Cooling Down Tanks

[Brandi.]

I currently have a 14-gallon, 20-gallon and 55-gallon tank in my living room. With the warmer weather, the temperatures in my tanks seem to be getting a little high {towards 80 in each tank, a little higher in the 20-gallon}. The fish seem to be doing okay, for now, but I don't want to overheat and kill them. Currently, all the heaters are turned off and unplugged. The tanks are too dark during the day to keep the lights off... Any suggestions on how to cool them?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Most tropical fish should be able to handle 80F.

There are a few things you can do to help keep tank temps down if its gets hotter.
- Rasing the lights up off the glass lid wil reduce the amount of heat they put into the tnk and still get light in for viewing.
- Setting up a fan to blow across the fronts of the tanks and/or the tops (monitor for water evaporation).

One way to do emergency cooling is with ice. This can be done one of two ways. One is to put ice into bags that prevent it from getting into the tank water. Use any ice until it melts by floating the bag(s) in tanks to get the desired temp drop. The other is to remove tank water into a a plastic tub that holds one or two cups replace it with dechlored water in the tank. Put this into the freezer and when its solid you have an ice berg that goes right into the tank. You can have multiple containers so there is always another frozen one available.

I wont even get into a chiller for tanks as that gets very pricey.

 

[raptorrex]

Most tropical fish should be able to handle 80F.

There are a few things you can do to help keep tank temps down if its gets hotter.
- Rasing the lights up off the glass lid wil reduce the amount of heat they put into the tnk and still get light in for viewing.
- Setting up a fan to blow across the fronts of the tanks and/or the tops (monitor for water evaporation).

One way to do emergency cooling is with ice. This can be done one of two ways. One is to put ice into bags that prevent it from getting into the tank water. Use any ice until it melts by floating the bag(s) in tanks to get the desired temp drop. The other is to remove tank water into a a plastic tub that holds one or two cups replace it with dechlored water in the tank. Put this into the freezer and when its solid you have an ice berg that goes right into the tank. You can have multiple containers so there is always another frozen one available.

I wont even get into a chiller for tanks as that gets very pricey.

I doubt this could have been explained better

personally i like the "fan over top" method. (but all options work well) as twotank says though, keep an eye on evaporation. if you get it right, you lose lots of water.

 

[Brandi.]

Thank you!! I put some ice packs in the 20 gallon yesterday, because it was up to 84! It's supposed to be high 90s today, so we are putting in the swamp cooler, so hopefully that helps keep the temps down.

 

[holidayinn]

Similar idea, freeze a big bottle of water and let it defrost in the tank.

 

[Brandi.]

What is the highest my tanks should get before I start to worry?? The two smaller ones were getting up to 84 and 82. Did get them down, but it seems like I have to constantly keep ice in there...

 

[This Old Spouse]

Honestly, I'd reduce the amount of time the lights are on during the day. My house is dark as well during the day, but I still keep the lights off between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

 

[fluttermoth]

Yes; fish don't need lights, that's just for plants and the plants can live with just a few hours light until the weather cools down.

 

[This Old Spouse]

And here I am trying to warm mine up!

 

[fluttermoth]

Isn't it always the way?! There's always someone trying to get rid of the thing you want, or wanting the thing you can't wait to be rid of! So all those girls with straight hair are out there buying curling tongs, and all the curly haired girls are buying hair straighteners! I live in a really, really soft water area, perfect for discus and tetras, and what does my mum decide to keep? Lake Malawi cichlids

 

[Brandi.]

LOL @ This Old Spouse! I will definitely trade you!

Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone. We put the swamp cooler in, finally, and it seems to be doing okay. The tank we were having the most trouble with doesn't have the lights on at all. In fact, we had to unplug it to put up the bubble curtain... I did a water change, put ice in there, and I also have a fan blowing at night to keep it cooled down. Unfortuantely, we now have other problems in that tank due to the high temps, but oh, well. Just keep us all in your thoughts and hope it gets back to normal soon.