water tempuratures

[Jwoody]

hi,
i am somewhat new to fish keeping, i live in florida and as you know it gets really hot here during the day, i have a twenty gallon high tank with six tiger barbs in it, two of which are albino. the water tempurature is around 84/85 degrees during the day, which as i have previously read, is too warm for the fish. i just wanted to know if there was any way to lower the tempurature of the water.

Also on a side note, i was looking for some some suitable tank mates for the tiger barbs, i have tried rosy barbs but they were constantly being niped so i had to move them to another tank. any suggestions would be great!! thanks

 

[Lotus]

You can place a fan to blow across the top of the water or change your lighting to come on at night. Make sure there's enough flow and surface movement in the tank, though--higher temperatures means the water holds less oxygen.

My tanks regularly get up to 85 or 86F in the summer, and the fish are fine with it.

In general, avoid doing large water changes with cold water or putting bottles of ice in the water, as the temperature swings will stress your fish more than the high temperatures.

 

[OrangeCones]

When I lived in Florida, I did both of what Lotus suggested. I had my lights come on at 9pm and off at 6am, and kept fans on them to help lower the temperature. Using the fans increases evaporation quite a bit, so make sure you are still taking old water out when you do water changes, and not just topping the water off with new water.

Tiger Barbs are bad at fin nipping. I kept them many years ago with Giant Danios with no issues. Avoid anything with long fins and slower than the barb swims for the best success.

 

[Jwoody]

Lotus:Make sure there's enough flow and surface movement in the tank, though--higher temperatures means the water holds less oxygen.

I have a penguin 200 filter in my tank as well as a bubbler to help with the oxygen levels, so there is a ton of surface movement as well as a current running through the tank. i also have a glass lid on my tank, wold that contribute to the higher temperatures?

my tank is also a planted tank, so im not using a florescent bulb i am using a 15 watt plant bulb, which also contributes to the temperature rise. i only keep it on for about six or seven hours during the day.

 

[Lotus]

I'd take the glass lid off--it will trap heat. If you're worried about jumpers, put some eggcrate over the tank.

If you have a planted tank, you should have the light on a minimum of eight hours a day, with 10 to 12 hours being better. Put it on in the evening if you're having heat problems.

 

[Jwoody]

yeah ill try that cause i have already had an incident with a fish jumping out. but thanks for all of your help!!!