Cooling Tank

[gazza1202]

hi i am new to this forum and fairly new to owning fish 
 
i have recently brought a tropical tank and after having it all set up and fish placed into it i have no noticed that the temperature is 86 degrees farenhight ive tried everything i can think of to get it down to 80 but it wont drop can anyone advice me on what they think i can do to fix this problem
 
thank you

 

[BettaBettas]

I just thought of this, probably not a good idea but drop an ice cube into the tank? lol I know chillers cost up to 1000$ (u.s.a) so its rather expensive. if its usually 80 degrees in your tank id either turn down your heater or take your heater out. also welcome to the forums! come an stay a while lol

 

[marnold00]

Hey I'm fairly new to this, but I had a similar issue

Does your tank get direct sunlight? Mine did at the start, and simply moving it into a place that never gets direct sunlight allowed for a stable temperature, at a temperature that I control.

Without sounding condescending, do you have a heater on? Is it too high? If it's set at 75 but the water is 86+ then either it's broken, or something else is causing the rise.

I've seen post about people adding ice cubes - you could try this, but just remember once the ice has melted on the top then the water has to circulate... Don't just put in a whole load and see no instant effect, so you put in a whole load more.

What temperature is your tap water? You could do some water changes.

What is your room temperature? Use the thermometer that you've got in your tank... If its saying that your room temp is 86 degrees, and if this seems wrong, then it could just be your thermometer. Also remember if the room got really hot and suddenly got cool, you wouldn't notice an instant change in the water temperature.

Just remember if you have fish in there then really ease it down chances are they aren't enjoying the temperature right now, but if you suddenly drop the temperature then the shock wouldn't be great (but then this is just what my head says. I'm very very very new to this too).

What fish do you have? This could be helpful for the experienced guys with the actual knowledge...

 

[Byron]

It would help to be more specific...most of us are assuming the ambient air temperature is in the mid to high 80's, is that the issue?  Or is it just inside the aquarium (in which case the heater is malfunctioning)?
 
If it is a case of the ambient room temperature being warm, due to the weather, it is not advisable to do periodic and rapid chilling ice cubes, cold water changes, etc).  The fluctuating temperature will be a severe stress on the fish, worse than leaving it a bit warm.  If it coolds down at night, the tank will also cool slowly, especially if you can bring in plenty of cooler air to the house/apartment/room during the night/early morning.  A room air conditioner, like a portable one, can work.  Reducing the tank lighting period will reduce some additional heat (plants need a minimum of 5-6 hours overhead light).  Increasing water circulation and surface disturbance (adjust the filter return to agitate the surface, add airstones, etc) helps.  Just avoid rapid fluctuations in temperature.
 
In past summers I have had fish tanks reach 90F for several days and no loss of fish.  Keep things calm around the tank so the fish are not further stressed by commotion, noise, lights; feed less often (alternate days, or once every 3-4 days won't hurt, minimal at that).  I now have a portable air conditioner that keeps the fish room at 80F when it would otherwise be close to 95F plus
 
Byron.

 

[Aquatony]

I had this issue when we first built our tank.

The ambient temperature was 77*, but the tank was pretty close to a window, and the water must have been absorbing heat that way.

The Tetras and Catfish were not seemingly bothered at all by sometimes 85* F water... but I was bothered by it, so I moved the tank to where it is now, and it sits happily around 78*-78.5*

I wonder what your ambient temp is, and like everyone else, wonder if it's getting hit with sunlight. Finally... check the heater. If your ambient temperature is room temp, 73-76 degrees in that range, and there's no big sunlight issue... it has to be a run away thermostat.