Water temp and warmer / colder months

Dick · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 133

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:19:50 +1000, Ben dot au> wrote:

>G'Day all,
>
>I've had my tank set up for about 3 to 4 months now... (the colder
>months here in OZ..). as the days are starting to get warmer, I'm
>beginning to wonder if I need to do anything other than to turn down
>the heater in the tank?
>
>Tank is currently around 26 degrees c (78.8 f), and is about 200
>litres (Approx 52 US gallons), full of Platys and Molly's and Neon
>Tetras.
>
>In the days of 40 odd degrees (celcius... ie. stinkin' hot (100 f))
>could ice cubes be used to bring down the temp?
>
>Or how do you regulate the temp?
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>Ben.
>
If your thermostatically controlled heater is holding the temperature
you want in the cold months, there is no need to change the thermostat
in the warm months.

In warm months, as you already know, the problem is keeping the tank
temperature cool (hold same temp as in winter).

I live in a hot west Texas town, most hot days run over 80F and the
house can easily absorb enough heat to go beyond (think of car in sun
with windows closed).

I have my house air conditioned and the thermostat set to 78F in the
hot climate, whereas in the cold I set the thermostat to 74F and rely
on the tank heaters to raise from ambient 74F to tank temp of 78F/

So, do you have any house cooling such as a swamp cooler? If not, it
is possible to lower a tank's temperature by blowing air over the
tank's water using water evaporation to cool it. The fan need not be
very large. I recall one person used a computer fan. Depending on
your fish population you may need to screen the top to keep "jumpers"
inside the tank.

I have a strange situation with one 10 gallon tank. It is set up near
the "return" duct for my air conditioning. It is the only tank of 5
that the tank temperature runs cooler than the room temperature.
Which brings me to a warning, I must keep an eye on the water level.
While the moving air cools through evaporation, that evaporation is
taking water from the tank and continually requires additional water.
This, in turn, concentrates the solids left behind making water
changes even more important so the solids don't build up. (For more
google "old tank syndrome."

dick

Archived from group: alt>aquaria>tropical>fish>hobbist

Ben · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

G'Day all,

I've had my tank set up for about 3 to 4 months now... (the colder
months here in OZ..). as the days are starting to get warmer, I'm
beginning to wonder if I need to do anything other than to turn down
the heater in the tank?

Tank is currently around 26 degrees c (78.8 f), and is about 200
litres (Approx 52 US gallons), full of Platys and Molly's and Neon
Tetras.

In the days of 40 odd degrees (celcius... ie. stinkin' hot (100 f))
could ice cubes be used to bring down the temp?

Or how do you regulate the temp?

Cheers,

Ben.

Richard Polhill · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 4

Ben wrote:
> G'Day all,
>

> beginning to wonder if I need to do anything other than to turn down
> the heater in the tank?
>
The heater thermostat does not need to be turned down. A thermostat turns the
heater on when the water temperature drops below the set threshold. If the
room temperature is higher than the threshold then the water temperature will
not drop low enough for the heater to operate. If the water temperature DID
drop below 26 degrees then you DO want the heater to come on.

In short a thermostat is there to protect the fish's environment from low
temperatures; leave it alone.

200l has quite a significant thermal mass. What is just as important as the
max temp in the day is how low it gets at night. The best way to check is to
monitor the tank thermometer and see what temperature it gets up to and how
low it can get at night. You may find that the water temp only fluctuates
between 26 deg and 32 deg which'll be fine for most tropical fish.

Ben · Joined: 16 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

On Sun, 13 Aug 2006 10:16:43 -0500, Dick
wrote:

>>
>If your thermostatically controlled heater is holding the temperature
>you want in the cold months, there is no need to change the thermostat
>in the warm months.
>
>In warm months, as you already know, the problem is keeping the tank
>temperature cool (hold same temp as in winter).
>
>I live in a hot west Texas town, most hot days run over 80F and the
>house can easily absorb enough heat to go beyond (think of car in sun
>with windows closed).
>
>I have my house air conditioned and the thermostat set to 78F in the
>hot climate, whereas in the cold I set the thermostat to 74F and rely
>on the tank heaters to raise from ambient 74F to tank temp of 78F/
>
>So, do you have any house cooling such as a swamp cooler? If not, it
>is possible to lower a tank's temperature by blowing air over the
>tank's water using water evaporation to cool it. The fan need not be
>very large. I recall one person used a computer fan. Depending on
>your fish population you may need to screen the top to keep "jumpers"
>inside the tank.
>
>I have a strange situation with one 10 gallon tank. It is set up near
>the "return" duct for my air conditioning. It is the only tank of 5
>that the tank temperature runs cooler than the room temperature.
>Which brings me to a warning, I must keep an eye on the water level.
>While the moving air cools through evaporation, that evaporation is
>taking water from the tank and continually requires additional water.
>This, in turn, concentrates the solids left behind making water
>changes even more important so the solids don't build up. (For more
>google "old tank syndrome."
>
>dick
>

Thank you, I ust wanted to get in before the situation arose.... but
will keep an eye on all the point you mentioned.

Cheers,

Ben.