Its Getting Hot In Here!

[JMcQueen]

Just checked the water temperature of my coldwater tank, 27oC! This is getting right up to the upper limit of whats recommended for my fish. I know if its only for a short time it shouldnt be much of a problem but should the good weather persist, does anyone have any ideas for cooling the tank. Its not in directly sunlight already etc so Im not sure what the best option is.

 

[waterdrop]

its been 38C/100F or thereabouts all week here in North Carolina.. See why we all have air conditioning?

The most reasonable method in my opinion is simply a simple house fan gently blowing across the surface water.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[walkers101]

a coke bottle fill with water freeze it pop it into the tank

 

[waterdrop]

I feel the frozen bottles work as a quick fix sometimes but not as well on a longer-term basis and they require more attention WD

 

[CrystalClear16]

a coke bottle fill with water freeze it pop it into the tank

Surely that would drop the temp too fast and kill the fish?

 

[waterdrop]

its acually less effective than one thinks

 

[JMcQueen]

Might pop one in the freezer just in case.

 

[OldMan47]

I like the idea of a pop bottle filled with ice. By using the ice to cool your tank, you are really allowing the fish to choose their own preferred temperature. If they feel best with extreme temperature changes, they will hang out close to the ice. If they just want some minor cooling, you will find them further from the ice. Either way, the fish should be helped by the cooling effect of the ice. An approach that I use with my cool water fish, my goodeids, is to use the air conditioner to cool the general space where their tank lives and then to use a fan to promote evaporative cooling if I want to drop the tank temperature even more. It is seldom that I need to add that fan.

 

[Harlequins]

All my tanks have gone up 3-4 degrees,the main tank is hitting 27.5 which is a worry for the me with the corys and the smaller tanks have gone from 22-26 The fans are going but doesn't seem to be making much difference...

 

[Twinklecaz]

Ive put an ice cube bag in my tank a few times over the last few days and the Platys seem to love it, they've been playing around it! Gouramis not so fussed.

The only thing is I agree with WD, it's not that effective . Very slow to work and only does it by like 1-2 degrees. My temp was nearly 30 degrees last night!

I wouldn't want to blow a fan over the water coz that would mean leaving the lid off whilst I'm at work and I'd worry the fish would jump out. I'm pretty sure my black and white Platy would make a point of doing it just to wind me up actually.

One thing I did find that worked was doing a medium sized (30-40%) water change with our outside tap. The water comes from underground and is therefore cold even in this weather. It was the first time I'd seen my heater come on all week!

 

[FishyWishie]

Or alternatively move to Scotland and you will never ever again have to worry about this problem as long as you live

 

[Twinklecaz]

LOl! Yes or that!

 

[Dinky Stig]

a coke bottle fill with water freeze it pop it into the tank

Surely that would drop the temp too fast and kill the fish?

Not really, temperature fluctuations in the wild are pretty common, fluctuations of 3 or 4 degrees can happen in as little as 30 minutes.

Ice cubes in a bag, or frozen water in a bottle works well, just remember, allow space for the water to expand when freezing! or you'll end up with a split bottle.

 

[Harlequins]

I've been taking the chance and leaving my tank lids up all the time at the moment,with fans going,it seems to be doing the trick has the tank have only crept up 2 degrees,
Thankfully none of the fish have attempted to jump out...fingers crossed i haven't tempted fate..

 

[waterdrop]

They used to make tank lids out of window screen, back in the day. In my first round in the hobby I used to switch back and forth between a glass lid and a screen lid if I wanted to. Shouldn't be terribly hard to invent one these days with the plastic grid materials one might find at a sewing shop or a hobby or art shop.

~~waterdrop~~