Cooling The Tank Down

[Jo1980]

Hi Everyone,

We were having summer temperature as 45 degrees celcius over Christmas... How do I keep my water temperature down? I turned the heater off a few weeks ago when the weather started warming up... on the really hot day I changed some of the tank water to try to bring it down, but I didn't want to send the fish into shock or anything.... any ideas on keeping it cool? I'm at work all day, so I can't keep changing the water all day....

Thanks in advance.

Jo

P.S. Happy New Year!

 

[Durbkat]

Are you using air conditioning in the house because that should keep the temp down. If you don't then while your at home put a thermometer in the tank and put a bag of a ice with only a couple ice cubes in the tank and monitor temp. But if you can't be home to put ice in tank then just add an airstone to the tank to help keep enough oxygen in the tank.

 

[Torrean]

run a fan against the face of the glass or better et across the top of the water. You'll want to have your heater on because It can sometimes cool a tank very quickly

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

ah ive been having this problem too so i know how you feel! my tank was at like 33ish C the other day. so bad

 

[Jo1980]

My thermometer only goes up to 30, so i don't know how hot it actually was.... i was so paranoid all day.....

We don't have any air-conditioning in our house, i'll try the fan thing.... i was thinking as well if i hung a wet towel over the tank before i left in the morning?

Thanks for your replies.

Jo

 

[fishing4exotics]

Hi Jo1980, as already stated run a fan to blow air across the top of the water. Keep your window shades closed.

 

[krash]

I had the same problems about 6 months ago in Texas. On really hot days I dropped the water level a bit, opened the hood and ran a fan over the top of the tank. My smaller betta tanks were more problematic, they stayed at 85-86F (30C?) most of the time. This was even with the air conditioner running pretty much 24/7.

Are your fish acting stressed - gasping at the surface or listless? If so, an airstone would be a good idea. Probably wouldn't hurt to have one either way.

Rather than ice cubes, you could float a couple 2L soda bottles in the tank filled with cold (but not icy) water. This would cool things down some, but not enough to cause any stress. If you put them in before you left for work it would help for a few hours, and then it would still take a few hours for the temp to rise. You could replace the water they displace with cooler water when you got home. This was my alternate plan last summer, but I didn't have to try it.

Stacey

 

[*Lucifer*]

hey all,

well being in sunny england (Yeah Rite) we dont really have that problem, im interested to see if those things work, but keep up the good work.

Lucifer

 

[Jo1980]

Thanks everyone... Really appreciate the responses.... Definately let you know what happens.

Already have an airstone, fish seem to be ok, but i'm so paranoid!

Thanks again

 

[demonmagus]

hope your fish survive and thrive

In england its bad news if the heater stops

 

[timmystood]

hope your fish survive and thrive

In england its bad news if the heater stops

Too true! lol! I wish we had the problem of it getting too hot! he he

 

[demonmagus]

lol, we could all make giant outdoor ponds for red tailed catfish and cichlids

 

[littleimp]

This is a major marine tank problem due to high power lighting so this would be the marine responses.

Easiest option

If you can afford it buy a chiller unit (very expensive £500++++)

Hard work but effective option

If you have a sump system some people run a pumped pipe into the garden into a buried (2ft al least) hosepipe system. This works in the same principle of a chiller except your using the lower ground temp to cool water instead of refrigerant.

Option most people use

You add a fan that blows over the waters surface, unlike popular belief this does not cool the water!! What it does do is create convection which in turn creates more evaporation. As you have found out adding cooler water to a tank will cool it down. For this too be effective however you have to have some sort of top-up system, either gravity fed or electronically with a float switch. If you have a sump you can install the fans over this, if not you may have problems as marine tanks tend to be open topped so easy to clip a fan on.



Other than these their's not much else you can do, most other things are just a temporary measure.

Many people have tried to convert small fridges into coolers but unfortunately as far as I'm aware no one has made one work yet. Try searching for some marine forums to help with an answer as this problem occurs with a mrine tank no matter what the country!!

1000w halides can heat a room!!!

www.ultimatereef.net is a one of the beeter ones.