Warm Weather Concerns

[bronzefry]

We went from the depths of winter to the height of summer within the span of 7 days here in the Boston area. All of a sudden, it's been at least 85 degrees F.for 5 days and it's expected to get up into the 90's and stay there for at least another 4 days. Mark Twain said,"If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a minute." Last summer wasn't particularly hot. I also didn't have any heat-sensitive species. Now that a Chaetostoma is in the picture, I'm very concerned. He's in a 75 gallon tank. Even with the heaters unplugged, the water pumps that gave off heat replaced and a cooling "pond" breeze, the water temperature is still 76 degrees F. The compact fluorescent light is running at 1/2 capacity. It's a 48" long double. I'm running the lamps that have the fan. The other half is off entirely.

My house is a split level. I'm on the lower level, which is built into a hill. This gives a measure of natural cooling. It feels cooler here than it does if you go a mile away. The upper portion of the house has one window air conditioner. There isn't any central air. The three ten gallon tanks are having the same problems. I've unplugged their heaters. I had (3) Aeneus Cories die in a very short span of time. I'm quite sure it was the heat.

I've restarted a "siesta" or nap period during the afternoon for all 4 tanks(soon to be 7). I used to do this to help control algae growth. Now, I'm doing it to hopefully cool the tanks down a little. The biggest jump in temperature seems to come between 6 pm and 7 pm. The temperature can go up 1 full degree in that hour. I've reset the timers to shut off for the night at 7 pm.(I'm in the process of creating a mini fishroom. It's a closet off of my bedroom which is actually the coolest point in the house. I think I'd better hurry.)

How does anybody here adapt to rising water temperatures with heat-sensitive species?

[Shane]

Bronzefry,
Sounds like you are using most of them, but here they are.

1) Small fan blowing across the tank's surface
2) Reverse the photo period. Tank lights are hot, so keep them off in the day and on at night.
3) Keep blinds and shades closed in the day.
4) Remove heaters.
5) Air conditioning. I have seen small portable models here for around US $100. Not cheap, but they would certainly work well for a fishroom in the summer.
6) Open a window. Heat is hot, but hot and humid is worse. Even a cracked window that allows a little better circulation makes a difference. This is what I mostly doing (along with no heaters, no day time lights, and closed blinds). The downside is I lose about an inch of water to evaporation every 2 days.
7) Keep tanks away from windows.
8) Run extra airstones.

-Shane

[Silurus]

You could also try floating bottles of chilled water (or even ice) as a last resort, although the caveats to this method are:
1) the extremely temporary nature of the fix and
2) the potential for large temperature fluctuations if you're not careful.

[Marc van Arc]

More water changes with cooler (not too !!) water is how I cope with this problem. However, I have 3 tanks. If you have 7, it might be a lot of work. On the other hand, it's for the benefit of your fish.

[bronzefry]

Thanks so much for the input. I wanted to make sure I was going in the correct direction. The temp.was 77.8 degrees F. at 6 am. I did the usually scheduled water changes this morning and this did lower the temperature by one full degree. I could see the Aeneus' breathing slow down a tad. The Cherry Barbs and Zebra Danios seem to like the water a bit warmer. I'm still trying to understand the needs of the Peckoltia sp.as he/she enters the fourth week of quarantine. I put some small bottles of water in the freezer in case of a spike in temperature.

We did have the annual duct cleaning on Friday. I wanted to give it a little test. So, I opened the registers and vents as wide as they would go and I closed the windows. I did all of this while the air conditioner was running upstairs. The cool air started to filter through. It's been about 2 hours now and the temperature in the downstairs feels almost "air conditioned." Four hours after the water change, the temperature is 74.9 F. The new forecast has either Tuesday or Wednesday as the end of this mini heatwave. My hat off to those who cope without air conditioning in warm climates. I don't know how you do it!

