Keeping tanks cool during the summer

[Arkin]

Sorry if this has been discussed before...but I'm wondering how people keep their tanks cool during the summer. I live in southern California, and we do not have central air nor an a/c in the room where the fish tank is. Right now, the tank is getting to be about 86F during the afternoons, but we haven't hit really high temperatures so far so it has me worried.

What do you guys do to keep your tanks from getting too hot during the summer months?

 

[Weezer]

Some have fans blowing on them, or zip lock bags with ice......

 

[stephalpha]

float frozen bottles of water in the tank, bags of ice and or leave top open with a fan blowing on top of water.

 

[Arkin]

It isn't a problem having the temperature fluctuate or being uneven in the tank? We've been hesitant to put anything frozen into it because we were worried about that

 

[gmh]

You can put the lights on a timer and set them to turn off during the warm afternoon hours.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Well the cooler water should sink and absorb the heat fairly quickly...the bigger issue with floating ice is it's hard to tell how much. Use the fan trick first, and ice as the last resort.

 

[Arkin]

okay thanks everybody for the replies Last summer we had a window a/c unit and didn't have this problem

I'll try the fan and then the frozen bags if we have to.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

lol i feel the heat right now. this is what i do. i keep the lids off. put a fan over the tank and put frozen bottles of water in the tank. a water change can also help but be careful you dont want to shock the fish.

 

[mostlycichlids]

It never gets too much past 80 here! I just let nature take its course although none of my tanks ever get over 82 anyway.

 

[magakitty]

When our AC went out for a day, the tanks got in the upper 80's and floating bags of ice only melted the ice, and didn't do anything for the temp of the water...