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Temperature

Mattant1984

Mattant1984

Member
Joined
13 Jun 2022
Messages
417
Location
Canterbury Kent
I currently run my tank at about 26 degrees and have done for a long time however what would be the benifits (if any) of running my tank at a lower temperature??
(Maybe about 23-24)

Many thanks
 
Mattant1994 said:
I currently run my tank at about 26 degrees and have done for a long time however what would be the benifits (if any) of running my tank at a lower temperature??
(Maybe about 23-24)

Many thanks
Click to expand...
Unless you have fish species that require at least 26C to be comfortable, 23-24C is fine. By far most plants will be fine - many might even prefer the slightly lower temps. It will lower your tanks (plants and livestock) metabolism and you will save money on your electricity bill.

Cheers,
Michael
 
MichaelJ said:
Unless you have fish species that require at least 26C to be comfortable, 23-24C is fine. By far most plants will be fine - many might even prefer the slightly lower temps. It will lower your tanks (plants and livestock) metabolism and you will save money on your electricity bill.

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Excellent that's what I wanted to hear, I have general community fish so nothing specialist so I will drop it down.

Does a lower temp do anything to oxygen or C02 levels in the tank?? (I don't dose C02)

Also how much could I drop the temp in one go??
 
Mattant1994 said:
what would be the benifits (if any) of running my tank at a lower temperature??
Click to expand...
As mentioned by Michael in cooler water the plants metabolic rate would be reduced (they'll grow slower), and thus will slightly reduce the need for Co2, which coincidentally dissolves more easily in lower temperature water, this is also the case for oxygen, at lower temps oxygen dissolves more readily into the water.
So you'd potentially have more c02 and oxygen in the water.

Some people suggest algal growth is also reduced at lower temperatures, which makes sense as their metabolism would also be reduced.
 
John q said:
As mentioned by Michael in cooler water the plants metabolic rate would be reduced (they'll grow slower), and thus will slightly reduce the need for Co2, which coincidentally dissolves more easily in lower temperature water, this is also the case for oxygen, at lower temps oxygen dissolves more readily into the water.
So you'd potentially have more c02 and oxygen in the water.

Some people suggest algal growth is also reduced at lower temperatures, which makes sense as their metabolism would also be reduced.
Click to expand...
So all in all sounds like a better plan then, thanks for your help with that John.

Is there a way of measuring C02 in your water and if so is there any real point ??
 
As John correctly points out the solubility of CO2 in water decreases as the temperature increases - making it less soluble and causing the CO2 to outgas more easily... This, among other things, is generally believed to cause global warming, as the oceans temperature are rising causing more CO2 to dissipate into in the atmosphere and thus increase temperature even more (greenhouse effect) - a vicious cycle.
However, the effect in our aquariums would be fairly small going from say 26 to 23 degrees, but by lowering the temp your lowering the metabolism of the plants and increase sequestration of bio-available CO2 which is a win-win for your tank - your natural equilibrium in a non-injected tank will still be somewhere around 3 ppm. which is not worth worrying about testing for.

Cheers,
Michael
 
Last edited:
MichaelJ said:
As John correctly points out the solubility of CO2 in water decreases as the temperature increases - making it less soluble and causing the CO2 to outgas more easily... This, among other things, is generally believed to cause global warming, as the oceans temperature are rising causing more CO2 in the atmosphere and more increase in temperature - a vicious cycle.
However, the effect in our aquariums would be fairly small going from say 26 to 23 degrees, but by lowering the temp your lowering the metabolism of the plants and increase bio-available CO2 which is a win-win for your tank - your natural equilibrium in a non-injected tank will be around 3 ppm. which is not worth worrying about testing for.

Cheers,
Michael
Click to expand...
Thanks so much Michael, you guys are fountains of knowledge!!

How quickly would you drop the temp from 26 to 23? I was thinking 1 degree a day for a few days??
 
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