Keeping Water Cool In Texas

I live in central Texas and my tank stays on the warm side during summer. I have had my heater completely out of the tank for months and when I looked at the temp a few minutes ago the thermometer read 84F. Another thermometer reads 83F so I think they are pretty close. I think my temp really should be a little cooler and am wondering how other “southerners” handle the summer months. I hesitate to say what kind of fish that I have because the last time I did that my post got moved but I have bosemani, Australian, and (soon) turquoise rainbow fish. The turquoise are not in there yet because they still have about a week to go in the quarantine tank but the temp is similar in that tank too. Oh yeah, no direct sun on the tank and we keep our thermostat set on about 77F during summer. It is a 45gal tank with a full lid so not much evaporative cooling either. Thanks for any suggestions. I suppose on the plus side I don’t have to worry too much about ick.

 

How in the world do you keep your house at 77? I would have a heat stroke.

 

How in the world do you keep your house at 77? I would have a heat stroke.

Put some fans around your house and it’ll make 77 feel like 72. Believe me I thought the same thing but switched from 72 to 77 with fans this year and am actually more comfortable now.

 

fans across the top should cool it down. Ideally you want it to breathe a bit... is there a way to prop the top open?
Try running the lights for a shorter amount of time (contributes to the heat)
You can also keep frozen bottles of water (use sealed, float them) to use in case it gets dangerously high...

 

I live about an hour northeast of Houston. My house temp with ac is around 75, and my 29 gallon tank is the same. But my 10 gallon Betta tank is about 78.5.

 

Hi, Stephen!

Not knowing your full setup, I will tell you a few things that I did to help with temp this summer.

UV - I have a UV in my tank. I put it on a timer so that it doesn't run 24/7. Huge diff in temp.

Lights - I changed to LEDs. Not a big change, but when every 1/2 degree matters, it helps!!

Moved tank - I moved my tank to as close to the center of my house as possible. Getting it off the outside wall made a quite a diff.

Lowered AC setting by 1° - Pretty self explanatory what this does. But, also recaulked the house to help with electric bill since lowering the house temp obviously makes it go up!

I thought I was going to have to try the fans over the tank or the damp towel over the top, but ended up not having to after the above changes. Hope you find out what works for you!!

 

that is odd... we keep our house at 78 or 79 and my 10 gallon tank stays room temperature. I figured a larger tank would retain less heat too? o.o

the suggestions above are good. hopefully it'll cool down soon... Ha Ha.

 

I live in Florida and have the same issue. I removed my glass hood completely. And it cooled the tank down 4°. I added an aquarium fan and it dropped another 2 °. It works. I have to add about 2 gallons a week to my 75 gallon from evaporation or else the HOB return makes a ruckas. Btw, I keep my thermostat set on 78° but we just added a window unit in our bedroom so we use that for lowering to "sleeping comfort" at night.

 

Well I use a big shop fan in the room. So far its just "ok", keeps all aquariums evaporating water and therefore cooler. Our electric bill hit over $400 the past two months and the house gets to at least 84 or higher during the day no matter what we do. I've been complaining to the landlords for years about this. I complained again last month. And they said oh yeah I meant to work on that a couple months ago. (I have no words for that other than they wouldn't have let it stay this way if THEY had to live with it and pay these electric bills). Man I can't wait for fall.

 

Yikes! $400 electric bill is pretty stiff. We've been getting a lot of rain here so it's kept the mid day temps down on average. Our bill has actually gone down from June-July.

 

I live in Florida and have the same issue. I removed my glass hood completely. And it cooled the tank down 4°. I added an aquarium fan and it dropped another 2 °. It works. I have to add about 2 gallons a week to my 75 gallon from evaporation or else the HOB return makes a ruckas. Btw, I keep my thermostat set on 78° but we just added a window unit in our bedroom so we use that for lowering to "sleeping comfort" at night.

I've been going topless all summer. I have glass lids but putting them on will run the temp up several degrees. Lights are LED but they get warm and it all adds up.

 

I have been dealing with this for years here in Florida, this year I finally had the cash available to truly solve the problem. A chiller unit for each tank has worked wonders keeping them around 76 degrees, and I got the freezer back to use for food instead of frozen water bottles. I have larger tanks so the chillers where a great choice, the water out of the tap is about 81-82 degrees.

 

If all your equipment is in the cabinet under the tank maybe open the door to let the heat out.

 

I have been dealing with this for years here in Florida, this year I finally had the cash available to truly solve the problem. A chiller unit for each tank has worked wonders keeping them around 76 degrees, and I got the freezer back to use for food instead of frozen water bottles. I have larger tanks so the chillers where a great choice, the water out of the tap is about 81-82 degrees.

I've thought about going the chiller route but right now I have a couple of small tanks and more on the way with a 55 as my "main" tank. I just don't know if it would be worth it for the one when it's not all that big really. Not to mention the space and plumbing it would need. Heck, I'd like to have some species that like the cooler temps but I'd just kill them with the heat.

 

I've thought about going the chiller route but right now I have a couple of small tanks and more on the way with a 55 as my "main" tank. I just don't know if it would be worth it for the one when it's not all that big really. Not to mention the space and plumbing it would need. Heck, I'd like to have some species that like the cooler temps but I'd just kill them with the heat.

That's true about smaller tanks, there are some solutions for them too. The units do take up some space and you do need to add a water pump into the equation, but they are really easy to hook up. intake pipe to the pump intake, pump output to chiller intake, and the chiller output to the tank. The water pump runs all the time and the chiller kicks on at a preset temperature. My tanks stay at a stable 77 degrees.

 

Wow, for some reason I am not getting the notifications about replies. I was quite surprised to log on today and see that there were 14 replies. I was just logging on to see if anybody had even read the question so imagine my surprise!

Anyway it seems that there are lots of good suggestions above and I will need to read them carefully and see what I can use. By the way, the tank is in the center of the house (pretty close at least) and I already have LED lights that are on a timer for a few hours each morning and each evening. I had bought about a chiller but I thought they were rather expensive but I will look again. Someone mentioned a fan that I presume blows air across the top of the water. That seems like a good idea and I had no idea that such a thing existed. I like that idea if I can find one. I worry about leaving the lid off because the fish like to JUMP when I feed them and I have shrimp that I am afraid might climb out. Almost every time I feed I can hear the fish hitting the lid even when the water is a bit low.

Thanks again for all the replies! I will have to try some of the suggestions.

 

Wow, for some reason I am not getting the notifications about replies. I was quite surprised to log on today and see that there were 14 replies. I was just logging on to see if anybody had even read the question so imagine my surprise!

Anyway it seems that there are lots of good suggestions above and I will need to read them carefully and see what I can use. By the way, the tank is in the center of the house (pretty close at least) and I already have LED lights that are on a timer for a few hours each morning and each evening. I had bought about a chiller but I thought they were rather expensive but I will look again. Someone mentioned a fan that I presume blows air across the top of the water. That seems like a good idea and I had no idea that such a thing existed. I like that idea if I can find one. I worry about leaving the lid off because the fish like to JUMP when I feed them and I have shrimp that I am afraid might climb out. Almost every time I feed I can hear the fish hitting the lid even when the water is a bit low.

Thanks again for all the replies! I will have to try some of the suggestions.

Yes chillers can be expensive, keep your eyes open on craigslist and facebook buy and sell pages you may find a deal. I picked up a 1/10th hp unit for $100. They are real popular with the saltwater guys.