# high temps in tanks



## dlambert (May 1, 2012)

it's summer time, and my third floor appartment gets upwards of 90 degrees during the day when we are out.. (it was good in the winter when we had a tiny heating bill  ) Sooo.. i have 2 tropical tanks, a 15 gallon with some glofish, and tetras and a snail, and a 29 gallon with 2 jewels and 5 green tiger barbs and a bristlenose.. both tanks are at 86 degrees F. from what i've read the jewels shouldnt mind that but all the others all have lower recomended temps... just wondering when i should start to really worry for those type of fish


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## rhymon78 (Mar 17, 2012)

dlambert said:


> it's summer time, and my third floor appartment gets upwards of 90 degrees during the day when we are out.. (it was good in the winter when we had a tiny heating bill  ) Sooo.. i have 2 tropical tanks, a 15 gallon with some glofish, and tetras and a snail, and a 29 gallon with 2 jewels and 5 green tiger barbs and a bristlenose.. both tanks are at 86 degrees F. from what i've read the jewels shouldnt mind that but all the others all have lower recomended temps... just wondering when i should start to really worry for those type of fish


I have no answers, but I am in the UK and we're experiencing a heat wave at the mo. and I noticed my tank today jumped up nearly 2 degrees higher than normal.... SoI have lowered the thermostat temp control dial on my tank heater a notch or two. and I turned the lights off, and opened the hood up for a while, not too long though I have 2 cats.....

I noticed the fish were acting weird, my normally very peaceful glow lights were chasing each other around, and appearing to be slightly aggressive. I started panicking, and thus reduced the temp control. I hope the weather doesn't do too much damage.

Iam sure there will be tons of folks out there to advice on this subject. 

Simon


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## AbbeysDad (Mar 28, 2011)

rhymon78 said:


> I have no answers, but I am in the UK and we're experiencing a heat wave at the mo. and I noticed my tank today jumped up nearly 2 degrees higher than normal.... SoI have lowered the thermostat temp control dial on my tank heater a notch or two. and I turned the lights off, and opened the hood up for a while, not too long though I have 2 cats.....
> 
> I noticed the fish were acting weird, my normally very peaceful glow lights were chasing each other around, and appearing to be slightly aggressive. I started panicking, and thus reduced the temp control. I hope the weather doesn't do too much damage.
> 
> ...


Simon,

Lowering the temperature control on your heater is a bad idea. If the tank temperature is higher than the heater set point do to the weather/room temperature, the heater simply does not come on. But now you've set it lower so when the temperature does come down, your tank temperature will now be too low. Opening the lid(s) and/or having a fan blow across the surface are good ideas - fiddling with the heater setting, not so much.

AD


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## AbbeysDad (Mar 28, 2011)

I would not choose to live in an apartment with 90F temperatures. Since it's a 3rd floor apartment, I'd bet there's poor insulation and/or poor ventilation in the attic.
_(My second floor got too hot in summer after a darker colored shingle was installed on the roof. I added baffles to allow more air intake from the soffit vents [have a ridge vent] and I made a home made 'whole house fan' from a thermostatically controlled 20" box fan to exhaust hot air from the 2nd floor into and out of the attic. It works great and is especially good at pulling in cooler night time air)._
I think I might politely 'complain' to the landlord and ask if there was something s/he might do to help with the stifling heat. Failing that, If I could not afford a portable air conditioner unit, I would at least have a fan setup with cross ventilation to exhaust the hot air. 
As mentioned separately reducing the tank lights, opening lids and having a fan to circulate air across the water surface will help. There is less oxygen in warmer water so if there isn't one already, an air pump and air stone may be helpful.

I have seen some suggest that they freeze small water bottles and float to keep water cooler. (Effectively, although low tech manual, assuming decent tank circulation, this is not much different than a chiller). The 'trick' is to have a bottle size that will reduce the temperature enough to be helpful, have a sustainable duration, but not drive the heater(s). One has to consistently monitor temperature an swap bottles as appropriate. Although this can be done, unless monitored very closely it can represent undesired temperature swings that are actually worse than sustained higher temperatures.

