How do you keep Your Aquarium Cool ?

Now that summer is round the corner.. I see sometimes my water temprature reaching 80.
So what do you guys do to keep your aquarium temprature cool.

 

Most tropical fish do just fine in 80 degree water. As long as you don't have anything like goldfish or Hillstream loaches, you should be fine.

 

well what do you do if you have hillstream loaches and goldfish? I was wondering that myself.

 

Central AC.......

 

yeah lol what do u do if u hav goldfish !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????

C W

 

I'm serious...I have central AC and keep the temp in the house at 72 degrees all summer long so my heater will have to be adjusted accordingly once the temp is regulated for the summer.

 

Buy an airconditioner for the room with a thermostat. I'm gonna have to do this for my room if I end up getting hillstream Loaches.

 

Either central AC or AC for the room in which your fish are. But if your house doesn't have central AC ... it is rather impossible to get it fast, lol. So a room AC is the better option. Or ... there are aquarium chillers (just like there are heaters) only I think they're very expensive. If you can afford one and if you don't have any kind of AC, you could get an aquarium chiller.

 

Yes, I've heard chillers are very expensive too. But don't worry about 80* unless you have coldwater fish.

 

Goldfish would be able to survive at that temp but not for a prolonged period of time, perhaps a few days tops

 

One way to cool tanks is to increase the evaporation rate.
This does lead to having to replace water at a fast rate though.
By running a fan so that the air flow is directed at the tank will cool it.
And a fan is a lot less expensive than a chiller or AC.

Dino

 

The problem with that is you don't want to add water to your tank to top it off as it does nothing to eliminate any possible chemical buildup.....

 

How about putting in a couple of ice cubes formed out of tank water !!!!

 

If you are doing your weekly water changes then topping off the tanks when it needs it won't hurt anything.
As Dino said a fan is a lot cheaper than AC and it works.
Carol

 

I suppose....And a fan may work.

 

Water to replace evaporation has nothing to do with the water changed out for maintainance.
It is simple thermodynamics, remove heat from a system,the system will cool.
I used this method for over 10 years while keeping fish in a greenhouse in the summers.

Dino

 

"thermodynamics" love that word! I gotta pull that one on my parents... ;D

 

Sorry, my degree is showing.

heheehe

dino

 

hehe don't worry I love big science words!

 

Water to replace evaporation has nothing to do with the water changed out for maintainance.
It is simple thermodynamics, remove heat from a system,the system will cool.
I used this method for over 10 years while keeping fish in a greenhouse in the summers.

Dino

It's really not that complicated. Thermodynamic processes naturally occur within the system itself anyway every day. It's an open system.....The filter provides the energy, the heater creates the desired temperature, which is more often than not warmer than the surrounding temperature creating condensation and evaporation......What we are attempting to do is further artificially control that system.

Since you are keeping fish in a greenhouse, you are creating an artificial environment whereby the heat and humidity levels are increased having an effect on your rate of evaporation. The thermodynamic process further occurs when you extract heat and create moisture in the form of condensation which occurs as a result of evaporation as we said earlier. In a greenhouse you sometimes see that condensation build up on the glass. Yours is a special case, I would think as the average person is not keeping their fish in a greenhouse.

If you position your fans where they will have an effect on the water's surface, then more evaporation will occur. But we are assuming that the average person will be attempting to cool their tank within their home with the tank covered. If they reduce the setting of their heaters (as they should), direct the airflow at the glass itself, thereby cooling the outer boundary of the system effectively reducing the water temperature within, then they really shouldn't see too much of an increase in evaporation. However, if the tank is cooled too much, condensation may form on the outer surface of the glass. But that would have to be an extreme temperature drop.

And actually it does relate directly to the water itself if a person is continually adding water without removing the minerals and disolved waste that build up over a period of time. The misconception would be that as long as they're adding water back into the system at a faster rate than normal, then there would be no reason to do water changes when quite the opposite is true. Which was my original point.

