how to lower tank temp?

mister ben

mister ben

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Jan 22, 2005
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I know that this has been posted before because I followed the thread myself. Unfortunately, I can't remember what was said and I can't find it with the search tool, sorry.

As summer approaches the temperature is quickly rising and the room in which I keep my fish regularly stays above 80*. Obviously, this kinda sucks. Is there any way to keep my tank temp down? Since this kind of heat is only around for about 4-5 months out of the year, I would prefer something easy and economical. Thanks.
 
mister ben said:
I know that this has been posted before because I followed the thread myself. Unfortunately, I can't remember what was said and I can't find it with the search tool, sorry.

As summer approaches the temperature is quickly rising and the room in which I keep my fish regularly stays above 80*. Obviously, this kinda sucks. Is there any way to keep my tank temp down? Since this kind of heat is only around for about 4-5 months out of the year, I would prefer something easy and economical. Thanks.
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Simple and cheap is a fan blowing across the surface of the water. However, you will have a lot of evaporation and you will need to constantly top off the tank. A drop in or in-line chiller is a better but obviously more expensive way to go.
 
The water temp should be little lower than room temp.

What kind of fish do you have?

I keep cichlids, angels, oscars, neon and cardinal tetras, guppies and platies and I live in central TX where the temp climbs to well over 95 during the summer months. I have yet to loose any fish.

Unless you are keeping goldfish or koi, small (+5 or +10) rise in temp will not be crucial to the health of your fish.

Rohn
 
the temp in my tank used to rise close to 90 occasionally and i couldnt figure out why. then i realized that i had no air flow through my hood so i strapped some computer fans on there and presto... problem solved. in this tank i have an oscar, 2 dempseys, 2 plecs, a clown knife, and an eel and they are all thriving after nearly being boiled, haha.

as for a solution i remember someone saying once to put some ice in a bag with a few small holes in it above your tank (if thats possible). the ice will melt and drip into ur tank cooling it off and also compensating for evaporation. i dont know how well this works considering ive never tried it... but its a cheap and easy way to fix ur problem (hopefully)
 
If the water in your tank is extremely high (well over 85F), I would recomend adding ice to your filter. Do not add ice directly into the tank since this could cause burning.
Another way to lower temperature is removed the canopy of your tank so that heat can escape rather than getting trapped.
Again I wouldn't worry too much unless the temp is extremely high. Fish are capable of tolerating a slight in increase in temp. Watch your fish closely during hot summer day to see if the fish are contantly at the surface of the water. This could easily indicate that the temperature of water is too high and thus indicating lower amount of O2.

Rohn
 
If you tank isn't planted then I suggest making the room as dark as possible when you are not there. Darker is obviously cooler.

Otherwise some people do liek to add a bag of ice to their HOB filter. It will cool the water as it flows by. Not very much but it should help some. Don't let the water get in your tank unless it is frozen dechlorinated water.
 
I have freezer packs ready in my fridge. (not the freezer, but that's a possibility too if your careful) If you have a canister filter, you can put a gel pack in a bucket of water, put your filter into the bucket with the gel pack. It will last sevral hours and cool the water but watch the temperature until you can get an average.

If its a hang on back filter, you cn buy the small gel packs and just lay them on top of it. Or, get a room a/c. :)
 
Can you just keep your room cooler. If you keep the room about 80, it won't cost you too much in energy and you shouldn't have any problems.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. I'm sure at least one of these suggestions should be feasable.
 
I can't imagine using ice packs for 4-5 months would be much fun... I think you'd have a hard time keeping temps fairly constant, which might be more stressful.

If your tank isn't planted, you can turn off any artificial lighting and just use natural light. Also, consider how much filtration you have. If you have substantial overfiltration (e.g., 10x or more turnover, esp. with inefficient filters like HOBs) consider backing off the number of filters you use. Any heat they generate goes straight into the water. Normally the amount of heat would be nominal, but if you're already pushing it, several degrees could make a difference.

Jim
 
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