Max. Temperature of tank?

[Shruti]

Hey everyone the heat is absolutely insane this time around and I was wondering what is the highest temperature your fish have survived in? My tank is touching 33°C and it's causing me so much stress. I've done everything possible except buy a chiller. The tank is 600L. I've added a powerful fan, slow ice water bottle infusion, sides of tanks are covered from sunlight, lots of aeration happening. I'm just not able to do anything beyond this and I'm worried for my goldfish and black skirt tetras.

There isnt any sign of distress but I was wondering if anyone has managed to keep fish alive and healthy at this temperature?

 

[Colin_T]

I have had rainbowfish living at 40C. I used to see goldfish in the local rivers when the water was 30C. The warmer water causes them to age faster but if they have a cool period during winter, it doesn't reduce their life span much.

The only way you will get the water cooler is to use an air-conditioner in that room. They are cheaper to buy and run than aquarium chiller units and keep you cool along with the fish tank. You set it on 30C and the room will sit on that all day and the tank won't go any higher than that.

 

[Shruti]

I have had rainbowfish living at 40C. I used to see goldfish in the local rivers when the water was 30C. The warmer water causes them to age faster but if they have a cool period during winter, it doesn't reduce their life span much.

The only way you will get the water cooler is to use an air-conditioner in that room. They are cheaper to buy and run than aquarium chiller units and keep you cool along with the fish tank. You set it on 30C and the room will sit on that all day and the tank won't go any higher than that.

Hey I have an AC in that room but even ACs aren't working in this weather. We are touching 48-49°C here... It's just terrible.

 

[Colin_T]

Just maximise aeration and try to keep things cool like you are doing. Hopefully the heat will come down soon and things will go back to normal.

Depending on where your home is and how much land you have around it, you could plant trees. They won't do anything now but in a few years they will provide shade and help keep your place a bit cooler, even if it's only a few degrees. But with climate change and record temperatures around the world, this will be the norm and hotter weather is yet to come.

You can put shade cloth over your house and surrounding areas to provide shade until the trees grow. We do that here, 60-85% shade cloth over the backyard just to reduce the heat in summer.

We had 46C here in the shade last summer and I have no doubt we will hit 50C in a few years time. When that happens, everything outside will die

 

[Shruti]

Just maximise aeration and try to keep things cool like you are doing. Hopefully the heat will come down soon and things will go back to normal.

Depending on where your home is and how much land you have around it, you could plant trees. They won't do anything now but in a few years they will provide shade and help keep your place a bit cooler, even if it's only a few degrees. But with climate change and record temperatures around the world, this will be the norm and hotter weather is yet to come.

You can put shade cloth over your house and surrounding areas to provide shade until the trees grow. We do that here, 60-85% shade cloth over the backyard just to reduce the heat in summer.

We had 46C here in the shade last summer and I have no doubt we will hit 50C in a few years time. When that happens, everything outside will die

Yes have maximized aeration. Live on couple floors above ground so a tree will take decades to grow. Yes doing the best. It's truly sad... Really feeling worried about the extreme temperatures.

 

[Colin_T]

I think you lot had a 52C day a few weeks ago?
You lot have to be careful with the heat too. It kills people as well as fish and animals.

 

[Shruti]

Yes, it's terrible. The tap water is like boiling water. Can't even do water change. Really hoping some rain comes.

 

[Archerfish]

Hey everyone the heat is absolutely insane this time around and I was wondering what is the highest temperature your fish have survived in? My tank is touching 33°C and it's causing me so much stress. I've done everything possible except buy a chiller. The tank is 600L. I've added a powerful fan, slow ice water bottle infusion, sides of tanks are covered from sunlight, lots of aeration happening. I'm just not able to do anything beyond this and I'm worried for my goldfish and black skirt tetras.

There isnt any sign of distress but I was wondering if anyone has managed to keep fish alive and healthy at this temperature?

Have you tried evaporative cooling? I use it one one of my tanks and it works. Brings the temp down 3-4 degrees (sometimes more) depending on humidity. One thing about evaporative cooling is you have to monitor the tank temp especially at night when ambient temperatures normally drop. I use an alarm thermometer to alert me if the temp drops below a safe threshold.

 

[Shruti]

Is that not the same as using a fan on top of the water? That I'm already doing as mentioned. The thing is when it's so humid the water doesn't really evaporate

 

[Colin_T]

Yeah, evaporative cooling on fish tanks usually implies having a fan blowing across the surface of the water. But as you mentioned, it doesn't do anything when the humidity is up.

 

[Shruti]

It's truly a very difficult situation. Hope there is some respite in the coming days. Feel so terrible and helpless for the fish...

 

[Colin_T]

Write to the government and suggest they start a tree planting program across the country, and also ask them to start a nation wide shadecloth program where they install shadecloth above all the buildings and roads to reduce the heat building up in them. Shadecloth can also be put over farmland to reduce the heat affecting the crops and reduce the moisture they need. It would cost money but be a worthy investment for the future due to the rising temperatures associated with climate change. But unless everyone starts to replant the planet and shade things, it's only going to get hotter.