Is It Possible To Have A Tropical Tank In A Conservatory

[rita]

Hi,
I would love a tropical tank, but the only place i could have one is my conservatory, would this be possible. Any advise would be gratefully appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[corey01]

imo its a bad idea, because the temprature fluctuates rapidly throughought the day in a conservitory, even with a heater, the temprature will raise the water temprature far too high .

Are you sure its not possible anywhere else in the house?

 

[rita]

imo its a bad idea, because the temprature fluctuates rapidly throughought the day in a conservitory, even with a heater, the temprature will raise the water temprature far too high .

Are you sure its not possible anywhere else in the house?

Hi Thanks for your reply, no room anywhere else, spend most evenings in my conservatory. Had a pond for 15 years, it had to go last year miss my fish so much.

 

[pastabake]

It would depend upon how big the tank is ... the bigger the better ... and how hot your conservatory gets in summer, so if you've got a south facing with no shade you're probably out of luck. ... a normal aquarium heater will be adequate for keeping the temp constant during winter.

Even if it does get hot during the summer days you might be able to surround the aquarium with thick polystyrene 10cm (available from B&Q or Wickes) to insulate it from the daytime heat ... it would mean that your fishes daytime would be during the evening and night though which isn't such a big deal especially if that's when you're there to enjoy them. Of course you'd also have a rather large polystyrene box taking up space .... possibly though some of the newer types of 'thinsulate' foil encapsulated roof insulation might do the trick ... as its foil coated it also reflects the heat.

You might also be best off getting fish that tolerate the higher temperatures.

 

[waterdrop]

I assume money is very much an object, but if money were no object I wonder if there are refrigeration units like those used by salt water enthusiasts that could be adapted to the purpose?

 

[sketchy]

I would have thought if you had a good air conditiong unit, you would be able to keep a steady temperature in the daytime, however i'm not entirely sure on this!

Failing that, there are a few threads in the Hardware section about fitting a tank hood with fans (one input and one output) to help cool tanks. However, if theyre just blowing warm air over the water surface, I'm not sure this would be sufficient on its own.

I think one of the biggest problems would be the direct sunlight promoting algae. Possibly one way of counter-acting this could be to blank the window directly behind the tank so as to provide shade to your tank. A blind perhaps? A heavily planted tank may also help to some extent here, but then extensive lighting may well be required in the darker months!

Im not 100% sure on this, as I know conservatories can get rather warm in the summer months, these are just my thoughts on the matter i.e. probably don't count for much

 

[Tolak]

Orient the fish you plan on keeping to the higher temperature. I've had angels well above 90F, they do fine. Sterbai corys are another one that don't mind the heat, just make sure you have plenty of aeration, as warmer water holds less O2.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Another option, although extremely expensive, is to invest in a chiller for the tank. Although primarily used in reef tanks (where stable temperatures are an absolute must), they do allow freshwater enthusiasts to keep cooler water species in situations where climate would otherwise prevent doing so.

 

[waterdrop]

Another option, although extremely expensive, is to invest in a chiller for the tank. Although primarily used in reef tanks (where stable temperatures are an absolute must), they do allow freshwater enthusiasts to keep cooler water species in situations where climate would otherwise prevent doing so.

Yes, this is what I was mentioning above. How much do those things cost??

 

[Colin_T]

you can buy chiller units for a couple of hundred Australian dollars these days. But it depends on tank size, bigger tanks will cost you more. But if you insulate it as mentioned by pastabake it shouldn't be too bad. You can try a bucket of water in there and monitor the temperature of the water. See how it goes. If it gets too warm you will be stuck keeping discus or labyrinth fishes (gouramis & bettas)

 

[Egg]

I have a 55 gallon, open top, acrylic tank in my car garage. The garage is not insulated and it's very poorly ventilated. So far the warmest days have been 102F, which is pretty much how hot it will get here, with a typical min temperature in the summer in the 60s. Before I added fish I setup the tank and tracked outdoor and water temperature for a few weeks.

What I noticed is that the gap between max outdoor and max water temperature widens considerably as the outdoor temperature rises. In other words, it seems that raising the tank 1 degree from 84 to 85 takes a lot more heat than raising it 1 degree from 79 to 80.

I keep my heaters set to 79F. So far the hottest my water has been is 85.9F, even though the ambient in the garage was in the 100s well into the evening hours. Water temperature changes are very gradual and are spread out over 10+ hours.
When I did add fish, I added fish that I knew would do fine in high temperatures and I have a bio-wheel hob filter so I know the water is well oxygenated.

I think it is possible to do this safely for the fish and stress free for you, provided you realize what the risks are and take some precautions; As others mentioned, making sure you have a larger tank (acrylic provides more insulation than glass), that water is well oxygenated and with careful fish specie selection.
I also recommend finding a site that charts your min and max temperatures over a full year, and possibly more.
This is one example:
[URL="http/www.wunderground.com/history/airpor...eq_statename=NA"]http/www.wunderground.com/history/airpor...eq_statename=NA[/URL]

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah perfectly possible providing you take appropriate action to set the tank up well in the first place and don't mind spending as bit of money.

tbh i'd just invest in a chiller, they're a couple of hundred quid but not a ludicrous amount of money and it'll make life significantly easier rather than trying to bodge a solution and have a load of stress keeping things cool