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Water too hot

6K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  kitten_penang 
#1 ·
All summer the water in my tanks has been 86-88 F. I was really worried at first, but the fish seemed fine so I didn't do anything. Now, with my 90 gallon tank and the new fry, I'll be having fish a little more sensitive to water conditions and I need to cool down the water. Summer (the season... vacation was earlier, sadly) is ending, but we're having temps in the mid 90s. Our air conditioning is not the best, but it keeps the house relatively cool. I want to cool down the water, and have seen some good ideas that don't involve a chiller (why so expensive?) online. Putting a canister filter in an ice tub, floating a bottle of ice in front of the filter output, putting a fan on the water... Good ideas. But there are flaws. I need someone to tell me if they are valid or not. Number one: the ice tub + canister filter combo. I have read online that doing that may shock and kill the biological filter. Putting the output hose in a tub of ice is an option for some people, but with the limited amount of tubing I had to work with, that's not an option for me. Will it really shock the bio-filter? Number two: ice pack in front of the filter. There's nowhere for me to attach the bottle without it floating in the current. And number three: fan on the water. I have a wooden top for the tank that goes with the stand. A fan won't fit under it, unless I want to extend the amount of space the tank takes up by 18 inches vertically.
 
#2 ·
sorry

yeah i cant afford a chiller as well.. yes the ice bath will kill of alot of your bacteria...and yes the hose in ice will work..i have a friend who has a mini freezer with a coil of tube inside wich acts as a chiller...and finaly what i do is a huge nuisance but i rotate floating bottles of ice...with all cases you have to be ther to moniter fluctuations until you find the comfort zone with the propeer amount of cooling..good luck.....ADIOS....
 
#3 ·
looks like you have not many options.one way or another you have to bring down the water temp gradually. the bottle floaing around will be a good solution even if its floating around
 
#4 ·
Ok I have a new question. In case I needed to cool down some of the water really quickly, wouldn't the water get colder more quickly if you put salt in the bottle with the ice? That's how an ice cream maker works, because the whole thing about ice making something cold is that it melts.

And now I realize that I sounded... bad, for lack of a better word... when I said that's how an ice cream maker works, but I guess I'll just leave it there.
 
#5 ·
I would be cautious about bring the temperature down to quickly, a quick change in temperature can lead to shock which can kill your fish, hence is why we float the fish bag when we get new fish, give the water time to come to the same temperature. Regular ice should work ok as long as you don't add alot at one time.

But you are correct salt lowers the freezing point of water, so ice turns back into a liquid stage where it is easier for it to transfer heat.
 
#6 ·
I have my fish in basicly a giant garage that was turned into a mini appartment - so it gets EXTREMELY hot

I just do small water changes of like 5% with remotly cooler water...

However this is only a 20 gallon i mess with

Could you maybe (alot of trouble) but move the aquarium closer to a ac unit? (cold air falls)

Its easir to raise the temp then drop it IMO
 
#7 ·
A 90 gallon already filled with water... that we only didn't have to brace up the floor under it because there was already a steel I-beam there...
I spent a whole day bracing up a part of the floor we didn't even end up using... Yeah, not gonna move that.:lol: AC isn't really an issue, it's close enough to the vent.
But the only way for me to get water colder than 86 degrees in the summer is to have water in a bucket that I put in the freezer for 30 minutes. (In case I didn't explain that clearly, the tap on full cold is 86 degrees. Everywhere in the house.)
 
#9 ·
That's not really an option either. We just don't have the extra money to buy a new ac. The one we have now works fine, just not if someone keeps turning it off! :frustrated:
 
#10 ·
who turned off the AC????? 0.0
 
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