Think of how much more quickly a cup of coffee will cool off than a hot bath. A gallon tank will lose heat about half as fast as a gallon tank. You can use two heaters that total the needed capacity. If one sticks in the on position, the water will not overheat as quickly, and you have a better chance of saving your fish.
If one heater dies, the other will be able to partially maintain the temperature, again giving you more time to discover the problem. If your setup has a sump, that is a great place to put the heater, and if you have a plumbing circuit you can use an in-line heating module. What to do When Your Tank Overheats In hot weather, the first thing to do is to increase water movement.
Moving water picks up more oxygen, and it also evaporates more, which cools the water. If ambient conditions bring aquarium water into the high 80s for prolonged periods, you should take steps to cool the water, and the simplest way is to replace the normal aquarium top with screening and position a fan to blow across the water surface. This greatly increases evaporation. You will have to top off the tank frequently to replace the evaporated water. You can use slightly cooler water than what is in the tank, but only a few degrees, or you may shock the fish.
A further step would be to freeze water in plastic bottles and place one at a time into the tank or in the filter. Make sure the bottles are small enough that the water does not cool down too quickly or too much—extreme changes in temperature are more harmful to your fish than constant high temperatures.
If your home remains very hot for long periods of time, you will need a chiller for your aquarium. Some are drop-in models that hang on the tank rim and put the cooling coils directly in the aquarium. Others operate completely outside the tank, and the water must be pumped from the tank, through the chiller, and back to the tank. When it's too cold, they're less active, their appetite is reduced and their immune systems are compromised, making them more susceptible to disease.
When it's too warm, their metabolisms and breathing speed up, and they use more oxygen. The problem is, as water warms up it holds less oxygen, which further stresses the fish. Once again, they become more susceptible to disease, and in extreme cases, they can experience organ damage or even suffocate.
Water temperature in nature isn't always constant. In fact, it can fluctuate quite a bit. Some days are sunny, some are cloudy. There may be seasonal changes as you get further away from the equator. Sometimes it rains, which can cool things down considerably.
The water near the surface is usually quite a bit warmer than just a few feet below. And what happens when the sun goes down at night? There are two major differences between natural habitats and our aquariums when it comes to temperature. First, fish in the wild can usually move to a more desirable spot if they don't like the temperature.
And second, temperature changes tend to occur gradually in nature due to the massive volumes of water involved, so fish have time to adapt, or move. Not so in an aquarium. Unlike nature, where water temperature can vary in different micro-habitats, the temperature in an aquarium tends to be uniform throughout the tank. Aquarium fish can't move from a less favorable spot to one that's more comfortable if the temperature is outside their preferred range.
In addition, temperature changes are often more extreme and happen much more rapidly in an aquarium, giving our fish less time to adapt. If your tank is home to just one or two types of fish, it is best to investigate their preferred temperature range and take steps to keep your tank in the middle of that range.
To help control the tank's temperature…. It may seem like a challenge to keep your fish tank at the right temperature, but by taking appropriate steps and using the right equipment, it's easier than many novices realize to keep the water at a constant, healthy, comfortable temperature for your fish. View our accessibility statement. Driven by New Media Retailer.
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