New England Weather...going to be tricky for a newbie with a tank

[librarygirl]

Hi everyone,

A bit of a history: I'm new to fishkeeping, I have a 12 gal bow front tank with 4 Glofish. I've had the fish since April 1. The tank isn't yet cycled (doing daily pwc and API tests, ammonia is <0.25, ph 7.4-7.6, no nitrates/nitrites yet), sorry for the fish-in cycle but PetSmart said nothing about cycling and so I ended up getting fish too early

Anyway, I had the temp at 78. I've researched the "right" temp for freshwater tanks and GloFish and am finding different opinions: for Glofish the sticker on the Petsmart tank said around 70-82 f, but some other sites I've read give different temps (72-80 fahrenheit, 74-78 fah etc). I had it set to 78, then got worried that was too high and it's now at 77. Each time I do a water change or feed I'll test the water and it seems to be holding around that temp (sometimes it feels too cool to me but that's probably just me and I honestly don't know what the right temp would feel like, the water wasn't freezing or hot by any means) and the thermometer seems to be accurate, I hope, so I'll go by that. I might lower it to 76.

Being in New England, the weather changes rapidly. Yesterday the outside temp reached about 78. I live in a fairly large apartment on the top (third) floor, so it can get rather warm in here very quickly, plus it's usually humid here as well. I had the windows open (tank isn't near the window, doesn't get direct sunlight) and the ceiling fan on. Last night I checked the tank's temp and the in-tank thermometer read 80 degrees fahrenheit. I panicked and put the ceiling fan on high (not directly over the tank but in the same room) and opened the tank door that I use to feed and that houses the filter. By this morning the water temp was back down to 78 according to the thermometer. The temp isn't as high today but it's still rather muggy and warm, but the tank is now holding at about 76 (I left the windows open and ceiling fan on today while I was at work).

When should I worry in terms of heat? I do have a large in-wall A/C that I could leave on if needed (I usually do this in the summer for my cat anyway even if I'm at work). And if I needed to get the tank temp down what would I do? How high is too high? Also sometimes in summer heat waves the power could go out (I remember last summer it went out for 7 hours in 90 degree heat), what would I do then?

Just trying to plan ahead. Thanks!

 

[MABJ]

Between day and night, fish go through small changes in temps. I think you're fine. I'd be more worried about 4 dainos in a 12 gal tank

 

[mfdrookie516]

They'll be fine in temps higher than that. Ich treatments generally stay at 86 for a couple weeks. What you want to do is if it raises, adjust your heater up to compensate so it doesn't fluctuate up and down. The higher temp isn't nearly as bad for the fish as a fluctuating temp.

 

[xxwolfpackof1xx]

i live in ri in an appartment too my temp dosnt fluctuate at all

 

[Rokuzachi]

No need to apologize for a fish-in cycle. If you're on top of things, as you seem to be, the fish should be fine.

My tank goes from ~76 at night to ~79 during the high point of the day. Where I used to live, the summers would reach ~116 degrees, and my room had no AC. During those hot days, when the tank looked like it would go over 82, I would float ziplock bags of ice in the tank to hold it around 78. It was kind of a pain, but there was no way I was going to buy a chiller or an expensive AC unit at that time.

Lots of fish are more resilient than people give them credit for, thankfully.

 

[TraceyB4602]

I live in RI on a third floor apartment and my temp fluctuates just like yours. At night it will go down to like you said 78 and during the day it reaches usually 82 at the moment. My fish have always been fine. When summer rolls around just keep the ac on in the house and that will keep the temp stable but till your tank states to read over 86 I wouldn't worry.

 

[xxwolfpackof1xx]

hm my temp dosnt fluctuate one bit

 

[TraceyB4602]

hm my temp dosnt fluctuate one bit

Well that doesn't help the OP at all.

 

[xxwolfpackof1xx]

sorry i just find it odd tbh we all experience the same fluctuations more or less live in the same situations it's odd

 

[TraceyB4602]

sorry i just find it odd tbh we all experience the same fluctuations more or less live in the same situations it's odd

What floor do you live on I know that second and first floors are usually cooler seeing heat rises. In my apartment it's getting hot now and you know how the weathers been. And summer is scorching. Without an AC its almost unbearable.

 

[xxwolfpackof1xx]

What floor do you live on I know that second and first floors are usually cooler seeing heat rises. In my apartment it's getting hot now and you know how the weathers been. And summer is scorching. Without an AC its almost unbearable.

2nd floor but your right 3rd usually is hottest

 

[librarygirl]

Thanks everyone, I like the ziplock bag of ice idea! Hopefully I won't need it though. I live in RI too, what a coincidence, 3 of us!

 

[librarygirl]

Between day and night, fish go through small changes in temps. I think you're fine. I'd be more worried about 4 dainos in a 12 gal tank

Thanks. I didn't know danios needed a larger tank until I read this forum. The one they had them in at Petsmart wasn't much larger than mine, unfortunately. I originally had them in a 5 gal so at least the 12 is an improvement. If I prove to be good at this hobby I'd like to upgrade further but that won't be feasible for a while.

 

[MABJ]

IMO, as long as they're taken care of, and the tank isn't overstocked, I'd increase their school to 6 and see how it goes. It sounds like you know how to take care of them. So good job!

 

[mickitiffen]

Temperature

I am also concerned about warm weather. I just set up a 55 gal tank with 1 5" Black Ghost Knife, a 3" African Knife, 2 loaches, 1 small cat, 2 Discus and 1 small Gourami. The room has lots of windows but can get quite warm. I have a portable room air conditioner that I can run. Any suggestions about the temperature control? I heard the bags of ice reco but my LFS was opposed to putting in cool water so I wonder if that will shock the fish. It is a planted aquarium with 2 air pumps running. How high can these fish take as a temperature?

 

[librarygirl]

Hi mickitiffen: that's a good point about the iced water maybe shocking the fish; and if you floated a bag in there the coldest water would be at the top, so that's a good point. Also probably the lower the normal tank temp is and the higher it rises due to heat would be worse for the fish than if they were used to a higher temperature normally. My temp is at 76-77 now, so a spike over 80 would worry me.

I'm also concerned about oxygen, which I neglected to bring up originally, as heated water has less oxygen and if the power were to go out, so would the filter and air stone.

Hopefully someone more experienced will respond and help us.

 

[MABJ]

A spike may hurt your fish much worse than a little ice. You also have to consider what ice water is made out of. Tap or spring. Only if you're adding directly to water. But just keep in your mind that a cool shock would hurt your fish less than an extreme spike.

Also you could tape the ice bag in front of the filter flow, so cool water is dispersing more.

 

[TraceyB4602]

Fish have to go through temps of 86 degrees for ich treatment. So I know for a fact that they can with stand that temp. Anything above that I would worry about.

If you have a small tank, doing PWC to keep your temp down is an option. But I do not think floating bags would shock the fish to death. The shock of heat would certainly be more of a worry than a little ice.

If you have an AC just keep it running throughout the summer where the fish are and you should have no worries at all.

I have had my tank for 5 years now and out of the 3 i lived in a house i haven't had to run an AC for my fish. With an apt it's different. 3rd floors get pretty hot and a AC is a must IMO.