How Do You Cool Your Tank?

[Wills]

Hi just realised that my tank is really really warm today its up at 29/30c and should be set to 26c and Im struggling to remember the best ways to get the temp down, not had to deal with this before.

Tank is in the middle of the room and does not get direct sunlight, the room is pretty hot and thanks to the maintenance company we can only get one window open.

I did a water change last night with cooler water but its not helped significantly. Im going to get the fan out and try and get hold of a decent one to go near the tank all summer as ours is only quite small.

Fish seem okay as they are mainly South Americans and most of them from warmer rivers (tocans + orinoco) though thats just the wild and F1 ones bit worried about the rainbows and my Central Americans though. But I mean at the end of the day it must get this heat all over the world and even hotter where they come from really (Australasia, Nicaragua and Honduras).

Trying to work out if there is anything I could use to cover the tank to reflect heat away from it and absorb heat from the tank as well? Im guessing it would be foil/silver on the outside but not sure what I would need on the inner?

So yeah any tips?

Wills

 

[england]

Turn off the heater, open the lid<if you have sliders and they cant jump leave it open> and windows for a while to air the tank, then what i would do is keep the curtains or blind closed, if you can try to double up on the curtains to keep the room cooler,

 

[jpeterson]

I would normally open all the windows and turn off the heater. Then i have a fan that I aim at the front of the glass. I also take off the lid leaving some plastic over the top so none can escape. If its far to high i then do a 10% water change adding cooler water to the tank but not COLD as you don't want to cool it down to fast.

 

[Wills]

Hi thanks, Ive aimed a fan at the tank now and opened all the windows I can left the tank lights off though and it does seem to be coming down.

I might do a cooler water change later today though just to kind of reset it and then keep the temp level with windows and fans etc.

Wills

 

[meguro]

my tanks seldom drop below 30C over spring/summer here in aus. as long as there is sufficient oxygenation it isnt a problem

 

[Wills]

my tanks seldom drop below 30C over spring/summer here in aus. as long as there is sufficient oxygenation it isnt a problem

wow never knew you were from Aus

Ive got a bubbler coming soon but my filter outlet kicks up a decent current on top so I think Ill be okay no fish are remotely gaspy so

 

[Harlequins]

My tank have jumped up 3-4 degrees and to be honest the cold water feels warm and doesn't make much difference doing a w/c,so i've fans on,windows open,lids up!
I have lots of corys and worried the temp is 27.8 in the main tank,has its normally on 24

 

[didz04]

My tank have jumped up 3-4 degrees and to be honest the cold water feels warm and doesn't make much difference doing a w/c,so i've fans on,windows open,lids up!
I have lots of corys and worried the temp is 27.8 in the main tank,has its normally on 24

Yeah its hitting summer now so you will see a lot of rising temperatures.

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

You could run a separate pump, and radiator/fan combo?

Kinda like people used to do with PC's a decade or so ago. You take an eheim submerisble pump, plumb it into some tubing, run the tubes to a small radiator with a 120mm fan (orm perhaps 2) attached to it.

Might look a bit ghetto, but would help bring the tank temps down nicely

 

[nurglespuss]

Turning the ehater off will make no difference... its thermostatically controlled... turning it 'down' will allow the tank to cool further than normal.

A big source of heat is lighting systems. If you can, elevate your lights and move any ballast to a position away from the main body of the tank (and not underneath it), remove any lid/cover glass (unless have very jumpy fish!) and add an air pump, realistically theres nothing else you could do that would make a difference.

 

[BethK]

How about making ice cubes with pre-treated water?

 

[arobinson1984]

I wouldnt worry too much wills,

I'm in Leeds and my tank has rarely been lower than 29 degrees for the last few weeks, even when I've got up in a morning at about 6am its been around the 29 degree mark with the heater unplugged. All my fish seem fine and external filter has a spraybar so is causing plenty of surface movement.

I've just done a 50% water change using just cold water and temp dropped from 29 degrees to about 25.5 but will obviously slowly rise again.

You can always freeze a bottle of water and float it on the top of the tank, it normally will lower temp by about 1-2 degrees and the fish that prefer the cooler water will ahng around the bottle.

Yesterday I put 2 bottles of water in the freezer so I can use one and once thats melted then switch to the other whilst re-freezing the 1st. If you freeze water in a bottle dont forget to leave some space in the bottle as it will expand when it freezes and if you fill the bottle right to the top with water then the bottle will split when freezing.


Andy

 

[nurglespuss]

Why is it that your turning the heater off btw?

 

[barrybarry]

I live in scotland! that tends to be a good way of keeping a tank at the right temp!

 

[kizno1]

All of my tanks have been at 30 for the last few days evan with both windows open. Its because my rooms and extension so all 4 walls are insulated. my fish have been fine the bns are doing great and breeding at this temp.