What is the best way to cool down my fish tank water?

Question

Since the weather has been so hot lately my 20 gallon fish tank water is getting really hot. The person at the petco said an air pump would cool it down.So I got it ,but it hasn't gotten any cooler. Ive had it for like a week.Its gone to the point where its gotten to like 86 degrees ,and Ive had to use ice cubes to cool it down ,but it doesnt help that much.I have fish in my fish tank that can only have like a 79 degree water temperature. What can I do! any Ideas?

Answer 1

I would take a empty 20 ounce plastic bottle wash it out really good, in and out of it. Fill it with water, place cap on it, and freeze the bottle in your freezer. Then let it float in the water when its totally frozen. This way the ice is more thick, therefore it will take a really long time to melt the ice. Plus your lil fishies will like to check out the new floating thingy in there home lol Good luck and stay cool! :)

Answer 2

Your fish will be fine as long as the temperature doesn't hit any higher than 85.

If it breaches that, don't add ice directly to the tank, as this allows chlorine and chloramines into your water. Instead, add some ice cubes and water to a zip-loc baggie, and float that in the tank. After the ice cubes have melted, put the bag in the freezer to create one giant ice cube. If you can, put a couple baggies of water to freeze. Use them two at a time, though make sure your temperature doesn't drop any more than 4 degrees per 12 hours.

Keep all shades and doors in the room closed. If you allow sunlight into the room, it will heat it up. Also, keep the lights turned off, as they will only add to the heat in the tank.

Try putting a fan over the tank. Keep the lid open to allow decent air flow.

Also, turn off the heater. It's useless at this point, anyway :-P

Good luck!

Answer 3

I just put some icecubes in the water few times a day and turned off the light. My aquarium temperature raised to a dramatic 30C degrees since we are suffering even hotter temperatures outside, I dont understand how it is possible to raise this high without the heater on and without daylight, I cant keep up cooling down. I do nothing special with the cubes, just put them in and watch them melt away, and put some in the filterhouse to distribute the water evenly. The fish get no chance to get too cold, but they are very curious to the cubes.
I also refresh 30% of the water once every 2-3 days.
I keep the light out, since having the light on will cause a raise of at least 5C degrees in temperature. For a few days this wont effect the aquarium, I heard it is also very good for the health and condition to keep it dark for a while. I may also put foil around the tank to keep it cool and dark inside.

Answer 4

I assume that you cannot air condition the room. If you can; do so. Take the top off the tank and run your airator &/or water filter at high setting. The water will start evaporating drawing away heat Allow the hot moist air to escape so that more water can more easily evaporate . Running an air fan above the tank will hasten evaporation. 86 degrees is o.k. if your fish cannot tolerate temp-eratures below 79.
Good luck,
Dan.

Answer 5

Leave the lights off most of the time and remove the lid to allow for a greater heat/air exchange. Increased circulation is the best method for keeping the water temperature down. A larger pump or wave maker would help

Answer 6

Best was is to buy an aquarium water chiller. Like a heater but cools the water instead of heating it

Answer 7

Hang a plastic bag filled with ice over the edge into the water. Weight it down , (if it floats), with a rock or two.
Don't let the melting ice go into the aquarium water.

(10 points please?)

Answer 8

All I can tell you is to keep floating ice in it, and make sure the tank heater is off.

Answer 9

just keep up with the ice slowly . go a little below the ideal temp and the let it climb to the right temp .. good luck

Answer 10

try using an ice pack in the bottom of the cage