AD


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Finally found the previous thread on this topic, so here is my response copied over from there:

This question is asked every summer.:smile: But the answer is the same.

Temperature variations occur in the wild and fish will generally adapt. If the daytime temperature in the room reaches 85F then the aquarium will be that warm too; while the larger the tank the longer it takes to warm, the average home aquarium will eventually heat up to the room. 

It is better to leave this, than do something that results in up and down swings. The cold water/ice floating/water changes is not advisable, and these cause rapid temperature fluctuations that are stressful on fish. If it is really hot, opening the cover (but many fish will jump, so use caution), turning off the tank lights (if no live plants, leave the lights off; if plants, turn the lift off earlier in the day), and aiming a small fan across the surface can help. In the tank, increase water circulation (even add an airstone) to keep oxygen entering the water, since the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold and fish have to work harder to get it. Overnight, the room will likely cool a bit, as will the tank with it.

Don't feed as much, even missing alternate days. It takes energy for fish to eat, and this adds to the sttress in high temperatures. Keep the fish as calm as possible. If they can just "chill out" under a plant leaf they will be better; just as we on hot days like to sit quietly in the shade.

I have all my tanks in a fishroom, and it will get well over 90F in the summer, in the room and the tanks. I now have a portable air conditioner in this room, that keeps it about 82F on hot days. But before I got this, the tanks were left alone and I never lost a fish. It will cool at night, so it is not the same as a constant too-high temperature.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

I do cold/cool water changes and never had a problem with it. There are pretty rapid temp fluctuations in the wild and fish do just fine.


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## Stormfish (Apr 30, 2012)

I decided to just go with it as the temps in my tanks climbed. However, I did add a second HOB filter to one tank to increase filtration and water movement.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Actually beyond the surface of the water the temperature is extremely stable. Best example I can give is that rainbowfish fry can die if the temperature of the water fluctuates +-1-2C (1.8-3.6F). This of course is in a prime breeding season, but either way the temperature must be pretty stable or the fish would be extinct by now. :-D Seasonal temperature changes are something fish in the wild handle, as they are gradual. Large bodies of water are slow to have temperature changes.
However Byron is right, our aquarium fish are hardy and won't mind the seasonal change of temperature. One of my heaters malfunctioned and cooked a female betta to 91F overnight and she is still extremely healthy (actually she had a lot more energy when the water was this warm).
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Olympia said:


> Actually beyond the surface of the water the temperature is extremely stable. Best example I can give is that rainbowfish fry can die if the temperature of the water fluctuates +-1-2C (1.8-3.6F). This of course is in a prime breeding season, but either way the temperature must be pretty stable or the fish would be extinct by now. :-D Seasonal temperature changes are something fish in the wild handle, as they are gradual. Large bodies of water are slow to have temperature changes.
> However Byron is right, our aquarium fish are hardy and won't mind the seasonal change of temperature. One of my heaters malfunctioned and cooked a female betta to 91F overnight and she is still extremely healthy (actually she had a lot more energy when the water was this warm).
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


I've spawned my rainbow fish lots of times and I've never seen fry die offs from temp fluctuations that small. 

There are sudden temp fluctuations in the wild usually due to storm events. Weather they drop or increase the temp depends on location. But they are usually sudden episodic events where the temp spike or drops then gradually returns. A lot of fish use these to gauge the seasons. I know one of the common ways to breed cories and many other fish is to wait for a low pressure system then do a cold water change to simulate a storm.


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Temperature fluctuations frequently cause poor embryo survival, low hatch rates, reduced growth rate, increase in deformities or larval disease, in both blue eyes and rainbows (though I suspect blue eyes to be more sensitive?).
It's estimated that in the wild, larval rainbowfish mortality rates are as high as 99.99%, so I guess you're right and their environment does fluctuate a lot. I know their particular habitats are in general crazy, most fish rarely reach a year past adulthood, but they breed fast and often to make up for this.

