Tank at 83 degrees - Too hot?

[UnknownUser]

Hi all, I have a guppy, platy, harlequinns, and bronze corydoras. My tank usually hangs at 78 but it's been well over 80 outside for a few days now and it's slowly been increased to now 83. Is this an issue? How hot is too hot? I can float some ice in there if it's super bad for my fish

 

[flyinGourami]

I think its fine. But I've been yelled at for saying stuff similar to that before. Anyways I don't see it causing huge issues, since its just temporary. 83 isn't terrible IMO, but if it gets higher and higher maybe try putting a fan over? If you have a heater you could turn it down a bit?

I'm facing the same problem, I live in CA and its getting really hot; maybe others will have better insight on this.

 

[UnknownUser]

I think its fine. But I've been yelled at for saying stuff similar to that before. Anyways I don't see it causing huge issues, since its just temporary. 83 isn't terrible IMO, but if it gets higher and higher maybe try putting a fan over? If you have a heater you could turn it down a bit?

I'm facing the same problem, I live in CA and its getting really hot; maybe others will have better insight on this.

I have a preset 78° heater so it shouldn’t be turning on at all since it’s hotter than that already. Do you think a small fan against the glass would even do anything? It’s not in direct sunlight at all. I’m in New England so it’s only going to be above 80 for a week or two haha

 

[flyinGourami]

I have a preset 78° heater so it shouldn’t be turning on at all since it’s hotter than that already. Do you think a small fan against the glass would even do anything? It’s not in direct sunlight at all. I’m in New England so it’s only going to be above 80 for a week or two haha

I think running a fan above the surface of the water would help more. You might have already done this but I would probably remove the lid and make sure there is sufficient oxygen.

 

[UnknownUser]

I think running a fan above the surface of the water would help more. You might have already done this but I would probably remove the lid and make sure there is sufficient oxygen.

I hadn’t removed the lid yet, the plants need the light which is attached to the lid and I have no idea if my fish would jump or my snails would leave the tank. I might be able to rig it to prop up a bit though.

 

[flyinGourami]

I hadn’t removed the lid yet, the plants need the light which is attached to the lid and I have no idea if my fish would jump or my snails would leave the tank. I might be able to rig it to prop up a bit though.

Okay! I'm no expert, so I would wait for other opinions, but i think if its at 83 for a week or two it'll be fine, as long as it isn't rapidly changing.

 

[UnknownUser]

Just an update the tank reached 84° so i took the cover off and turned the lights off. Hopefully the plants won’t do poorly with no lights for now. I also put a fan on the tank but I have nothing to stand it on to actually be high enough to angle it into the water, so it’s just pointed to the tank itself. Probably won’t do anything but who knows. If it hits 85° I’m probably going to freeze some tank water and float that.

 

[LurkingontheReg]

Depending on the fish, I don't think 83 is really too bad.
I'd keep the lights on while it's cooler and once it starts to heat up take the hood off. You could buy a bracket/mounting piece to put the fan on a wall or something.
Go ahead and freeze those water bottles tho.

 

[UnknownUser]

You could buy a bracket/mounting piece to put the fan on a wall or something.

I can’t do anything to the walls here, can’t even hang pictures. The landlord doesn’t want holes in the walls

But the fan/lid method has brought it down to 82 and I’m a lot more comfortable with that.

 

[SawyerDawn]

83 isn’t terrible at all! if it’s short term i wouldn’t worry however i was recently scolded on here that corydoras like it slightly on the cooler side. preferably keep it in the seventies for them but IMO i don’t think it’ll be of harm for short periods of time.

 

[flyinGourami]

83 isn’t terrible at all! if it’s short term i wouldn’t worry however i was recently scolded on here that corydoras like it slightly on the cooler side. preferably keep it in the seventies for them but IMO i don’t think it’ll be of harm for short periods of time.

Not all corydoras, it was because the species you keep(Corydoras paleatus) likes it cooler

 

[SawyerDawn]

Not all corydoras, it was because the species you keep(Corydoras paleatus) likes it cooler

ah thank you for the correction!

