Need help with water temperature.

HI guys,

I need to know how my guppies will fair in elevated temperatures. I have a heater that keeps the tank at 77F (25C) ; but a recent heatwave caused the water to elevate up to 86F (30C)! I cut back on the lighting and the heat wave has subsided; but the water is still hovering around 82F (28C). I am kinda at a lost on what to do now, any suggestions?

 

Hi, welcome to fishlore. I have guppies and they lived at 80-82 for awhile and didI really well. If you want to help lower the temp you could do a partial water change. now that it is warmer outside I turned the temp down to the lowest temp I want the water to get and let the room temp help regulate my tanks. All my fish love it and are doing awesome.. Others will answer you also and give you some more suggestions.. Good luck!!

 

SkippI gives good advice, but if you are using water changes to lower temperature, please be sure not to go down too fast.  More than a couple of degrees and the fish can go into temperature stress.   You may have to do a small change and lower the temperature a bit and then in a couple of hours do another small change to lower it some more just to prevent this.

Rose

 

A great way of safely lowering the temp is setting up a fan to blow across the top of the water.

 

Thanks for the welcome skippI And for everyone's advice.

I am a tad worried about using water changes because, though the heat wave has subsided, it is still pretty hot and muggy. And I live in a second story appartment. The heat went up again since yesterday and is now hovering around 84F (29C). It's a good thing I don't have Goldfish in there!
Anyway, I am worried about this water change idea because to do it safely,,, I might end up having to do a few water changes like every second day I am sure that would not be good for the fish.

I do like your idea Boxermom, considering everything I think it may be best to use a fan. When you say "accross the water", I assume that means I have to be careful to not let the flow of air touch the water right? I heard drafts are not good for aquariums, that's why mine is in a corner. Also, is there a possibility the guppies might jump out? I have never seen them jumping before,, but then I have a hood

 

Yes, the air should blow across the water. Drafts are not good for tanks generally speaking because they can cause temperature fluctuations. However, in this situation, a fan blowing across the top of the water is the safest way to lower the water temp. If you can, get some sort of screen. I use a piece of plastic embroidery screen from Wal-Mart, costs $.89.

 

hI there guppielover ..I don't really know anything about guppys but I keep my tank between 26 C and 28 C all the time..ive had temprature fluctuations in the past that have gone up to 29 C..hard to believe living in scotland lol we have had some great weather lately..a higher temp is benificial to keeping diseases at bay and also for the bacteria in your filters..please sombody correct me if I am wrong.. ??? .. most tropical fish have around the same temprature tolerance don't they?? ??? ...my fish seem to be doing great in that temp..

 

Different fish prefer different temps. Beneficial bacteria exists in both high and lower temps.

 

In most of the books I have checked the really recommended temperatures for Guppies range from 23C to 26C. (74F to 79F) I am sure they can survive for a time and do okay in higher temperatures and a lot of times the higher temperatures cause some species to breed like crazy, but I do not know about a full time lifestyle. Maybe someone with Guppies will chime in here and give an opinion. This is mostly from my books.

Rose

 

Thanks for the advice Boxermom, I'll look into that screen thing.

And Chickadee, I also have a few books I bought when I got the fish and I have the exact temperature info in them That's why I was asking for help in lowering the temperature Hopefully with everyone's great help I can at least start lowering the water at decent temp

 

I've heard about this method as well, freezing water in a bottle or any container and then put it in the water. But I'm not sure whether will it work though.

 

You could also try adding a bubbler to help cool the tank. Bubbles increase surface agitation, which facilitates increased evaporation. Evaporation will cool your tank in the same way that the evaporation of sweat cools us when we are hot.

If you're using a HOB filter, you can lower the water level to increase the splash from the output. This will also increase surface agitation and evaporation like adding a bubbler.

I do not have air conditioning in my house, and temperatures can exceed 90 degrees around here. By using the methods described above, I am able to keep the water temp in my tanks within acceptable levels.