Cooling down a tank.

[Andrew G]

My tank is located in the coolest spot in the house, however, the increased temperatures outside have caused the tank to rise to over 85 degrees. I know that's not to good for my goldies.

What can be done to lower the temp?

Thanks

 

[mm_simb]

Put a bottle of water in the freezer and let it freeze. Take it out and make sure it has the top on nice and secure and float it in the tank. I would keep a few of these bottles in the freezer so you can rotate
Or you can just put bags of ice floating on there...but I think the bottle of water would be better.

 

[Bignose]

Another old trick is to open the hood and run a fan over the top. The evaporation will cool the tank. If further cooling is needed, wrap the tank in wet towels. The fan will evaporate water from the towels, again cooling the tank.

I am normally hesitant to endorse the ice in the tank solution as the temperature gradient is very high between the ice (32 F) and the tank (85 F in this case) and we all know how much steep changes in temp can be detrimental to the fish's health. If you must use ice, keep it moving around and make sure the water circulates so that no one part of the tank has too great a drop in temperature. Sometimes people suggest putting the ice in the filter, but I think that the temp change in that case may shock your bacteria possibly causing a mini-cycle as well.

If it becomes a chronic problem, you may want to look into a chiller. Purchasing one from your LFS is probably going to be expensive, but a simple DIY one should not be too bad.

 

[Fish Buddy]

Yes I know your problem...
Today and yesterday my tanks ranged from 80-84*. I turned off the lights in the tanks with out plants to help curb the heat build-up. At 9pm today I left to go to the movie theater and when I got back 12pm, 11 fish were dead in my 15 gallon-5 costello tetras and 6 kerri tetras (man am I sad to say the least) and the enperor tetras and neza swords look like they will be next.

I did a water change but I believe I should get out the ice...