Cooling aquariums in summer months?

[jcarson]

Hello MFK

I was just curious if anyone here struggles to keep their tanks at 78-82 in summer months.

I know when I set up my first tank last May the ambient temperature of my dwelling had my tanks temp at 84-85 degrees. This is with the AC set to 76 degrees.

I know that this is extreme and am trying to look ahead to cost effective ways to keep my tanks cool.

I have 3 55 gallon tanks, a couple of 20g and a 30g tank now and if I have to resort to chillers I will but would like some feedback here.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Jexnell]

Frozen bottles of water.
Last summer we had 45 days of 90°+ heat, and I live in an apt with no AC. I kept a 55 and two 125s from overheating with reusing frozen water bottles. Set them in HOBs or sumps kinda noisy as the ice melts. It's normal in summer time for temps to change over the course of a day. My tanks would start at 78, climb up to 86 to 88 and back to 78 again at night and is normal and I had no issues or fish deaths.

 

[epond83]

I've done frozen gallon jugs, but it's hard to keep up with a larger tank like a 180. Plus I could only do it after work so temps fluctuate a lot. I ended up going with a small 6" fan blowing on the sump and toping off the water.
I got an inkbird controller to turn the fan on and off based on temp. Works well and I don't have to think about it.

 

[Kittiee Katt]

Frozen bottles of water.
Last summer we had 45 days of 90°+ heat, and I live in an apt with no AC. I kept a 55 and two 125s from overheating with reusing frozen water bottles. Set them in HOBs or sumps kinda noisy as the ice melts. It's normal in summer time for temps to change over the course of a day. My tanks would start at 78, climb up to 86 to 88 and back to 78 again at night and is normal and I had no issues or fish deaths.

I freeze snaplock bags with water in them, I don't usually let them get completely frozen (although sometimes that's unavoidable as I'm rather forgetful) just frozen to slush where I can so it doesn't crack and fizz too much as it melts. I don't have sumps so I just add them one at a time to the main tank suspended in front of the filter outtake with a bit of string. Swap out when there's no ice left in the bag.

If they freeze too much I add a small amount of cold water and smash it on the bench then leave it for a bit until it stops popping and going silly, then add to the tank.

I will add I use large snaplock bags, you could easily fit two-three sandwiches in them.


Also, I don't do this unless the fish look like they're not handling the heat too well. Usually the tank is over 35°c if I do this, and I always try a small (under 50%) cool water change first to get the tank down then use bags to help keep it down.


Disclaimer: this is what has worked for me in my tanks. What works for me may not work for you. Be careful when adding water to ice as it may shatter and hurt you.

 

[thebiggerthebetter]

The fanning appears the easiest way to me. If indoors, might need to add a dehumidifier but house AC should suffice, I think.

Also, my tanks are at mid to high 80-ies about 6-8 months out of the year. I am yet to learn if this is significantly deleterious to my stock. The saving grace is the vigorous aeration through agitation as it is the low dissolved oxygen that's the main culprit in this scenario.

 

[PYRU]

I unplug my heaters in the summer in the basement. Ice etc is the least cost now, but if its a constant problem then you need to bite the bullet on a chiller or one of portable ac units. Unless you have a beani cichlid or anything that needs cold then 85F isn't a problem with good aeration like tbtb mentions above. Black nasty cichlids love warmer water

 

[Rocksor]

Hello MFK

I was just curious if anyone here struggles to keep their tanks at 78-82 in summer months.

I know when I set up my first tank last May the ambient temperature of my dwelling had my tanks temp at 84-85 degrees. This is with the AC set to 76 degrees.

I know that this is extreme and am trying to look ahead to cost effective ways to keep my tanks cool.

I have 3 55 gallon tanks, a couple of 20g and a 30g tank now and if I have to resort to chillers I will but would like some feedback here.

Thanks for your time.

What fish do you keep? They could be perfectly fine with those high temps. I keep a garage tank and those fish have no issues with temp being 84-86f during the summer.

 

[Giant Val]

Having a bit of a heat wave here (Qld, Aust) at the moment. Water temp in my 320 gal got up to 31 Celsius (87 F) yesterday. It's 29 C (84F) now at 6am. I have lost a few corys, Columbian tetras and a Madagascar rainbow. Uaru, choc cichlid, Geos, filament barbs and red rainbows all seem happy. Last time it went over 30C the uaru layer eggs. I put in 2L ice blocks but doesn't reduce temp much.

 

[DThompson]

I've done frozen gallon jugs, but it's hard to keep up with a larger tank like a 180. Plus I could only do it after work so temps fluctuate a lot. I ended up going with a small 6" fan blowing on the sump and toping off the water.
I got an inkbird controller to turn the fan on and off based on temp. Works well and I don't have to think about it.

Have you done any tests to see how well the fan cools the tank just by blowing over the sump surface? I'd have to imagine it will increase your evaporation rate but that's fine if it cools the tank.

Would be cool to see a test with a fishless tank, run it a week without the fan on and record tank temp and external temp. Run it a week with the fan and record tank temp and external temp. Might spend a few extra $ per month to run a fan but seems a lot easier than constantly changing out ice bags.

 

[epond83]

I never did any data logging on it. But evaporative cooling is very effective given it can work all day but I can't swap ice packs all day while at work.
I also like that it's more consistent that dropping ice in the sump at the end of the day. Just do a bit of top off with water a little cooler than the tank to help bring the temp down.
I would guess the fan is cheaper than the freezer trying to create a larger tempature differential putting gallons of warm water in it each day. But both water and electricity are cheap in my state so that isn't much of a factor.