Controlling tank temps in the summer

"Dick" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 22:51:25 +0100, "Gill Passman"
gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote:

Hi All,

After my recent experience with stuck heaters and broken LCD thermometers
I've just stuck internal thermometers on all of my tanks...and the temp
readings are getting worrying....way too high and we haven't even really
started the British summer (as much as we ever get)

This is all across the house not just where I would expect it to get
hot....

A lot of you live in much hotter climates than I do....I'm just wondering
how you all cope and what effect it has on your fish....having just gone
through a bad experience with high water temps I want to avoid it...

Gill


There were a number of threads on this subject last summer. I am
lucky and installed central air conditioning before I took up the
hobby again. I just adjust the room temperature to a few degrees
below the tank temperatures. (lower for my comfort)

Evaporation is the key word. Several people rigged fans to blow
across the top of their tanks. Since the light hood, when on, only
adds heat, they took the hoods off thus increased the area of surface
water exposed to the moving air. Of course, you will need to add
water more often which will increase the ratio of solids to water
ration (see Old Tank Syndrome) which means a need to do more frequent
partial water changes.

If you do try the above, those that did said they needed to put a
screen over the top to avoid losing fish jumping out the open top.

Central air conditioning is expensive, but how about a window mounted
unit? The fan approach is cheaper, but what a hassle! g

dick

I'm going to go with leaving the lids open a little (but not too much) for
now and see how it pans out over the next week or so....I can't actually
take the lids off - not because I'm worried about the fish jumping out
(although that is a worry) but I'm more worried that the cat will jump in
even with a screen :-). He already treats all of the tanks like they are
"cat TV" - to be fair the novelty of jumping up at them has gone as he has
learnt he can't get in - he just sits in front of them watching until he
dozes off....not too unlike me in front of the TV - lol

We have been looking at one of these wall mounted air con units which will
mean going through the wall in the conservatory but that would just be one
room but as that is the one that gets the sun most of the day. I'm sure
it's the one that contributes to the heating up of the house. However,
strangely enough this had the coolest tank water....probably because we make
a lot of effort to keep the room cool because if we didn't it would be
unusable.

I've only added water to top up the tanks when we have been entertaining and
I've not had the time to do a full water change but just have done it to
make the tanks look good. The water change routine carries on regardless -
so I'm not too worried about too much of a build up....

I don't have air bricks in all of the tanks yet....I think that this has to
be a must if I am going to get higher temps in the tank (Oxygen depletion
etc) - both Matt and I learnt the hard way about overheating tanks.

All is well with the fish right now (even the poor Betta, Platy fry and Otos
in the hottest tank in the house) so maybe I'm worrying too much - just need
to monitor it and not let it get out of hand - or maybe I'm being too
optimistic.....

Gill

"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

(although that is a worry) but I'm more worried that the cat will jump
in
even with a screen :-). He already treats all of the tanks like they
are
"cat TV" - to be fair the novelty of jumping up at them has gone as he
has
learnt he can't get in - he just sits in front of them watching until
he
dozes off....not too unlike me in front of the TV - lol

Thanks for that- it's the perfect (purrfect?) way to describe how our
felines have come to regard our tanks: "cat TV." They realize now that
they can't actually join the action, just as they've resigned themselves
to being unable to actually participate in the downhill skiing, motor
racing and hockey games that we all watch together with great interest
on the television.

Our cats (FIVE of them- don't ask) do get an added bonus from staring
our main cat TV tank, though: when one of our cats sits on the end table
next to the tank and stares into it, all the fish come rushing right
over to stare back. I guess that the fish are hoping that the face on
the other side of the glass is going to feed them. Little do they
realize that the face is thinking that they might feed him.

Regards,
Ian.

Our cats (FIVE of them- don't ask) do get an added bonus from staring our
main cat TV tank, though: when one of our cats sits on the end table next
to the tank and stares into it, all the fish come rushing right over to
stare back. I guess that the fish are hoping that the face on the other
side of the glass is going to feed them. Little do they realize that the
face is thinking that they might feed him.

Regards,
Ian.

Our two cats mostly ignore the tanks now (they're very old), but will eat
any floating fish sticks lying about.

