Gannet Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 how do you keep the temp down in a cold water tank, my is between 21 and 23 i have a fan going above it at all time, when i turn the fan off (for a test) it went up to 24, ive tryed ice to no luck, its a 54L tank so buying a chiller is over kill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 13, 2007 Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 Ours gets to 28 - 32 in summer 8) Use Slikka pads (those things to cool chilly bins) or freeze 2 or 3L bottles of water and float them in the tank. Turn the lights off when possible and, if the fish are not kamikazis, remove the lid. Blow the fan air across the water surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 keep 3lt juice bottles in the freezer. About five or as many as you can fit (thankfully i don't use the freezer for much else!) At the worst of summer this provides a continual supply on rotation. Put one in the tank when you get up, before you go to work, when you get home and before you go to bed. It annoyingly takes so much longer to freeze 3lts of water than you think... And I find thermometers to be notoriously unreliable My chiller is keeping the tank all of three degrees below room temp at the moment. It is going constantly and stressing me out. I need it COLDER!!! And need many more bottles for ice than my present two... Stella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 i'm keeping mine down with frozen 3L bottles floating in the sump plus a fan on hight across the surface... still at 26.5 due to metal halide(this is my marine I'm talking about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 i cant realy put a 3L botle in my tank because its only a 2ft tank, and that would take up half the tank, i have a fan going on it 24/7 but its still at 23c is 23c ok for a koura? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucid Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 why don't you get the sheets of gel you can chill or freeze and float them on the surface. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 ill have to try that, but depends on how much $$$ i have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 there is only one room in the house i can have it in so that my flat m8 dosent find out about it, the lights are never on un less i looking at him, ie less than a hour a day, spred over the day (depends if im working or not) the fan is goin 24/7 i keep the curtian closed so that no direct sunlight can get the tank, and at the other end of the window i leave that part open as thats the part that can open to let a breeze in. hyopefully this works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 put polystyrene sheets on the back and sides of the tank, slows heat exchange, both heat in and cold out. As far as i am aware crays don't have serious issus with heat. I had a horrid temp spike one day, got home and the tank was 29 degrees late that night. All the koaro were long gone :'( but the cray, inanga and bullies were acting normal. Convieniently for the cray, it will be colder on the bottom of the tank. I used to use 3lt bottles in my slightly-over-two-foot tank, yeah, looks hideous, but it did the trick over the hottest parts. oooh, this might work nicely: Get the 3lt bottles, fill with tank water, top up tank. Keep bottles in the fridge. Rotate so you fill an empty bottle and empty a cold one into the tank periodically. Keep quite a few in the fridge so they have time to chill. Bear in mind not to do such big volumes as to quickly change the temp - also stressful. That could work nicely on smaller tanks. The problem with heat is not so much the *temperature alone*, but the effect it has on other things. The hotter it is the lower the disolved oxygen. Coldwater fish often need a higher level of disolved oxygen than tropicals (tis what they evolved with), so when it heats up they are most likely to die of asphyxia. If you fish are seriously stressing in the heat, they may be gasping at the surface. The other issue is it increases the amonia toxicity and increases numbers of bacteria/pathogens/parasites by speeding up their lifecycle. A coldwater fish may be placed in the fridge when sick to slow down it's metabolism and that of the enemy disease, it can buy time when treating. (apparently, don't sue! ) Stella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimTam22 Posted January 18, 2007 Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 there is only one room in the house i can have it in so that my flat m8 dosent find out about it, Thats pretty funny, have you still not moved out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gannet Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/viewto ... 905#203905 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricfish37 Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 So, why is it so important to cool the tank? Mine is 24.5 at present, and the Goldfish look happy enough. Plenty of aeration and filtration, and regular water changes. I have previously experimented with a large goldfish in a tropical tank, and at about 28 degrees he seemed happy and lived quite a long time. In nature, fish will swim around in water which varies in temperature quite a lot, and as long as you do not take it to extremes I don't think it is very critical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 Hi Electricfish, One might also ask why it is so important to keep tropical fish warm? Thier bodies are designed for those conditions and the stress of being outside of that can make life less comfortable in the least. The warmer the water the less disolved oxygen in it. Fish evolved to live in cold water need more oxygen than those in tropical conditions. If it gets too warm they usually die by asphyxiation. (Same probably goes for tropical fish, if it gets too warm even for them, they will suffocate.) This is compounded by: As it gets warmer ammonia toxicity becomes much more of a danger. The lifecycles of bacteria, pathogens and parasites speeds up, creating an imbalance (sudden influx of pathogens to a stressed fish makes it much more likely to get sick) Goldfish can stand a much wider range of 'cold' than my native fish, but remember if the tank is warm (tropical) you will probably need to have fewer of them to prevent overstocking, even if the stocking levels was fine at cooler temperatures. Having lost coldwater fish to the heat before, it is VERY critical this time of year for me. Stella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
electricfish37 Posted February 14, 2007 Report Share Posted February 14, 2007 Thanks for that, Stella. Now I am going to make sure to avoid overstocking, make very regular water changes, and keep an eye open for any sign of oxygen deprivation - fish gulping at the surface. I have only 4 medium size goldfish in a 3-foot tank, with massive aeration, so I think it should be o.k. I am a recent convert from tropicals, but if I had to float bottles of ice to keep the temperature down, I'd rather go back to the tropicals. I am in Auckland, and will be interested to see what water temperatures I get in the winter - it's an indoors tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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