summer tank temps...

[Magnum Man]

so my tropical tanks, don't change much, in an air conditioned house, and the tank heaters set around 78 degrees F.

but my cool water tanks vary seasonally... with the furnace set at 70 degrees F. and the air conditioning set at 75 degrees F. and those tank heaters set around 71 degrees F. during the winter, the heater maintains the tanks at 71, but I notice warmer temps during the summer, with my cool tanks reading about 74 degrees F.

at the warmer temps, the fish seem a little more active, and are more aggressive eaters, with an occasional squabble over a spirulina cookie, that I don't normally witness at a few degrees cooler... we used to maintain the air conditioning closer to 70 degrees F. but are living with 75 in other to cut electricity costs... I know there are people ( and fish ) worse off... what are you seeing for summer tank temps???

 

[Rusty_Shackleford]

I have extreme temperature swings in my house. It's pretty horrible. The air conditioner sucks and can't keep up and apparently the house has no insulation. I never turn the A/C off in the summer.
During heat waves the temp in those will swing by 15-20 degrees daily.
I got it down to 65 in the nose last night,tank temp was at 75. Today's high is 89 so it will probably get up to 80-82 in the house today. The tank will get up towards 80 degrees today. To combat the high temps I take several steps. I changed my light period from Noon to 8pm to 7am to 3pm. This keeps the lights off during the late afternoon heat of the day. Also basically anytime during the day the lights aren't on the lid is propped open. This is to allow for evaporative cooling. I also rotate 3 medium ice packs in the tank in the afternoon/evening when the house is the hottest. These are just plastic containers filled with tap water and frozen. I can't say it has a huge impact on cooling the tank, however what it does do it prevent the tank from getting any warmer. It's not a lot of ice at any one time and it really just seems to stabilize the tank temp.
I'm sure the fish can handle 82-84 degrees but I'm more concerned with the plants not being able to handle the warmth.
Really not much change in the fish behavior other than everything just being a little sped up. No issues with labored breathing or lack of oxygen for sure.

 

[GaryE]

It's always interesting (to this nerd) what temperature does. I have to stop sometimes and consider that whatever temp I'm in, they ARE. I've got my warm blooded mindset.

I spent a few winter hours planning about how to deal with high temperatures we haven't had yet. At this point, when they come, they won't be for long enough to cause problems. Normally, the last two weeks of June are warm, and that carries through July. In August, our days can be hot but the evening is cooler. Up to now though, we've had one warm day (above 25/77). All summer cruise ships come here so Americans can escape the heat, and they'll enjoy the trip this pseudo-summer.

This morning, my fishroom is 23c/73.5f. I have one window fan on a timer to kick in at 4 AM when it's cooler, to get a head start before things buildup.

My lower rack tanks are at 20c/68f, middle rack at 21c/70f and the upper rack at 22c/72f. This is ideal for my rainforest fish. I have to heat the South American tanks (to 25/77), but my African killies come from 22c waters, so they're seeming happy. Here, this is their breeding season.

Eventually, we'll have days when the water gets up to 24/25c, and that will be harmful for a lot of my fish. That'll be 2 or 3 weeks, so they'll recover quickly. Studies have shown it will have a negative effect on digestion and growth for some of the killies.

The room is warmer in winter, because I may have over insulated. It's very cheap to run, but not great for my favourite fish. I'm adapting, and trying some species that should like the warmer conditions. I'm going to try some annual killies, and start breeding the Corydoras group.

Roll with the punches....

 

[Magnum Man]

we had about 4-5 days in a row, that the low temps we still in the 80's F., and highs, in the low to mid 90's F.

30 years ago, I built my tanks in the basement, as it was likely the most temperature stable, but at that time, I didn't keep any cool water fish, I figured the room would be cooler than I wanted the tanks to be, but the individual heaters would put the tanks where I wanted... back then, I often dreamed about keeping native game fish, as I had a lot of aggressive cichlids, but short of air conditioning the house to 65 degrees F. I didn't think of a practical way of keeping the tanks cool, without excessive sweating... now with cool tanks, they are a little warmer than the fish would prefer

 

[Alice B]

I broke the bank and replaced my central air last summer. I don't run tank heaters in summer at all, house thermostat is set for 77 which is about perfect for fish and the new ac does the job

 

[fishorama]

My climate & tank temps are different. In winter we heat our house to ~69F but cooler at night. 55g & 75G don't cool off much overnight, mostly low 70Fs. Fine for the fish I have. I only heat a 20g long with fish that want it hot, 86F. In summer we AC to 77 (me) or 76 (husband) but we can turn it off at night as it almost always cools off to upper 60Fs. We like to open up the windows & snuggle up as needed, lol. The bigger tanks don't cool off much, maybe 2-3 degrees, 2 filters keep them warmish, more when lights are on. 20 long has no light (nocturnal fish) & heaters do their job. The lowest I've seen that tank is 29C even during water changes (magic temp fingers, lol).

