Temperature Fluctuation

[Fawke]

Hi there,

As you UK residents will know, today (07/06/2004) has been a humid scorcher and my tank has gone up from 25.5 deg/C to 27.
My tank is always 25.5 and has been consistent through the winter and slightly colder months.
However i am worried about the fish, they just seemed to be acting a little weird.... swimming slightly in different places.....
No obvious stress, feeding as normal, just a little weird - im sure you know what i mean....

Basically, i realise too much fluctuation is not so good, but 1.5 degs Surely in the wild the water would fluctuate at least this much between day and night?

Any ideas (other than water changes, which i have been doing) to cool the water down or ideas on whether this really is damaging to fish

Thanks

 

[Teelie]

IMO it wouldn't be a problem, as you said in nature this happens all the time and the fluctuation can be more than 1.5 degrees too.

 

[KnightFire]

They should be ok, the temperature drops in the night so they will cool off a bit then.
Make sure you have adequate aeration, as the higher temperature will mean less oxygen in the water. If the temperature starts getting into the 30s you may want to consider pointing a desk fan at the tank to bring the temp down a little. The airflow around the tank will hopefully help a bit.

 

[amsh1977]

i think u r right too do water changes my temp has gone up 2 other than that they should b ok.

 

[Fawke]

Thanks for the super quick replies.......

As you rightly said, i have a 2 foot bubble wall in there so i presume this will help.....
Noticed that my Eheim classic filter is slowing down (less water output), so im gonna soak the tubes/spray bar/inlet etc 2nite, think the heat has increased the white algae in the tubes.... tank is mint tho...

Thanks again....
Any more views and opinions welcome!

 

[rvm]

I've got the same problem. My tank is getting close to 30degrees!!! I don't think my Plecs are liking it much!! I was gonna post a new topic, but spotted this one just in time, I think I'll put a fan on it tonight and tomorrow, and maybe change some water for cold. If I change 1 bucket full and just replace it with cold water will this affect the fish while it circulates??

 

[nightlife20]

maybe if u add a few ice cubes into a foodbag (u know little plastic bag thing with a ziplock?) and leave it floating in the water it might help a bit....

i said in a bag because i dont like the idea of adding dechlorinator to my ice cube tray, and also i dont like the idea of looking into my tank, only to find one of my fish stuck to an icecube goin round in circles

 

[rvm]

good idea. I actually just put my feed and return tubes from my filter into a bucket of icy water. don't know if it'll work yet, but it's worth a go.
I'll try the ice cubes as well!!!!!

 

[Fawke]

I just cleaned my inlet + outlet tubes and connections to the filter...... Its really pumping again now, like it was new.... hopefully the circulation should help....

My temp is hanging now between 26-26.5 degs so its working.... Thank god the good weather never lasts long in the UK!!!!!

Did a 20% water change last night also... fish seem ok so fingers crossed.

 

[millym]

hi there
were in london & same as last summer our tank has gone up 2c in the last couple of days. we froze lots of plastic milk bottles & soft drink containers full of water & plonk/float them in when it gets too hot....seems to help bring down the temp a bit & danios seem to love zipping around the cooler bits near the bottles

 

[Stryker]

The most effective and long term thus constant temps is to open the top of the tank and point a desk fan at it. Try and do this over a place of water surface agitation. This will promote evapouration so keep an eye on it... evapouration uses a lot of energy turning water into gas and has the potential to cool the water a few deg C below the ambient temperature!!!!

FYI, I'm in Walsall, UK and my fish are usually at 78F. Today they are more like 82F+ but they seem ok. If your fish are a little less annagetic I'd not worry about it. They will make up for it later as the sun goes down.

 

[Lateral Line]

If gradually done, a change of that size is not much harm. The problem is more the O2 levels, particulaly with sensitive fish like loaches etc.

Whilst very small shallow bodies of water, (small ponds, still ditches, paddy fields etc.), have dramatic rise and fall in temperature over 24 hours, the vast majority of water bodies, (rivers and lakes), that the fish come from show very little change. The difference being the very much larger volume of water involved. I had a temperature, (amongst other things), probe in the Rio Negro West of Manaus, Brazil for an uninterupted week. The water never changed by more then 0.1C the accuracy of the instrument.

 

[appleblossom]

our tank shot up from 25.5 to 28.1 yesterday and the room was at 29.1.... one quick trip to b&q later we now have a small air conditioning unit
It cost £179.99 and cools and dehumidifies a 12ft x 16ft room and has been a godsend today. I am a comfortable 26.1 and the air coming out of the unit is at 16 degrees so its a nice cool breeze. Its still warm in here but its taken all of the humidity out of the air so I'm warm rather than sticky.

Anyone with £180 to spare I recommend it!!
(also its near the fish tank so the fish are having a nice cool swim today )

 

[rvm]

I've literally just done the exact same thing!!!!! I've just turned it on!! It's a bit noisy though, but we'll see how cool my living room is in a few hours!!!!
Let me know if yours is noisy as well??

 

[bettasplendenlover]

u cood flote ice in a placcy bag over nite?