 

[SnookusFish]

You could do a slow water change with cooler water, only a few degrees cooler. It will just be like its raining to the fish

 

[LurkingontheReg]

I can’t do anything to the walls here, can’t even hang pictures. The landlord doesn’t want holes in the walls

But the fan/lid method has brought it down to 82 and I’m a lot more comfortable with that.

Oops.
Would a pedestal or clip-on fan work? Honestly, I'm a little paranoid when it comes to clip-ons and don't like using them.

 

[UnknownUser]

Oops.
Would a pedestal or clip-on fan work? Honestly, I'm a little paranoid when it comes to clip-ons and don't like using them.

Because it could fall into the tank? I’m so paranoid about things falling into the tank lol. I had the lid off all night and I woke up to one of my snails all the way down a wire almost to the floor! So the lid’s back on but it’s 79°. I think if it gets hot again I will be using ice so the snails don’t get out again lol

 

[Kitcatkady]

New fish owner here, jumping here with a question. When using the ice method, what is the preferred approach? Do you freeze tank water into ice cubes then put them in? Or put ice in a plastic bag and float that? Any guidance on how much ice to start with? I have a 20g with a betta, guppies, and green aneaus Cories. Right now it’s only 79, but I’d like to be prepared incase I should need it.

 

[UnknownUser]

New fish owner here, jumping here with a question. When using the ice method, what is the preferred approach? Do you freeze tank water into ice cubes then put them in? Or put ice in a plastic bag and float that? Any guidance on how much ice to start with? I have a 20g with a betta, guppies, and green aneaus Cories. Right now it’s only 79, but I’d like to be prepared incase I should need it.

Never used this method so can’t tell you for sure but I’m going to use tank water to be safe, and float the ice cubes in a plastic ziplock baggie. I’ll start with just one cube for my 10 gal, check when that’s melted to see if it has changed anything, and add more based on that information. I’ll let you know how it goes if I end up having to do it I also might do a bit of thread searching to find other’s methods before I try it but so far I haven’t found anything about it.

 

[Kitcatkady]

Thanks, that’s helpful. I’m curious to hear how it goes for you.

 

[LurkingontheReg]

Because it could fall into the tank? I’m so paranoid about things falling into the tank lol. I had the lid off all night and I woke up to one of my snails all the way down a wire almost to the floor! So the lid’s back on but it’s 79°. I think if it gets hot again I will be using ice so the snails don’t get out again lol

Yes! lol.
Depending on how big your snail is, have you thought about temporarily using egg crate as a hood? You can cut it to fit however you like. Works for my 10 gallon, but I've also never seen them try to escape even when it was hoodless so...

As for the ice, the post above about slow water changes got my thinking. Maybe put some clean, dechlorinated water in a bucket with a frozen 1 gallon jug of water, or even just several smaller bottles, and have a fountain pump slowly add it to the tank while another pump is inside the tank on the opposite side slowly pumping the hotter water into the bucket to cool down. You can change out the bottles as needed without disturbing your fish.

 

[UnknownUser]

So I’d like to bring this post back for an update. A heat wave has hit New England, with temps all week above 85°F. So my tank naturally is at 84°. Not so great for my 76°-loving fish. I froze some tank water to ice cubes and put 3 in a baggie and wedged it between the hood so it’s just floating in the water. 3 ice cubes did NOTHING. All melted and ended up matching the temp in the tank lol so it’s still at 84°F. I did it again with 4 cubes as that’s all that fits in my sandwich baggie, fully expecting nothing to change. I may be looking at a 1 gallon cool water change every day this week!

 

[Flyfisha]

30 degrees centigrade is about the limit for cold water fish like white clouds and danios etc. That’s about the limit for plants as well. Tropical fish can make do with higher temperatures . The fish will suffer from lack of oxygen long before the water cooks them . It is extremely important to have oxygen transfer to water in those temperatures. An air stone OR two is recognised as the best way .

Many plants like moss will die back but start growing again if you are patient?

30 centigrade is 86f.