I'm relatively new to the hobby, started my current tank in January. Now it's June in the Arizona desert and I have a problem. I can't turn down the temperature on my whole house A/C just to keep the fish in my 29g tank happy... so the house is 78/79 degrees. The fish I have would really prefer to be a few degrees cooler than that.
Specifically what fish do you have? Most fish are more than capable of surviving with a bit of temperature swing and this occurs naturally anyway.
78F is about "average" for what many people keep their fish at anyway and as such unless cold water fish would not effect them.
Having higher temperatures can be overcome with a simple fan near the tank and not feeding as much. Higher temperature increases the metabolism of the fish and as such can make them lethargic.
I have platys, white cloud minnows, neon tetras, otocinclus, and honey gouramis (new addition). It's the platys and minnows that would prefer to be a bit cooler, the others would be OK where it is for now. In the middle of the summer I might have to turn the thermostat up another degree or two, though. When it is 115 degrees outside every degree makes a difference to the electric bill...
I know there will be people who find a reason against this but just scoop up a couple ice trays full of aquarium water and cover it in plastic wrap to keep it somewhat sterile, an ice cube a day keeps the heat at bay I always say(its hot and i like popsicles why cant fish too?). Not easy to get exacts but it will help keep the temp down without having to buying a chiller.
Ice creates too much of a shock on the fish as it a very rapid cooling compared to lower cooling with using a fan. It can also be bad for the tank as it leads to stress fractures on the glass if used a lot, it can also do damage to your silicone with a rapid cooling and then heating up again.
Something along these lines would be sufficient - here
Told you someone would have a reason against it xD, but the fan wouldn't really solve his issue, moving 79 degree air and replacing it with 79 degree air is still 79 degree air no matter how you look at it, fans don't really reduce the actual temp they just remove excess heat by putting fresh air in its place from another source, if the source temp is still too hot then its a mute point. Its not that he has a heat buildup in his tank, its simply hot and the water wants to be room temp so without an actual chiller the fan wont do much
Be creative? Maybe replace the copper with just some more tubing in a coil siliconed together
Or same idea, move your tank to the kitchen, and run some tubing to your fridge for the summer, if you have the temp controller it should work perfectly
Thanks for the input, I'll have to see what I can rig up. I know evap does create a small amount of cooling but I'm not sure the fan would work directly since I have cats. They mostly leave the tank along but leaving the top open for little paws sounds like it's asking for trouble.
You would have to use A WHOLE LOT of ice to rapidly cool a fish tank..... ESPECIALLY a larger tank like the OP's 29 gallon.
My unheated tanks reach the low 80's in the summer. It's no big deal - if you are going to keep the house at 79, I would not worry and would not do anything to cool the tank.
First of all, welcome to the Tropical Fish Keeping forums!
I have had the same issue. I have added ice cubes occasionally, taken the tops off my tanks, and I still can't get the water temp below 80. This isn't bad for the fish, just make sure it doesn't get into the high 80s.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Tropical Fish Keeping
597.8K posts
83.7K members
Since 2006
forum community dedicated to tropical fish owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about species,breeding, health, behavior, aquariums, adopting, care, classifieds, and more! Open to fish, plants and reptiles living in freshwater or saltwater environments.