 

Water to replace evaporation has nothing to do with the water changed out for maintainance.
It is simple thermodynamics, remove heat from a system,the system will cool.
I used this method for over 10 years while keeping fish in a greenhouse in the summers.

Dino

Since you are keeping fish in a greenhouse, you are creating an artificial environment.


And actually it does relate directly to the water itself if a person is continually adding water without removing the minerals and disolved waste that build up over a period of time. The misconception would be that as long as they're adding water back into the system at a faster rate than normal, then there would be no reason to do water changes when quite the opposite is true. Which was my original point.

Keeping fish in your home is no less artifical than keeping them in a greenhouse.

As well, any knowledgeable fishkeeper will not fall for the misconception stated above.

Dino

 

If you say so Dino....The artificial environment I was referring to was the greenhouse itself....Not the method in which the hobbyist keeps their fish. If you read what I wrote it's pretty clear. I suppose it's easier to take words out of context.

Quite simply, you cannot argue that the conditions in a greenhouse are on the same level as in your home as they are not......


And never assume that every fishkeeper is knowledgable. Which is why I stated what I did with regard to water conditions.

 

Level?, I am not understanding what you mean by that.

And it seems to me, you took what I said about knowledgeable fish keepers out of context.

So, I guess we just end this by agreeing that we disagree.

Dino

 

By 'level' I mean 'alike', 'on par'. 'identical'.....

As for taking your comment out of context. I don't see how - I merely made a statement regarding assumptions.

As for agreeing to disagree? We're not disagreeing, just making different observations.

 

House to warn,you cool it,
Greenhouse to warm, you cool it.

House to cold, you heat it,
Greenhouse to cold, you heat it.

I don't understand why you think keeping fish in a greenhouse is so different from keeping them in a regular house.

Dino

 

I believe the original question was how do we keep our tanks cool in the summer time-
There have been several suggestions, fans, air conditioning, water changes, ice cubes.
If using a fan and evaporation occurs it will cool the tanks. This is the method I use and I do have hillstream loaches and gold fish. IF weekly water changes are done it won't hurt to top the tanks up when the water levels drop. This will further cool the tanks. I do larger and more frequent water changes in the summer as warmer water has less oxygen in it and some of my fish like highly oxygenated water. Although I keep fans on my tanks I have never had condensation form on any of them so I don't feel that is a problem.
Ice cubes made from tank water would probably help, I know some one who freezes water on bottles then floats them in their tank and then refreezes the bottles when they thaw.
Unless your tanks get over 80F and stays there, there probably won't be any problems. HTH
Carol
Carol

 

Just a note, I really know nothing on this topic, but you would need a lot of ice cubes to cool a tank, wouldn't you? Might not be as practical as other methods. But like I said I dunno.

 

yes 0morrokh you would need ALOT of ice cubes to cool a tank, of course it depends on what size the tank is. By the way I meant to say in my previous post "freeze water IN bottles" not on bottles (just a little typo there ). Seems it might hurt the fishes mouth if they nipped at an ice cube.
Carol

 

House to warn,you cool it,
Greenhouse to warm, you cool it.

House to cold, you heat it,
Greenhouse to cold, you heat it.

I don't understand why you think keeping fish in a greenhouse is so different from keeping them in a regular house.

Dino

Because a greenhouse is intended to be warm and humid.......I don't know of anyone who intends to keep their home warm and humid during the summer months.....

I'm sorry you have the difficulty seeing this. But I am finished with this topic.

 

With a proper ventalation system, the entire air volume in a greenhouse during the summer is replaced every ten minutes or so.
I never had problems with high humidity.

Dino

 

yes 0morrokh you would need ALOT of ice cubes to cool a tank, of course it depends on what size the tank is. By the way I meant to say in my previous post "freeze water IN bottles" not on bottles (just a little typo there ). Seems it might hurt the fishes mouth if they nipped at an ice cube.
Carol

Mine is just 7G and I think I will use the ice cube method

 

Let us know how it works. You will probably to always have a tray of ice cubes in teh freezer, and add ice multiple times a day...but of course your tank is small so it might work well.

 

keep us posted how it works.
Carol