Living In Hot Climates

[discus dreamer]

Hi all
this is probably a stupid question and I guess any of you folks from the Southern States of the US or Australia could easily help me here. I am thinking of moving to Greece, well my husband wants to and I am thinking about whether to agree to this. How do you maintain tank temperatures of 74-78 ish when the ambient temperature is much hotter? I have no problems at the moment as I live in the north west of UK and on the few days a year when it gets to above that the ground floor of my old house stays pretty cool but I just don't know whether this move would mean giving up fishkeeping, presumably not as this must be a problem that all you guys in warm places deal with all the time.
thanks
DD

 

[iairj84]

Their are always ways around the heat issue. It easily gets over 110 degrees here in the summer and my house under 90 is a chore and a wear on the pocketbook. The tip I've picked up is if your tanks are reaching dangerous levels (over 82-83 IMO) You can always add a fan that can blow across the surface of the tank. It has helped me lower the temperatures in my tanks 2-3 degrees on warmer days. If you are home and able you can also add something like a frozen water bottle to a larger tank that will also help lower the temperatures... If you aren't afraid to spend the money you can buy a chiller intended for reef tanks that will lower the temperature of the water in the tank. They're expensive but worth it in some cases...
If I knew the temperature was going to be too high and I had a large enough tank I would probably keep a lot of warmer water fish, like discus, they can withstand and be very comfortable at temperatures in the mid 80's you would obviously want to stay away from colder water fish, but most fish can handle temps in the lower 80's without too many issues.

 

[discus dreamer]

Thanks
that's helpful, I guess if we have air conditioning it would help but that would mean running it all the time even when we are out. I have always wanted discus and was planning to change one tank over to them this year but with all these moving discussions going on i am just sitting tight for now with regards to any tank changes.
DD