air bubbles, yes. I have an 18 inch air stone bar and and 12" air stone bar in the tank. They are on oposite sides of the tank!. Do you think I should add more bubbles? Keeping in mind that the tank is almost at fish capacity