Gill:
Like you, I'm in the UK.
As I'm in Scotland and further north, it's even more surprising that I can't
get the temp in any of my tanks below 27.
Today, they were all at 28.
This worries me as one of the tanks is MEANT to be coldwater and I'll have
to get the temp down before I can move back out to the pond.

Peter

Peter

"Ionizer" wrote in message
...
"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

(although that is a worry) but I'm more worried that the cat will jump in
even with a screen :-). He already treats all of the tanks like they are
"cat TV" - to be fair the novelty of jumping up at them has gone as he
has
learnt he can't get in - he just sits in front of them watching until he
dozes off....not too unlike me in front of the TV - lol

Thanks for that- it's the perfect (purrfect?) way to describe how our
felines have come to regard our tanks: "cat TV." They realize now that
they can't actually join the action, just as they've resigned themselves
to being unable to actually participate in the downhill skiing, motor
racing and hockey games that we all watch together with great interest on
the television.

Our cats (FIVE of them- don't ask) do get an added bonus from staring our
main cat TV tank, though: when one of our cats sits on the end table next
to the tank and stares into it, all the fish come rushing right over to
stare back. I guess that the fish are hoping that the face on the other
side of the glass is going to feed them. Little do they realize that the
face is thinking that they might feed him.

Five cats! You should be over in the crazy cat lady group. (Just kidding I'm
a regular over there)

Our two cats don't care much about the fish in the large tanks, one is even
afraid of them. The young one however, does like to watch the Betta tank and
the Betta loves to stare back. One night I caught her standing on the glass
canopy for a birdseye view. Fortunately I got her down before I had wet cat.
I have a small piece of plywood covering the tank for now, until I get my
hood built.

As for the cooling question, I built a couple of those cheap temperature
controlled PC fans into my last hood. But since the tanks got moved to the
basement, I haven't had to use them so far.


Regards,
Ian.

I got 2 $49.95 LCD Digital Thermostats on clearance at my LFS for $13.95
each. My tank temps usually stay around 79 in the hottest part of the day
in my house which has central AC. My thermostats have an alarm set to go
off over 83F. I did get one that reached 83F the other day, but that was
with the AC off and all the windows open, trying to save on the electric
bill. When the alarms sounded I closed the windows, started the AC, open
the hoods, and add a few cubes of ice into the top of the hang on back
filters. After about 3 hours the temp is back down to 79.


This message was written on 100% recycled spam. SAM

"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .
Hi All,

After my recent experience with stuck heaters and broken LCD thermometers
I've just stuck internal thermometers on all of my tanks...and the temp
readings are getting worrying....way too high and we haven't even really
started the British summer (as much as we ever get)

This is all across the house not just where I would expect it to get
hot....

A lot of you live in much hotter climates than I do....I'm just wondering
how you all cope and what effect it has on your fish....having just gone
through a bad experience with high water temps I want to avoid it...

Gill

"2pods" wrote in message
...
Our cats (FIVE of them- don't ask) do get an added bonus from staring
our
main cat TV tank, though: when one of our cats sits on the end table
next
to the tank and stares into it, all the fish come rushing right over to
stare back. I guess that the fish are hoping that the face on the other
side of the glass is going to feed them. Little do they realize that
the
face is thinking that they might feed him.

Regards,
Ian.

Our two cats mostly ignore the tanks now (they're very old), but will eat
any floating fish sticks lying about.

Gill:
Like you, I'm in the UK.
As I'm in Scotland and further north, it's even more surprising that I
can't
get the temp in any of my tanks below 27.
Today, they were all at 28.
This worries me as one of the tanks is MEANT to be coldwater and I'll have
to get the temp down before I can move back out to the pond.

Peter

Peter


Opening the lids a little to vent them and of course the lower temps this
weekend have helped tremendously. Most of the tanks are now back to around
28...with the odd exception which is closer to 30.

Just worries me that summer has not even started yet and I've got problems.

Gill

"Bill Stock" wrote in message
...

