Hot water!

[asincero]

My heat pump decided to stop working, so I have no a/c at the moment. The temperature inside my house is almost 90 degrees F. Checking the temperature of the water of my tanks, it's also almost 90 degrees F!

Now, the last time I set the water heater this high the fish were clearly suffering unless I turned the bubbles on. They would gasp at the surface as if they were trying to get some air. Unsuprisingly, I lost some fish due to this.

However, my fish seem to be completely fine so far. In fact, they seem more lively than ever ... swimming back and forth, up and down, and side to side (well, not side to side ... but they're all over the tank).

My question is ... is there a difference between the water temperature being caused by a water heater versus being caused by the surrounding environment? With the water almost being 90 degrees F, I was half expecting a tank full of floaters by now.

 

[liv2padl]

is there a difference between the water temperature being caused by a water heater versus being caused by the surrounding environment?

water temperature is water temperature and it makes no difference how it got that way.

add an air stone.

 

[IceH2O]

You might want to consider also adding something that can hold a good amount of ice,but not leak into the tank, and place it into the tank. It will help cool the tank down.

I know of a lot of people that freeze 1 L bottles of water and stick them in the tank during the day to cool the tanks down.

 

[spydrkss]

what is the size of this 90degree tank? Freezing a 1 or 2 litre bottle works, but I only recommend it for larger tanks. If your tank is small, water movement (hence air stone), and having a fan blow air across the top of your aquarium might do the trick. I know the fan thing seems to simple, but it works.

 

[Liz]

Well about the fans, if the air temperature is the same as the water, will the heat leave the water for the air? you'd think there'd be some equilibrium.

 

[asincero]

what is the size of this 90degree tank? Freezing a 1 or 2 litre bottle works, but I only recommend it for larger tanks. If your tank is small, water movement (hence air stone), and having a fan blow air across the top of your aquarium might do the trick. I know the fan thing seems to simple, but it works.

I have two tanks and both are 90 degrees. One is a 36g the other is a 10g.

I'm freezing two 0.5 liter bottles as we speak. I was a little suspicious about throwing a bottle in the 10g tank tho. There's quite a bit of water movement from the filter in the 10g ... maybe that's enough? The fish in there don't appear to be stressed out or anything. It's a fry tank BTW. They're all baby mollies, but they're about a month and a half old. So I guess they're probably teenagers if they were human.

What about the 36g? One or two bottles?

I'll be doing a 50% water change in a moment. That should cool them down a bit I think. Question: should the new water be the usual 80 degrees I put in or should it be cooler than usual since the water in the tank is already fairly warm. I don't want to shock the fish or anything.

Heat pump repair man came today ... said I can get the a/c fixed either by tomorrow or the next day. Soon this whole ordeal will be over!

 

[Toirtis]

Even two half-litre bottles are not likely to make much difference in a 36 gallon (140L) tank....one in the ten should drop the temp some...just be careful it does not drop it too much or too quickly. Adding aeration can help, as one of the biggest threats from higher temperatures is that the higher the temp, the less dissolved oxygen in the tank.

You have bottles in litre sizes in the US now too?