Temperature Problem

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Candiru
MFK Member
Aug 14, 2006
253
2
48
South Africa
I have a diy plywood and acrylic 125 gal tank with my malawis in.

Recently the local temps have been incredibly high and my tank is sitting at 32.5 degrees Celsius. The heater has been unplugged for about two months.

I have three filters running on the tank and 2 x T5 and 2 x T8 tubes. Most of the heat is coming from the lights but I guess a fair amount could be heat soak from the pumps too.

My canopy does not have any vents in it and adding some will be a huge mission (which I will do if I have too)

My questions are: Is this likely to affect the fish in any way? They are all looking better than ever at the moment and are very very active.

My plants recently started shedding most of their leaves but have since started shooting again. Could this have been caused by the temps?

Since last night I have left the lid slightly open and this morning it is down to 30.4 degrees.

What "Safe" temp should I be aiming for. Does anyone have any creative ideas for keeping the temp down?

My lights are on a timer and run for 8 hours a day. The tank is very well insulated being made from ply and acrylic and does not cool off very quickly.
 
That is very hot. At this temperature there is very little oxygen dissolved in the water making it difficult for your fish to breathe. You should try to get the tank down to less than 82* f which is like 27 or 28* c I think. Is there any way you can use a fan to blow across the surface of the water? this would lower temp and increase oxygen saturation.
 
shellies215;4886777; said:
That is very hot. At this temperature there is very little oxygen dissolved in the water making it difficult for your fish to breathe. You should try to get the tank down to less than 82* f which is like 27 or 28* c I think. Is there any way you can use a fan to blow across the surface of the water? this would lower temp and increase oxygen saturation.
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Without leaving the lid open it wouldnt help. I also have a fire eel so I cannot leave the lid open.

The only option that I see is to remove the lid and cut a vent into it but there are so many wires in there that removing it is a couple of hours job. And I will only have a couple of hours in two weeks time. Im out of town next weekend.

I was thinking of possible adding two extra air pumps to create a positive pressure in the lid to vent it out a bit and also get some cool air flowing through the water.
 
I would say if your realy worried. get an aquarium chiller for those extra hott days out there. Sucks my fish just died because my heater couldnt keep up with the low temp my room reached one night when i wasnt home and the windows were open. you have the complete opposite problem lol. When in doubt. You have AFRICAN cichlids. Thats gotta count for something when talking about Africa temperatures
 
reduce the time the lights are on. cichlids don't need 8 hours of light. I would cut that time down to 5-6 hours and adjust the timer so the lights come on at night when the temp of the room is lower. although, fluorescent lights don't give off much heat...still, i guess you could try it.
you can also try raising the lid off the tank. it sounds like you lid is mostly wooden with glass inserts. go to the hardware store and pick up those felt pads you put on the bottom of chair legs to prevent scratching of the floors...or something similar to that. put em on all the corners and it should raise the lid very slightly but not enough for the eel to escape. goodluck
 
thewaterboy;4886831; said:
reduce the time the lights are on. cichlids don't need 8 hours of light. I would cut that time down to 5-6 hours and adjust the timer so the lights come on at night when the temp of the room is lower.
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That will help. You could even lessen the time the lights are on. Your plants will most likely suffer though.

Can you reduce room temps anyway? Make sure the windows have blinds to stop sunlight. Is the room air conditioned? You can add fans to get air circulation.

Also, adding the bubblers like you thought will help...plus, it will help with more oxygen in the water.

Good luck!
 
The room sits at around 25 - 27 degrees. so cooling the room is not going to help a hell of a lot.

When you open the lid you get hit in the face by a wave of heat so these is a lot of heat getting trapped above the water. Those two T5 tubes must be about 45 - 50 degrees.

I have got live plants to dropping the lighting will not go down so well there.

The lid is actually a plastic picture frame moulding with an Aluminium top. I actually really like the idea of the spacers under the canopy, that could work with the design that I have.

Im have left the lid open again today to see if venting it will get me down to around 28 degrees before I change anything.

I already have one air pump running on the tank and I have an internal 3000 l/h filter and I have aimed the outlet right at the surface to try and get as much surface air exchange as possible.

Maybe I should extend the pipes on the canister filter and put it in the fridge ;-)
 
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