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summer is here (almost)...we're experiencing humidex at the high of 30++...

had a terrible day yesterday..for my water risen to 84...needed to keep the lid up, the lights off and the ac in full force to lower the temp..fortunately...all things well now...imaigne..if i were not around and this happened for almost the entire day...its like cooking my fish...but its ok now.

so, dont let this happen to u...keep observing people!!!
it will take only seconds to check if ur temp is still gud.

cheers!!!

too true be extreme ly care ful about water over heating in summer and one thing that could help is if some o them crystals are put in the room were the tank is to dry the air out then have a fan blowing air over the surface of the water to evaporate the water to drain a bit of the heat

tankie
More airation can help too (Extra Airstones) every little bit helps when the summer temperature goes up.

Keith

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I try to keep mine at 78 and so far this past 2 weeks they have ventured up to 82 so far. so i unplugged the heaters, turned off the lights during the day and shut the curtains in the afternoon hours. and i'm going to try the ice pack trick if i cant lower it.

Last edited by monkeyboy at 07-Jun-2005 10:37

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

My tank goes to 84 everyday, not just in the summer. It is a saltwater tank though and my halides heat up the tank a little though.

We have the same problem here in Malta. Sometimes the temperature is 32/34 deg. celcius & i have to keep inserting ice-cubes in my filter to keep it cool.


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Help! Im having problems with the temperature in my tank. It was up to 84 degrees this morning even though the heater was set to 74 degrees. The lights were off and the room was 20 degrees. Originally thought it was the heater, bought a new heater but I still can't seem to control the temp without turning the lights off all day and unplugging the heater. Im going on holiday saturday and am worried that my fish will fry whilst im away!

any help would be appreciated.

If the room is 20 degrees & the tank is 84 degrees, there something wrong with your calculations.

Can you please re-check the tank & room temperatures?.


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Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
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I don't think 84 degrees will fry your fish. Most can handle it. Large upwards or downward swings would cause more problems.

Living in the tropics my own tank is at 84-86 degrees 90% of the time (never used a heater).

One of those computer cooling fans over the water will knock 2 or 3 degrees off. But when using fans be careful with evaporation, the water disappears very quickly. Only the H2O evaps the yukkies like Nitrates etc stay behind and obviously become more concentrated in a smaller water volume. Ice is not be recommended as it is too unstable leading to the harmful temp swings mentioned earlier.

AC is best but that costs

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

My tanks occasionally get to 35'c with no problems.

Water temperature in most wild habitats will fluctuate greatly. There's no need to add ice or anything like that. Turning heaters off is useless because they're pretty much all controlled by thermostats which will cut the heater off at the desired temperature anyway.
If you're still paranoid about it, turn the lights off and remove the lids (and risk fish jumping out).

It gets very hot here on the Gold Coast. During summers I remove my lids and replace with netting. I have sinkers on the ends of the nets to stretch it into place. Then I place our fan so the air blows across the top of the tanks. Takes the temp down 3 degrees., and fishy don't jump out. ***Tiger.

Desperate.....whats ur tank size...and is it located where theres direct sunli8ght or the wall could be hot?? coz..thats a very big discrepancy!!!

my tank always goes up to about 83,5 on summer days... i don't worry too much because most fish can tolerate temperatures up to 86 and 87, even higher for some species. What is dangerous is that your temperature passes from let's say 79 to 86 in like an hour, then you can start worrying. If you want to keep your temperatures down on hot in my opinion the most important thing to do is close the lights and keep the blinds closed on your windows. Let's not forget that in the wild fish face much harsher conditions than in our aquariums and they are much tougher than we give them credit for.

If you're worried about it, as said before, a fan blowing air across the surface of the water will help. This promotes evaporation, removing energy from the system thus reducing temperature.

NEVER use ice cubes or cold water, it can create a drastic temperature flucuation that can hurt your fishies.

You want the water parameters STEADY, eventhough they're not IDEAL, it's more important.

I did a test on my 5ft tank recently using a frozen block (type you use in portable styrene boxes)

I turned the two heaters off but kept all the rest going filters & air stones. After one hour the temp had dropped less than 2C. As I stated it was in a 5ft tank. The same block in a small tank would reduce the heat a lot more. None of my fish suffered as the temperature has dropped a lot further when we had a recent major power problem.

Finally I certainly would not have done it all if I had thought there was even the slighest chance of doing any damage to my fish.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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