Tank too hot

[Zanshin]

Hello,

I just got a thermometer for my tank, and it says that my tank is currently at 84 degrees. It's the middle of the night where I live (12:30 am), so I am very sure that it gets hotter during the day.

The tank gets no direct sunlight, and I leave my doors and windows open (otherwise my room would be too hot for me!). I would like my tank to be between 75 and 80 degrees.

I was thinking about trying to build my own "chiller", but I would need a digital thermometer with outputs that I could connect to my "chiller" to tell it when to stop (my college EE classes might just come in handy )

For the moment, I am going to buy a small fan that I can clip to the edge of the aquarium, and blow some air over the surface, which should help. Do any of you guys have experience with a tank that gets too hot? And furthermore, what have you done about it?

 

[HanshaSuro]

I wind up keeping mine in an air conditioned room. Even with the AC set for 75 degrees, I only keep the tank about 80 degrees during the day.

 

[art_nyc]

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9845

=]

 

[Zanshin]

Thanks!

 

[mandi0808]

My 10 gal kept getting too hot. All I did was lift the lid up on it. It stays right at 78 now.

 

[Cackett]

good way of coolign the tank is to fill a old bottle or new up with water and freeze it and have this floating in your tank! one way of lowering.
anther is to have a fan blowing accross the water

in the wild i would guess the water also heats up and as like your fish tank it got ohotter over time even if it was 12 hours or less and there for the fish should be fine. i would worrie if it happened instantly

 

[jaws2]

yes sudden changes will kill a fish but slow changes will most likely not kill fish

 

[Zanshin]

I like the idea of freezing water in a plastic bottle. Will this cool the water too fast? (I'm thinking a 12-16 ounce bottle in a 10 gallon tank).

Hehe, and thanks again for the replies, I shoulda used the search function first .

The temperature is ok for all the fish except my black ghost knifefish (which I know will outgrow the 10 gallon tank). I think the heat and the stress of being newly added is making it sick, I found ich on it this morning . Time to build a quarantine tank.

 

[aklor]

nah... I use a 20oz plastic coke bottle on my 10 gal... cools it 2-3 degress by the time it's melted... leaving the top up with a fan works a whole lot better

 

[fishlover25]

u could alos get a pitcher like where u make juice in. then fill it withj tnak water. freeze it. then the ice will melt that it could slip out of the pitcher and i find it to work more beacus the coldness goes right to the water other than whne its in a bottle the melted water is in the way

 

[Cackett]

hope it all goes well my tanks hot but i'm hopping my fish might use this for the mating (the heat) as fish sporn in the heat!

 

[madhippoz]

I use the fan blowing across the top of the water, and some form of frozen ice if you have it. I recently lost a betta fish to this. My gf's betta was not doing well at her house (different part of the city, different resevoir, crappy water), was just getting him to recover when this 3 week heat spell hit us, the tank temperature fluxuated a ton, unfortunately for the first few days I didn't notice the heater wasn't plugged in all the way so during the day it was over 80, and at night it'd plummet to low 70's, high 60's. This was in a 5gal tank so the temp swung very quickly...the advantage to a larger tank, water temperature takes longer to flucuate.