[Dave Rinaldo]

I haven't turned on the AC yet this summer. Last year I used it five afternoons just for us humans! I'm running 25 tanks in one of the bedrooms. Room temp right now is 85, the top tanks are 80 and outside is 89 at 1:33PM. I try not to keep any fish that can't handle some heat for awhile. For example my 40G breeder tanks have two Enperor 400's each. Fans and open lids!

[WhitePine]

I actually was just reading up on hvac stuff on line and found an iteresting note on the idea of pulling air vs. pushing air through a closed system. If you are using fans(small fans such as computer or fax fans) to cool your tanks you might be better off pulling the air throught the tank. Even these little fans put off some heat... and if you pull the air you will not be adding the extra heat to the system. I also have a high light planted tank (46 gallons) with 220 watts of cf over it... It puts out a lot of heat. I made a it a closed system with a glass shield infront of the light. The fan pulls the air through the closed area of the lights. I guess I could add an extra fan to pull air just over the water to add extra cooling. I run this tank at about 78 degrees constantly. It use to run alot warmer till I made the closed system.



Cheers, Whitepine

[Dinyar]

My tanks run in the high 80s to low 90s F for 2-3 months every summer. Not something I recommend, but I can't say I've lost lots of fish fish as a result. In fact, I can't think of any fish I've lost specifically because of hot weather. I have lots of delicate fish that people say can't survive high temps that have come through previous summers unscathed.

To my mind, the key is to keep BOD (biological oxygen demand) as low as possible, especially in the summer, by keeping on top of the water changes and filter maintenance. And of course, to have sufficient filtration and aeration.

Some of the other things I do -- already mentioned by others earlier in this thread -- is reduce the photoperiod (or switch lights off completely) and run mini-fans blowing directly into the tank.

If my tanks go over ~94 F, I do a quick water change to bring it back to the high 80s.

[bronzefry]

The Chaetostoma died overnight, as did another Aeneus. I believe Shane can confirm this. Chaetostoma are from cooler waters. I've read that some Cories don't like it above 80 degrees F. also. I'm in tears. I tried so hard with the Chaetostoma. Would you consider it a more difficult species because of the sensitivities, Shane?

I've checked the pH, nitrates, nitrites, hardness, etc. The only variable that has become inconsistant over the past month is temperature. I looked in on the Peckoltia sp.in quarantine. He/she looks fine. I did another water change in the 75 gal.because the Tetras and Otos did not look too good. They were still breathing rather heavy, but the temperature was 75 F., 2 degrees less than yesterday. I'm wondering if all the temperature changes killed the Chaetostoma. The Paleatus are BREEDING through this entire thing. I don't think they ever stop. I saw a fry I need to get out of the tank.

[MatsP]

I think the most critical factor for Chaetostoma species is the dissolved oxygen level [1]. As with all gasses disolved in water, it's a direct relationship between the temperature and the dissolved gas, higher temp -> less dissolved gas.

There is something that would help [others in the same situation at least], and that is a big airstone that gives a improved oxygenation of the tank. As I've stated before, it's not so much the bubbles in the water that causes this, but simply the fact that it "stirs" the water, and compared to a filter/powerhead, it also moves water up from the bottom to the top of the tank much better.

[1] At least short term, long term, too hot water causes the fish's metabolic rate to be too fast and they can't eat [or take up the relevant nutrition from the food] quick enough to cope, and die from malnutrition. But that takes quite some time, weeks or months.

--
Mats

[C_130_Herc]

I know this is an old post now, but I'm just looking thru the forums and I have a technique I use on my (heavily overclocked) computer that may work weel with tanks in hot climates...

My computer is water cooled thru an empty fire extinguisher that is buried in the garden beneath the water table. I'm guessing that using either a temp. operated switch for a pump or a temp. operated regulator valve to control the water flow thru the external tank would work to adjust for the required temp in the aquarium.

I've not tried it but I'll probly give it a go next spring/summer.

My computer was running at 78*C when I first cranked up the juice to it, after building the water cooler it now sits at a constant 19*C so it works quite well.

Another way of controlling the temp would be by adjusting the size of the container in the ground, maybe filling with gravel etc. to reduce the size.