# Aquarium Water Overheating! :P



## NoaDon12 (Jan 6, 2010)

i live in south eastern NH, and yesterday, the temp. got up to 107 degrees!!! and sence my tank is in my room which is upstairs, it's the hottest room in the house. so the water got to 87 degrees! i was hoping that the water would cool down if i turned out the light, but the temp. stayed the same.  so is there any way that i could cool down the water? THNX!!!
-NoaDon12- ;-)


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## kitten_penang (Mar 26, 2008)

add a chiller ........


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

I answered this same question in another thread yesterday, so here is my info copied over, as this is likely to be asked frequently this week with heat waves almost everywher across NA (Canada and US).

My action in the past has been to do nothing much. I keep the house as cool as I can (opening everything up early in the morning when its cooler, then closing everything mid-morning to trap the cooler air inside. I am not one who recommends water changes with cooler water. All this does is cause fluctuations up and down, as it is unlikely you will be able (or have the patience) to do constant half-hourly water changes all day. And a slow rise or drop in temp such as occurs day/night is less stressful and harmful than fluctuating temps.

Some suggest putting ice or bags of ice cubes in the tank. Yes, they will keep the water cooler--until they melt. Same problem as the water changes.

Turning off the tank lights will help slightly, fine unless you have plants and a day or two maybe but I wouldn't want to put my tanks in darkness for a week and risk the plants, considering the minimal benefit on the temp caused by the fluorescent lights anyway.

Keep the aeration/water movement going, as water temp rises oxygen becomes less and fish at the same time need more because they respirate more, so this is good. A fan blowing across the water surface (if you can have an uncovered tank, my fish would immediately jump out) does much the same, cooling plus increasing gaseous exchange.

Reduce feedings, once a day or alternate days or even less will suffice, as it takes energy for fish (like us) to digest food and conserving oxygen in warmer water is important.

Some people have chillers but unless you have either very sensitive cool water fish or have long and frequent bouts of high temps this may not be economically realistic, as they are expensive. Odd isn't it how it is so much cheaper to heat rooms and tanks than it is to cool them?

Last year I finally got a room air conditioner for the fish room, as in my house that room is on the west and south which of course gets the hotter sun all afternoon and evening. It did help; the tanks remained below around 83F, compared to previous years when they would easily reach 90. But all that said, I never lost a fish due to heat waves when that happened.

Byron.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

set a fan to blow on it?

87 is high, but not deadly high from my experience. We have central AC so its always cool, of the few cases where I needed to cool the tanks I used ice.


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## NoaDon12 (Jan 6, 2010)

haha, thanks guys! ummm, i'm expecting to be getting a 55 gallon tank soon. i wanted to have oscars, (1 albino and 1 tiger) is it ok to have 2? and any tips about keeping them?

Moderator's edit: this post is being copied to start a new thread in the "Cichlid" section of "Freshwater Fish". Please post replies related to oscars, etc. in that thread, not here.


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