Our HVAC system is old & dying; AC doesn't always come on & work well. Heat pumps are pushed here but they can take many hours to heat or cool to our desired temps. Our 1st house had a heat pump & it was not ever good. I know tech has changed but...no heat pump in our near future.

 

[Alice B]

if we are lucky outdoor temp drops to 80 at night in July august and september

 

[fishorama]

We get 90F+ often but luckily it usually cools off more than your temps.

Do you have to cool your tanks with ice bottles or something? Or don't your fish mind?

 

[Naughts]

Ice/ ice bottles in a tank are dangerous for fish as the temperature fluctuates rapidly. Wildly fluctuating temperatures have serious impact on a fish’s biological function.

A water change that is a couple of degrees cooler would be preferable as the difference is minor and more evenly distributed.

Most fish tolerate seasonal fluctuations as the water is warming and cooling slowly (slower than air). Obviously it is not advisable to have a tank located where it gets direct sun.

Leaving the lights off and adding aeration is sufficient to mitigate heat waves in temperate places. In more extreme climates air-con is often in place for humans, so the fish are also comfortable.

 

[GaryE]

I'm with @Naughts . The ice bottle technique is probably quite harmful. Don't forget fish take on the temperature of the water, and they are highly adapted, sensitive creatures.

Short term, this won't help, but long term, you have to make choices in relation to the environment you offer the fish. If the weather makes your tank hot, then you have to choose fish from similar climates. You can't keep cooler water species unless you cool the environment. If you want a successful tank, you have to choose fish that can thrive in it.

If you have short heat waves, warm water fish will get through them if you don't overfeed (warmth speeds decomposition) and don't overstock. Keeping cool water tropicals (under 24c in nature) at high temps can radically shorten their lives, and isn't a kind thing to do. At times, I think both home heating and air conditioning can be as essential to fishkeeping as filters, lighting and fishfood.

 

[Alice B]

I just unplug my heaters when I turn the AC on. Outdoor fish - koi and goldfish - as much aeration as I can provide. I do put shade cloth over koi pond if temps are going to be consistently over 100, haven't yet this year. I overpump - 1800 gph pump on a 700 gallon 2 level pond. 4800 gph on 1200 gallon koi pond with flow divided between 2 filters on one side, a couple of vertical pipes on the other side and in the middle. unclogging pipes is a thing when the pond gets dirty. It gets done. Ponds are cool in morning, about 80F in afternoon

 

[Back in the fold]

I’m in the hottest part of summer right now and I don’t run the air conditioning at all . The thermostat on the wall read 88 degrees Fahrenheit two days ago and it will plenty more times before the end of September . I unplugged all my heaters and my aquariums settled down to about 72 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit . The fish are fine . My Endler’s and Platy’s actually seem a little livelier now at a cooler temperature .

 

[CassCats]

Couple summers back we had a cruddy air conditioner--a floor model which definitely couldn't keep up with a 2 week long heat wave we had.

My tanks temperatures with the heaters unplugged completely were reading into the 90s for days. I lost some oxygen-dependent fish during those days.

I did confirm the temp with a digital thermometer too. It was sitting at 94-96F at the hottest of days during those 2 weeks. It was dang awful.

We have since replaced that air conditioner, got a much better one now. At most, our warmest tank reaches 80F on the hottest of heat waves, so we can't complain. I have also ensured that each tank has either a wave maker or some sort of airstone running very high to maximize my oxygen levels so that I don't lose fish. Short term heat isn't too bad on them, but its the oxygen levels that can get risky. More sensitive, oxygen-needy fish are more likely to succumb to prolonged heat. I lost my farlowella catfish and a bristlenose pleco that summer.


Non-heat wave, tank temps sit at 75F in the warmer rooms. The colder room that has the AC has 2 tanks, they sit at 72F.

 

[GaryE]

@Back in the fold - I know you have some Nothobranchius killies - watch them for a quicker egg incubation at your temperatures. You may have more than platys before you know it.

One of my decisions in relation to room warmth has been to try some of those hard to get, warmer water appreciating fish again.

 

[Oldspartan]

Pretty hot here past few days and more to come this week. The fish room is temp not an issue although I do notice the A/C in that area is having difficulty removing humidity which made my comfort touchy. Solution -- We added a dehumidifier which makes human comfort better. I doubt the fish cared about the humidity level an iota. Small tanks in living room are no issue as the room remains 75F. Same with office and bedroom. Upstairs in my office and Linda's lady room, another story, no A/C. We have used liter bottle of ice the past couple of days to maintain sub 80F in those tanks. We will be going to a discount store tomorrow to purchase small room airs to fix that issue.

Temp hit 98 here again today with real feel about 105F. More of the same the next two days, and a bit of relief from humidity following that with temps remaining 85 to 92F predicted.

I am less concerned with the temps and more concerned with the power grid. We have had a couple of short duration outages in the past few days, likely from too much load. I transformer blew up in front of the house Friday and I suspect that might be a more common problem with the older less heat-resistant transformers in this area. My jury-rigged back-up power supply will be of little use to the fish. Might need to consider a whole house system or perhaps reexamine solar.