"Ionizer" wrote in message
...
"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

(although that is a worry) but I'm more worried that the cat will
jump in
even with a screen :-). He already treats all of the tanks like they
are
"cat TV" - to be fair the novelty of jumping up at them has gone as
he has
learnt he can't get in - he just sits in front of them watching until
he
dozes off....not too unlike me in front of the TV - lol

Thanks for that- it's the perfect (purrfect?) way to describe how our
felines have come to regard our tanks: "cat TV." They realize now
that they can't actually join the action, just as they've resigned
themselves to being unable to actually participate in the downhill
skiing, motor racing and hockey games that we all watch together with
great interest on the television.

Our cats (FIVE of them- don't ask) do get an added bonus from staring
our main cat TV tank, though: when one of our cats sits on the end
table next to the tank and stares into it, all the fish come rushing
right over to stare back. I guess that the fish are hoping that the
face on the other side of the glass is going to feed them. Little do
they realize that the face is thinking that they might feed him.

Five cats! You should be over in the crazy cat lady group. (Just
kidding I'm a regular over there)

Our two cats don't care much about the fish in the large tanks, one is
even afraid of them. The young one however, does like to watch the
Betta tank and the Betta loves to stare back. One night I caught her
standing on the glass canopy for a birdseye view. Fortunately I got her
down before I had wet cat. I have a small piece of plywood covering the
tank for now, until I get my hood built.

As for the cooling question, I built a couple of those cheap
temperature controlled PC fans into my last hood. But since the tanks
got moved to the basement, I haven't had to use them so far.


Regards,
Ian.


cats, I had one drop into a tank. The lid slipped in and as soon as
the cat's paws got wet, he started running to get off (basically running
in one spot). Eventually a claw caught the tank edge and he took off
like a rocket into the wall a few feet away. That ended his curiosity
about the tank.

hot tanks, leave the tank light off as much as possible (if a planted
tank, then place a wedge so the hot air escapes the canopy). Having said
all that, there are places you shouldn't have a tank in some climates,
such as the top floor of a townhouse without ac (I learned the hard way -
down to the basement with you).
--
www.NetMax.tk

"Gill Passman" gillspamattaylorpassmanspam.co.uk wrote in message
.. .

"Elaine T" wrote in message
. com...
Gill Passman wrote:
Hi All,

After my recent experience with stuck heaters and broken LCD
thermometers
I've just stuck internal thermometers on all of my tanks...and the temp
readings are getting worrying....way too high and we haven't even
really
started the British summer (as much as we ever get)

This is all across the house not just where I would expect it to get
hot....

A lot of you live in much hotter climates than I do....I'm just
wondering
how you all cope and what effect it has on your fish....having just
gone
through a bad experience with high water temps I want to avoid it...

Gill


I let water evaporate to cool the tanks a few degrees. I prop canopies
open, use egg-crate style fluorescent lighting diffuser for part of the
hoods, and remove the tops from hang-on-back filters. That usually
keeps things down to around 82F or so during the day, a few degrees
cooler than the house.

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

82F is around the temp that my tanks are today (cooler weather). I will
definitely go for the leaving the lids open a bit....

Thanks
Gill


Leaving the lids open and in a little more extreme circumstances, running a
fan blowing across the surface of the water to increase evaporation will
definitely help (unless the relative humidity is too high, then your
evaporation is negligible). Evaporation can easily lower the temperature
several degrees in the right circumstances. In a more extreme situation,
floating a plastic container of ice in the water can help. Just make sure
your circulation is up to par so you don't get really cold spots. That and
monitor your temp to make sure that you don't get things TOO cold... you
will have to mess with it to get things right if it gets that extreme.


---scott

We have been looking at one of these wall mounted air con units which will
mean going through the wall in the conservatory
Gill, do you mean a mini-split unit? If not, you should look into
those, just a 2 inch hole in the wall.
I got them two years ago and they are great. Not for me mind you, I
love it hot, humid, sweaty and sticky. But the cats have little fur
coats that they can't take off so what else could I do?...
Teri

"teri" wrote in message
...

We have been looking at one of these wall mounted air con units which
will
mean going through the wall in the conservatory
Gill, do you mean a mini-split unit? If not, you should look into
those, just a 2 inch hole in the wall.
I got them two years ago and they are great. Not for me mind you, I
love it hot, humid, sweaty and sticky. But the cats have little fur
coats that they can't take off so what else could I do?...
Teri

Yes, that's the type we are thinking of