Ever gone swimming in a lake at night? It feels extremely warm compared to the air temperature, doesn't it? :-D Shallow water species are probably much more tolerant of changes, as well as fish that live in places where natural flooding/droughts occur, but water in general is a great insulator and holds heat very well.


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## dlambert (May 1, 2012)

LOL thanks guys! yea the appartment has *zero* insulation abbeysdad.. not worried about it because i wont be here long and everything else was great.. just an old place.. might get the a/c from the basement i just dont want to pay for more electricity yet... anyway i ended up floating a small double ziploc bag with some ice cubes in it and dropped a degree or 2.. bottles are a good idea.. on a different/cool/interesting note, my 2 jewel cichlids CERTAINLY did not mind the temp.. i was looking at one of my jewels today which i suspected of having bloat.. and suddenly realized that it was no longer hideously fat any more.. and then i realized why she was at the back of the tank and all my barbs were cowering in the corner... a whole mess of eggs on the driftwood! cool but now i either have to vacuum her eggs or quickly find a home for a bunch of angry fish that no one wants.. cool to know for sure that they are male/female and to see them guarding the eggs as i have never seen it before tho  might start a new thread to see if anyone wants the fry.


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## rhymon78 (Mar 17, 2012)

AbbeysDad said:


> Simon,
> 
> Lowering the temperature control on your heater is a bad idea. If the tank temperature is higher than the heater set point do to the weather/room temperature, the heater simply does not come on. But now you've set it lower so when the temperature does come down, your tank temperature will now be too low. Opening the lid(s) and/or having a fan blow across the surface are good ideas - fiddling with the heater setting, not so much.
> 
> AD


Thanks AD, 

I only lowered the temp gauge on the heater to still above the minimum temp range for all the fish I stock. Usually run the tank about 25c, yesterday the tank was around 27 and I dropped the thermostat to around 22-23c although now you have pointed out that it is pointless I have increased it again. 

The fish don't seem overly bothered by the weather, I think the odd behaviour I noticed may be some kind of spawning behaviour. Just never noticed it before in the glow lights. The danios I have were definitely doing the same thing the other day, and when I changed the floss filter pads there was eggs stuck to it. must be the weather, or the time of the year maybe? I know nothing about fish reproduction.....

cheers for the advice though
simon


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Olympia said:


> Temperature fluctuations frequently cause poor embryo survival, low hatch rates, reduced growth rate, increase in deformities or larval disease, in both blue eyes and rainbows (though I suspect blue eyes to be more sensitive?).
> It's estimated that in the wild, larval rainbowfish mortality rates are as high as 99.99%, so I guess you're right and their environment does fluctuate a lot. I know their particular habitats are in general crazy, most fish rarely reach a year past adulthood, but they breed fast and often to make up for this.
> 
> Ever gone swimming in a lake at night? It feels extremely warm compared to the air temperature, doesn't it? :-D Shallow water species are probably much more tolerant of changes, as well as fish that live in places where natural flooding/droughts occur, but water in general is a great insulator and holds heat very well.


Both shallow and deep water species have pretty good tolerance for change. If you have ever gone diving in a lake there is always a thermocline somewhere which is a ~10 degree or so temp drop over the course of only a few feet.


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## AbbeysDad (Mar 28, 2011)

Mikaila31 said:


> Both shallow and deep water species have pretty good tolerance for change. If you have ever gone diving in a lake there is always a thermocline somewhere which is a ~10 degree or so temp drop over the course of only a few feet.


In those situations, unlike an aquarium, the fish can control the thermal layer of preference. But it's an excellent point because even when ambient temperatures get very high, it doesn't mean that water temperatures are effected very quickly or very deep. As a matter of fact, large bodies of water even temper the ambient air temperature - as evidenced by my neck of the woods - the finger lakes wine region in CNY).


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

Very true. I live on lake Ontario. Keeps us cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## AbbeysDad (Mar 28, 2011)

Olympia said:


> Very true. I live on lake Ontario. Keeps us cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.


Yeah, but you should keep all the lake effect SNOW <hehe>


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