Warm Tank Meant to be Cooler

[ferret]

Is there anything I can do to lower the temperature of a tank?

I have a 10 gallon tank with a calico ryukin goldfish in it, and a golden algea eater. That's all that's in there. But the tank is 80 degrees and I've never seen anything that says Goldfish like above 75 degrees.

The tank has a heater but it never turns on, since its actually set to about 76. Do I need to worry about this at all?

To conserve power we never set the A/C below 78. We suffer some, but its better than the $200-300 power bills.

 

[Allivymar]

Actually some of the specialty goldies like a slighty higher temp. Ranchus, Orandas and Bubble Eyes prefer temps of 75-78F (as per www.goldfishinfo.com ) so your tank temps are not as far off as you think. It may not be an issue since its only a 2 degree diff.

 

[TankGirl]

You can run a fan across the surface of the water, but I think you are fine like you are. You could probably skip the heater altogether, because you probably don't experience terribly cold winters there in GA! When I kept GF I never had a heater at all, in FL or in VA.

 

[William]

It gets quite cold in Florida, a good winter can see 36 degree nights

 

[LondonGman]

Lights. If your tank is warmer than the room and it is not the heater, then it must be the lights. I do not know of a way to reduce the heat from the lighs except to turn them off or ventilate it. I have seen low voltage underwater lights (looks brilliant in a dark tank) that are cooler but do not know of availability stateside.

 

[ferret]

The tank has a new flouracent (sp?) light hood, replacing the original iradescent (also sp ) hood that was in use before the Goldfish inherited the tank. That light kept the tank at nearly 87 on average, so if 80 is the best I can do and have the light on between 7am-7pm, I guess I'll have to deal. Its the only aquarium that operates on a timer, mainly because the former hood would have probably boiled the tank overnight. The old inhabitants apparently liked the higher temp anyways..

 

[TankGirl]

It gets quite cold in Florida, a good winter can see 36 degree nights

I lived in South FL and that did not happen very often, but certainly my house was not that cold! The comfortable room temp for me was fine for my goldfish, which grew to a ripe old age of 9 with me before I sold them to a LFS and moved back up to VA.

I do think you are right about the lights London. In a tank that size even fluorescents will heat the water. At any rate, I don't think the temp is harmful for them, necessarily.