Aquarium vs. Air Conditioner

[tommygunnz76]

Hey everyone!

Got a quick question about something that never really crossed my mind until now. I live in an apartment building in which I cannot really control the layout of the rooms and what not. That being said, the best place for my 55 gallon tank is just beneath a built in air conditioning unit. The unit itself appears that it blows most of the air in a slightly downward direction, basically right at the top of my tank.

Obviously, I am worried about hurting the tank and possibly putting my heaters under too much stress. Is this going to be a big issue for me? I live in South Eastern Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee. Generally, the summers are not all that bad, and living close to Lake Michigan means that my weather is usually a little cooler than they are just a few more miles inland. Still, last year there was about a two week period that my air conditioner ran constantly and I am worried about killing off all my fish.

If anyone has faced this problem before or has any ideas/information I would really appreciate the help!

 

[dorkfish]

well you need to think... whats more important you are the fish. personally I would settle for a compromise. make a hood that insulates the top of the tank and /or vents the air conditoiner above the tank. even a canopy that just closes in the whole top of the tank (back included) should work.

 

[hmt321]

also what kind of fish are you going to keep. I am sure you realize that there are plenty of beautiful fish that reside in the lake your house is close to that would do quite well in a 55 gal that require no heater at all, (about a half dozen species of sunfish, several dozen species of shiner, darters, killie fish, many species of catfish, minnows, crayfish, etc)
if you can maintain the tank under 80 f and not let it freeze they will thrive.

but for tropicals, i believe that a 2week span of time where the heater runs more will not hurt it. I live in a 110 year old house in south Alabama, my ac runs pretty much non stop from mid march to October every year. used to keep my tank (when it was heated) around 76-78 while room temp was 72 or so (my wife likes it cool inside) I have heard of people having trouble with sticking thermostat but i think that is the exception and not the norm. hundreds of people keep tropical fish in houses with aquarium heater and never have any sort of failure.

I would divert the ac draft as best i could away from the tank and make sure that i watch the temp on the tank. It it worries you then you may even set the heater on a timer so it is only on while you or someone is home. I would think that it would take a 55 gal 6-7 hours to have a temp drop that would prove fatal to the fish.

hope this helps

 

[tommygunnz76]

Well, the lake I live next to is Lake Michigan and I can tell you that the town I live in is probrably not the best area to be getting fish from since there is a nuclear power plant close by (warms up the water temp year round) as well as a big outlet for emergency waste dumping by the city of Milwaukee. We do have a couple of fish stores nearby but none of them have anything native to the area I would say. Probrably because they are most larger fish like bass, trout, and salmon.

Right now I realize that I will be overstocked in about a year, but I have 5 Bala sharks, two tinfoil barbs, 4 clown loaches, 3 peacock eels, 6 mollies (for color), and 4 rainbow sharks. I know this is potentially bad, but in my defense, I bought them on advice from my lfs who told me they would all fit nicely. I have plans for another two tanks in the works (getting married soon though so basically out of funds at the moment) and I have a friend who has a 900 gallon tank cycling right now (fishless) who will take my Bala friends.

Still, the tank looks awesome with all the activity for now and all my fish are doing great. My soon to be wife has a 10 gallon tank and has lost a lot of platys while I have lost no fish yet (minus one to a suicide jump out of the tank) and all are growing and so colorful.

I decided to move the tank which I just got done with about two hours ago in order to keep it out of the air flow from the AC. It is still somewhat close, but I used smoke from a cigarette to figure out the exact air flow and I think I should be good. the tank is covered and I have a spare heater that I will put in there when I am using the AC alot in case one cant handle the load. Thanks for all the advice!