Hot tank in the summer time!

Gill Passman wrote:
Psinapse wrote:

I have a new tank in my living room. I had 6 red serpae in it. They
have now
passed on due to the changes in temperature I've found. If I leave the
AC on
constantly the temp will go down to 74-76 degrees. The problem is that
the
natural temp for the room is about 84-86. What can I do, short of a
chiller
of some type, to regulate the Temp to something in the tropical fish
range
and not get hit with another case of Ich.


This was so, so me a few months ago when the temps started rising here.
I got a lot of good suggestions from this ng. The ones I adopted were
leaving the tank lids open and doing more frequent water changes. Adding
air bricks - oxygen is depleted when the temp of the water rises - if it
is a heavily planted tank this is more of an issue at night time (most
of my deaths occured first thing in the morning). Trying to shade the
rooms as much as possible and ventilate them adequately. I got some
suggestions of very clever ideas of adding computer fans into the hoods
- it didn't get quite bad enough but I am certainly considering it for
next sumer. Another thing is to keep the lights on for a minimum period
of time....the height of our summer the lights came on for feeding in
the morning and briefly in the evening for watching the fish - wreaked
havoc with the plants but kept the temps low enough for the fish.

Hope some of this helps
Gill

First, ich usually dies at temps of 85F, and it's usually easier to kill
in warmer water even if you have the misfortune to have a temperature
tolerant strain. Second, most tropical fish we keep are just fine at
temps of 84-86F for a few months so don't worry too much. Amazon basin
fish in particular handle warmer temps well. Mollies do too. I don't
have A/C either and I've got bettas, guppies, cardinal tetras, a pygmy
chained loach, harlequin rasboras, SAE, Otocinclus, and a discus all at
daytime temps of up to 85F. Outdoors where temps have been rising to
90F during the day and falling to 75F at night, I have Endler's
livebearers, mollies, a dojo loach, white clouds, goldfish, and koi.
The outdoor fish are thriving and I have seen no signs of any diseases.
(knock wood)

Plants ARE a bit more difficult to grow at 85F, but the tough standbys
like java fern, anubias, hygrophila, and swords do fine.

If you're concerned about temperature swings, set your heaters to a few
degrees below daytime temps (82F maybe). Like Gill, I use an airstone
and prop the tank lids open to allow water to evaporate and hold tank
temps to 85F or so during the day. Finally, feed well and change lots
of water to compensate for the fast metabolism of fish at warmer temps.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com