Nyasa Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 My house is exceptionally hot today. Lots of south facing windows and no air conditioning. Came home to house temperature of 31C this evening and my tanks were 32C. Fish appear to be fine. Due for weekly water changes so I figured I would help bring tank temperature down by using cooler water to try and get them down to 26C. How should I best do this? Or will this sudden drop stress them more than the current temperature they are at? I'm using buckets and watering the plants outdoors with the discard. About to refill now. Should I start with water of ~30 C or use water more like 20C and bring the temperature down quicker? I'm thinking slower gradual changes is better, but I may not get it cool enough. Any thoughts or experience with this would be appreciated. Thanks, David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesbarr Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 im sure that a small w/c could lower the water a couple of degrees and then over night the water temp will slowly fall again. Id just add a small amount of regular tank temp water. If you are really worried, just do one then another small one in a few hours. But I think you will be ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Cool WC are a great way to trigger spawning for most fish - the only fish I've kept that really didn't appreciate a cool WC were Tanganyikans. Just about any fish from a river will love the cool water. Dropping 10F isn't an issue for most fish I've kept. I once did a 50% WC with just cold water on some L128 plecos... thought I might have killed over $100 worth of fish in that act of despiration. They were a bit stunned for a few minutes, but in a few hours they were displaying for each other and they decided to shack up for the night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyasa Posted July 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Thanks for replies. I decided to go cautious. I did a 40% water change with gradually cooler water. Got it down to 28C. Jason, I keep mostly Tanganyikans and plecos. What is your experience with temperature change in Tanganyikans? David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 Thanks for replies. I decided to go cautious. I did a 40% water change with gradually cooler water. Got it down to 28C. Jason, I keep mostly Tanganyikans and plecos. What is your experience with temperature change in Tanganyikans? David. I have lost some of the more sensitive Tangs to temp shocks of as little as 5F. The most common symptom, tho, is they are listless for a couple days. It's kind of crappy b/c I'd forget and do a big WC with cooler (or even similar) water to get them in the mood b/c that's what I'd always do for my fish, and they'd shut down instead of get all randy. IME, if you want to do large WCs with Tangs, it's got to be quite regular - at least weekly - so that parameters aren't changing much. If you want to go a couple weeks betweem WCs, I'd recommend highly over-filtering and smaller WCs. Even doing 2 or 3 25% WCs on consecutive days every couple weeks would be better than doing one large WC as often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cgy_Betta_Guy Posted July 3, 2013 Report Share Posted July 3, 2013 + 1 on water changes with cold water not being too big a concern as long as you arent pouring it in suddenly. I often do 50% WC but do a slow fill so the temp comes down gradually. Takes me a couple hours to get to the top but I am patient. Also heard a tip a few years ago where people freeze a half filled 1L pop bottle and drop 1 or 2 into tank in order to cool the tank down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyfisher Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Also heard a tip a few years ago where people freeze a half filled 1L pop bottle and drop 1 or 2 into tank in order to cool the tank down. I have used this method with no problems on med. planted community tank when temps. start creeping into the med. 80's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyasa Posted July 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 I like the idea of the frozen bottle of water. Thanks. Jason, I typically do weekly water changes with my Tanganyikans and have seen no detrimental effects. Although, I've heard smaller more frequent changes are better tolerated and this makes perfect sense. Which Tanganyikans are more sensitive? My calvus seem the most persnikkety to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 The fish that seemed most affected were Calvus and Callochromis macrops - those guys were always in the mood, but would shut right down after a big WC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda4 Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 i have used a ziplock bag of ice to cool down a tank. works slowly . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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