• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Warm weather; should I worry?

jsiegmund

Member
Joined
15 Nov 2014
Messages
167
Location
Netherlands
Hi all,

Finally summer has hit and temperatures the upcoming days seem to be rocketing. Where I live they are even expecting 37-38 degrees Celcius for the weekend (not something regular in Holland). So I was wondering whether I should take any precautions for my tank, or that I don't need to worry? I have it running at about 27 degrees normally. It's in my living room which can get pretty hot, so I'm quite sure ambient temperatures will get to 30 - 35 degrees.

The easiest fix seems to be opening up the hood and having some surface agitation to stimulate vaporising water. Maybe put on an additional fan and of course I'll try to keep the room itself as cool as possible. I can even drop in some ice cubes but I doubt that will do any good on 240 liters. Any other things I should / can do, or is that going to be enough to get me and my fish through the day? In the weekend I can do a water change when it starts to get really bad, but I won't be in during the week.
 
No get your shorts out your clogs on, cold beverage sun cream and lap it up.:)

As for the fish, I'm a little concearned about our cbs crs. They are up stairs in a dormer conversion. It's 25 on a sunny day nevermind a hot one. I've considered rolling out cheap tin foil on the roof but I imagine I'll send down a few air craft and get locked away, so that a stupid idea.

What you suggested plus all lights off will definitely help....a bit. Good luck I hope there a minimal if not no casualties during the splendid weather mate.:)
 
Having a fan blow across the top of the tank will often lower tank temp a few degrees below ambient (there are purpose built/sold fans that hang on the tank - which is where the temp drop data comes from).

You might also freeze water in 1-2 litre bottles & float these in the tank, morning & evening - do the first lot when you're able to monitor the temp drop.

I drop heater temps by a couple degrees when there's a heat wave, this gives me more "raising room", eg, set yours down to 25C

Increased surface agitation is also good as it will help with aeration of the water, also limit/lower CO2 values somewhat (which is good for livestock as tank temp rises).

Monitor plants for melt & remove affected leaves as this (decay) will further reduce available oxygen.

Most fish/shrimp will just decrease activity, decrease the amount you're feeding (unless you're able to do more water changes).

Add cold water (more dissolved gases) to replace the water lost daily through evaporation

LED lighting seems to add less heat to tanks than T5's - though I may just notice this more as my LED is Kessil pendant vs a T5 luminaire.

Depending on your plants & ambient lighting, you can likely reduce CO2 to 5-10mg/l & leave lights off for a week or so without much affect on plants.
 
Hi all

We have these temperatures in Spain during quite a lot of days in the summer... Yup, not good for the aquarium. Critters seem to do well but plants suffer. Even if the temperature outside is 37-38 degrees, indoors you will be around 30 and your tank will be a few degrees lower. I have never had higher temperatures and believe me, some days we have over 40 degrees. If it happens just a few days don't worry, the problem is when your tank is between 25 and 30 degrees during three months.... Computer fans are sold in LFS, they get attached to the tank rim and do decrease the temperature a few degrees. Don't need to buy one as common fans also help. For a few days, water changes work well when you see a peak in temperature.
And the old tip (not for tanks, but to survive in hot climates), open your windows at night, cool the house and close/shade everything during the day to keep it cool until the evening (I assume you don't have air conditioned... This is really the solution :))
The only positive thing in our case is that we save a lot of money and energy as we don't need aquarium heaters!

Jordi
 
It's all right opening the widows at night if your not a serious hayfever sufferer with asthma in this country.

I open them anyway why should the rest of the family suffer because I can't breathe:D I'm one of those people who can't even cut a lawn:D
 
In an old aquarium book I had it recommend floating ice cubes in the tank (similar to alto's frozen bottles I guess), and even went as far as to state that the fish actually love to play with them - "the neons would nudge them"...and so during a particularly record breaking hot summer that's what I did, and it seemed to work...the fish were fine and didn't give a tinker's cuss...:)
 
I popped in some bottles today to give it a try, 2x 1.5L on 240L tank. Didn't do a thing if I'm to believe my thermometer. I'll obviously have done something, at least keep it stable. Ah well, for the moment it's stable at 26 so that's good enough.
 
Same here :) 31 c room temp, 28,7 c tank temp.. Ice cubes and frozen bottles melt away in no time, that's an 1/2 hour 1,5 c lower and with in 1/2 back to square 1. Yesterday i had over 29 c in the tank.. This morning at 07.00 the tank was warmer than the room temp and the ro0m was 26 c. Did a water change to get it down and start the day somewhat cooler. Luckely today the temperatur wont be rising anymore. Till now the fish etc didn't mind even look more active and having fun. But tomorow they predict/expect +/- 38 c.. OMG!! The heat is on! Alive and cooking! Soupe de Tetra Ambre Gris avec Scampi Japon Saute? Lets hope not.

Now i know why i was looking at that cooler 2 months ago.. :) Pfff.. Feeling hot hot hot!!
 
For me the only thing that worked out dropping the temperatures without having a fan is doing cold water changes. Ice or ice bottles worked for one hour only dropping 1C at best in a big tank. And I would worry, one year in the biggest heat all my tanks(5) read low ammonia for the first time in years. I had to buy a new test to be sure....It was obviously a lack of oxygen issue which I've since overcome by having heavy aeration during hot weather. There was a few issues afterwards with a few of my livebearer getting sick down the road and it happened after that heat wave so I am pretty certain it was the culprit. But fish won't keel and die if that's what one thinks, but will silently suffer instead....

And yes, keep the hood open, switch the lights off when it's too hot. It helps a lot.
 
For now, today seems to be the last day of 30+ for us, so I'm not worrying anymore. Room temp is 28 at the moment, keeping the curtains closed all day helps to keep the heat out. Tank is doing fine at 26. Thanks for all the tips :)
 
Back
Top