Need advise: Living in Extreme temperatures, may I get an aquarium or skip???

[aquafin]

Hi,

I live in Delhi, India and the temperatures are very extreme here. Summers get as hot as 40 deg Celsius, and winters get 2-3 deg Celsius. I got 3 fishes in winters and soon all died, not sure why.
Now, my situation is that I cannot afford an AC/Cooler for summers or a room heater for winters. Can I think of some other cheaper set-ups, or may I consider, fish keeping is not for me???

Please advise if I should still plan something... obviously, not a glass tank, but some plastic set-ups... with oxygen/filter/aqua heater stuff...

Also, which breeds can be bought cheapest possible.

 

[mfdrookie516]

well, depending on your room temps, a chiller may be needed, and a heater (or 2 or 3) will definitely be needed.. if you cant afford an a/c or room heater, chances are you cant afford a chiller (id say ALOT more than an a/c unit). What do your room temps get up to? If they dont get above 80 (thats "f"), you shouldnt have to worry with a chiller. I guess the real question is how bad do you want to have an aquarium and what are you willing to do to get one?

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

To truely awnser that question i think your best bet is to find some something to keep the water in, be it a smaller tank or glass bowl and monitor it during these tough temp. times. This will give you a real look at what the temp will really be. check the temp ranges for all fish avail. to you and go from there.

 

[bs6749]

What size tank are you wanting to put fish into?

You can do several things to prevent your tank from overheating. First, you can insulate it. It will help to keep the heat out. Secondly, you can go either with no lid on the tank or you can use something like light diffuser/deflector weighted down to prevent larger fish from jumping. Thirdly, you can have a fan constantly blowing over the surface of the tank. Evaporation is a cooling process and will help to keep your tank cool, and at the same time it will decrease the amount of water slightly in your tank. Which leads me to my fourth point...putting cooler/colder water into the tank to keep the temperature down.

I'm not sure what kind of fish you have in mind but there are some that can take upper 31-34 C no problem.

 

[jsoong]

40C in the air is not necessarily water temp. If you have a large enough body of water, the temp change will be moderated and the water temp never gets that high. <Think all the fish doing just fine in your lakes & ocean.>

Of course, the bigger the tank, the more stable the temp is. You prob need to get into 100 gal or more to get significant benefits. Having the tank in the shade & letting water evaporate - fan over open tank, or a large surface wet-dry filter (like in a sump) - would help. <Having a wet/dry & sump would also ensure maximum oxygenation. Low oxygen is the chief problem with high temp.> Of course, I understand that having a large tank with overflow, etc. is expensive ... prob cost as much as a small A/C.

If you have a basement, that would help a lot. An underground space is naturally insulated, and the temp can be 10 degrees or more lower. You can try insulating the fish tank itself during the hot/cold extremes to moderate things, but again, you need a lot of insulation to get good results. <An adobe house need 1-2 foot thick walls to get the natural insulation ....>

 

[bs6749]

40C in the air is not necessarily water temp. If you have a large enough body of water, the temp change will be moderated and the water temp never gets that high. <Think all the fish doing just fine in your lakes & ocean.>

That is true, but if the longer the ambient temperature of the room stays at 40C then the closer the temperature of the water in the tank to 40C. I know that they can have some lengthy heat spells in India! Also, the ground in those lakes would act as a heat sink and would absorb much heat from the water unless they are fed by thermal springs.

Low oxygen is the chief problem with high temp.

Good point about the low oxygen levels. An extra air pump or two would certainly be beneficial.

You can try insulating the fish tank itself during the hot/cold extremes to moderate things, but again, you need a lot of insulation to get good results. <An adobe house need 1-2 foot thick walls to get the natural insulation ....>

I wouldn't say that you need a lot of insulation...it all depends on the R-value of the material. The higher the R-value (thermal resistance) the greater the insulation provided. You can have a double or triple pane window 1" thick with a vacuum created between the panes (R value of ~30) and 8" of R-15, which would provide half the resistance as the window. You would need 16" of R-15 to to get the same insulation value as that of the window since resistances are additive. They make an insulation wrap available here in the U.S. that many people use for insulating tanks. I'm not sure of the R-value but it's relatively high and it's only a fraction of an inch thick. A 25'X16" is about $15-20. I may go pick up a roll today for my tanks.

 

[jsoong]

....You can have a double or triple pane window 1" thick with a vacuum created between the panes (R value of ~30) and 8" of R-15, which would provide half the resistance as the window. You would need 16" of R-15 to to get the same insulation value as that of the window since resistances are additive. They make an insulation wrap available here in the U.S. that many people use for insulating tanks. I'm not sure of the R-value but it's relatively high and it's only a fraction of an inch thick. A 25'X16" is about $15-20. I may go pick up a roll today for my tanks.

I agree with most of what you said. I am not aware of a high R value insulating wraps or a R-30 window.

For reference, I have triple pane, argon filled low E windows & it is only R4 or 5. Our ceilings are 12" of fiberglass at R30. It would be nice to have something thin & highly insulating ... <Sure beats my $500 heating bill last month! >

Anyway, it would be good to know if any of these commercial wraps can insulate a tank outside of a house with central heating/cooling. <which is the OP's situation.> It would be greatly useful in ponds & overwintering of our fish in our extreme cold.

 

[bs6749]

I agree with most of what you said. I am not aware of a high R value insulating wraps or a R-30 window.

For reference, I have triple pane, argon filled low E windows & it is only R4 or 5. Our ceilings are 12" of fiberglass at R30. It would be nice to have something thin & highly insulating ... <Sure beats my $500 heating bill last month! >

Anyway, it would be good to know if any of these commercial wraps can insulate a tank outside of a house with central heating/cooling. <which is the OP's situation.> It would be greatly useful in ponds & overwintering of our fish in our extreme cold.

I can't find the link to the R-30 window. It was some time ago that I saw it and it may actually still be in development. However, there is a company called Alpen that is producing R-20 windows. That is the best I could do with a quick search. Alpen Fiberglass Windows from Alpen Energy Group - Architecture – Real Estate – Construction – Home Improvement

The R-30 window I saw was evacuated or it was possibly a clear evacuated panel. I was probably off with the thickness of the R-15 insulation as well, just wanted to show that thicker isn't always better.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

Hi,

I live in Delhi, India and the temperatures are very extreme here. Summers get as hot as 40 deg Celsius, and winters get 2-3 deg Celsius. I got 3 fishes in winters and soon all died, not sure why.
Now, my situation is that I cannot afford an AC/Cooler for summers or a room heater for winters. Can I think of some other cheaper set-ups, or may I consider, fish keeping is not for me???

Please advise if I should still plan something... obviously, not a glass tank, but some plastic set-ups... with oxygen/filter/aqua heater stuff...

Also, which breeds can be bought cheapest possible.

Perhaps you could get some sort of container, not necessarily a fish tank, a large bucket or something. Put some water in, with a thermometer and see how it goes? It should give you some idea on temperatures.

Presumably the water out of your tap is significantly cooler than 40C? You may require daily water changes to keep the temperature down, only you can decide if that's worth it.

For the winter, well you'll need a heater for your fish tank, no way around that really!