Temperature in tank UNCONTROLLABLE!

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

I have been running a 28G Bowfront for about 2 weeks now...

10 B. Phantom Tetras
1 ADF
1 Pleco
1 Snail

I know what your going to say about cycling, but so far my method seems to be working and the water tests show the idea is working (used biowheel)

Everyone is still kicking but with this HOT HOT HOT weather ....

I haven't been able to keep the temperature of my tank down. I have one of those adhesive thermometers and it reads 84° to 86°. NOT GOOD! Or at least I don't think so.

Someone recommended putting a frozen bottle of water in the tank to bring the temp down.

I have kept the blinds closed in the room with the fans going and the light and heater off. The tank held at around 84° through the night.

I don't have A/C so I am wondering if I should air condition that room just for the sake of the fish.

Advice? Thanks in advance guys!!!!

 

[CementShoes]

Buy a small clip on fan and blow it across the surface of the water. That will prob get you 3-5 degrees right there..

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

The problem with that is I cant leave any part of the hood open. I haven't great luck with ADFs as they are excellent escape artists. Other reccomendations?

 

[CementShoes]

None short of an expensive chiller unless you want to be a slave to your tank and do the ice/cool water change thing. All in all, if you top out at 86.. not the end of the world. I'd set my heater at 84 see how everyone does. 86 and even higher isn't going to cook your fish

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

whats the upper threshold for these guys would you say?

 

[CementShoes]

IMO I wouldn't go much higher than you are, maybe 88.. 86 where the treatment for ich is recommended..

 

[ezy33]

I haven't been able to keep the temperature of my tank down. I have one of those adhesive thermometers and it reads 84° to 86°. NOT GOOD! Or at least I don't think so.

Get a real thermometer to start. The stick on ones are not very accurate.

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

ok, wow this just went from bad to worse... some of the BPTs have white on the tips of their fins... just noticed it... been out of the fish disease realm for awhile. fin rot or just over reacting?

 

[tlkng1]

Afternoon ..well..almost.

I have an older home and the air circulation is an issue. When I first set up my tank, my summer temp was running about 80-82ish. Here is what I did. First, buy a couple of the hard plastic, ice packs...ones that you would use in a cooler. Once frozen, put them in a sturdy zip lock bag and then hang the bag directly below or in front of your strongest water flow (I use to hang them in front of the powerhead). With those temps, the paks are going to "melt" a little quicker than usual so I would say have at least 4...2 in use and 2 more freezing.

I have swordtails so am well aware of the escape artist routine. I took the cover off of the powerfilter (I use the Aquaclear 110 for a 75 gallon) and let a small clip on fan blow on the water in the filter. This way, the "cooler" water was getting in to the tank but I didn't have to compromise my cover.

They do have mobile air conditioning units at places like Lowes. The last I looked, the price was somewhere around $200.00 or so. Fortunately, I was able to use window air conditioners in better locations but I still have to have a pedestal fan going to circulate the cooler air. My tank, with the lights on 9 hours, stays at about 76.

I always have 4 of the cooler packs going just in case of a power outage.

As was mentioned, get a digital thermometer..this has a probe that sits inside the tank. I found there was a good 4-6 degree difference between the tape and the digital version.

 

[AuburnTiger]

Sounds like your biggest problem might be the hood/top, I would recommend using some sort of screen over your tank with a fan like mentioned above. IMO the little floating glass thermometers with the suction cup they sell at wal-mart for $2 are very accurate but the ones that stick on the outside of your tank are not worth the plastic they are made of...

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have a stickon thermometers that came with every tank i have, they never read right. I keep two of those suction cup thermometers in each tank to get a consistant reading, they are always within a degree of each other, the stickon is always 5-10 degrees off... the outside of the tank can be alot warmer than the water, thats probably some of the problem there. I also agree with getting a screen reptile top and putting a fan on the water... if you use ice packs or cool water, youre going to have cold spots in the water, not what you want. Definately try and find a screen top, you can usually find them on craigslist for next to nothing

 

[spoonman]

I have been running a 28G Bowfront for about 2 weeks now...

10 B. Phantom Tetras
1 ADF
1 Pleco
1 Snail

I know what your going to say about cycling, but so far my method seems to be working and the water tests show the idea is working (used biowheel)

Everyone is still kicking but with this HOT HOT HOT weather ....

I haven't been able to keep the temperature of my tank down. I have one of those adhesive thermometers and it reads 84° to 86°. NOT GOOD! Or at least I don't think so.

Someone recommended putting a frozen bottle of water in the tank to bring the temp down.

I have kept the blinds closed in the room with the fans going and the light and heater off. The tank held at around 84° through the night.

I don't have A/C so I am wondering if I should air condition that room just for the sake of the fish.

Advice? Thanks in advance guys!!!!

So, the problems with the red gills and all the other problems have been solved?

 

[LT1FirebirdSLP]

The red gill problem seemed to be associated with water quality and not so much water temperature. I got A/C put in my room and now the heater seems to be holding the tank at a steady 78° which I think is right for what I have.

The ammonia was getting up into the 2 to 4 ppm range so now I have been doing water changes a lot more often (near daily). This has made the red gills go away and the color on the tetras seems to be improving.

 

[MichaelsLilGray]

The red gill problem seemed to be associated with water quality and not so much water temperature. I got A/C put in my room and now the heater seems to be holding the tank at a steady 78° which I think is right for what I have.

The ammonia was getting up into the 2 to 4 ppm range so now I have been doing water changes a lot more often (near daily). This has made the red gills go away and the color on the tetras seems to be improving.

You have ammonia readings because your tank is not even close to cycled.. just a biowheel isnt going to be enough bacteria to introduce what would be in a established tank.. (in the cartridge, in the gravel, on the walls of the tank. ext.) Your tank will require 10-15% pwc daily to keep the ammonia out of that toxic zone.