beating the heat

it's been hot lately, too hot, and my tanks have been suffering. I tried adding ice a few times and doing a few water changes but eventually i got lazy and head took a few lives.

Last year when i had only one tank most of the summer, beating the head took a water change dayly. Not i have 3 tanks and I don't feel like lugging 20 gallons up and down a flight of stairs each day.

Yes,my tanks are up stairs. Due to lack of space and family concerns that is where i had to put them so they get the heat worse than anyone else.

Does anyone have any advice for beating the heat?

it's been hot lately, too hot, and my tanks have been suffering. I tried adding ice a few times and doing a few water changes but eventually i got lazy and head took a few lives.

Last year when i had only one tank most of the summer, beating the head took a water change dayly. Not i have 3 tanks and I don't feel like lugging 20 gallons up and down a flight of stairs each day.

Yes,my tanks are up stairs. Due to lack of space and family concerns that is where i had to put them so they get the heat worse than anyone else.

Does anyone have any advice for beating the heat?

Get a python waterchange kit

I would suggest getting a drinking water safe garden hose and do your water changes with it. Haven't done the bucket routine for years.

id have to say if you choose to have fish and take them from their habitat you take the responsibility to keep them alive. what i have done is take a bunch of 2 liter soda bottles fill them and freeze them. then place them in the tanks. keep more on hand to keep swapping them out. that also prevents shock of dumping a 75% WC of cold water

Or keep an eye out for a good deal on a chiller.

Or keep an eye out for a good deal on a chiller.

ive been looking for a year for a good deal on a chiller. even those lobster tank chillers the supermarkets use

Put a fan so it blows across the water if possible, that will get you a few degrees in evaporative cooling. Make sure you have lots of air going into the water, warm water holds less dissolved oxygen (DO). Air stones and power heads to create water movement help. And yeah, look into a garden hose or Python to eliminate those buckets up and down the stairs.

I agree with the Phython. I once did the same routine, lugging buckets up and down the stairs....hated it. Get a phython!

the one thing i never understood about pythons is the fact you hook them up to your faucet which is nice and all if you have well water....but what if you have city or town water that used chlorine and chloramines? are people still just dumping the water directly from faucet to tank?

Small window AC unit to cool the fish room? DIY chiller. Pump water through coils inside a dorm fridge? Lots of air will go along way, heat is less likely to kill fish than low dissolved oxygen, but the two go hand in hand as was mentioned above. Plants will also increase your DO. Run your lights at night, while the room is cool, rather than during the day while it is hot. Just a bit of innovation, and common sense can go a long way to combat a problem like this.
Last but not least, the best place for native fish tanks is:
Survey says, in the basement.

the one thing i never understood about pythons is the fact you hook them up to your faucet which is nice and all if you have well water....but what if you have city or town water that used chlorine and chloramines? are people still just dumping the water directly from faucet to tank?

I have for years added straight tap water to tanks during water changes, and added dechlor at the same time, maybe a bit heavy on the dechlor. Never a problem.

I have for years added straight tap water to tanks during water changes, and added dechlor at the same time, maybe a bit heavy on the dechlor. Never a problem.

thats what i had figured. i used to just dump it in at the same time when i used a garden house. glad to know others did it that way.

the one thing i never understood about pythons is the fact you hook them up to your faucet which is nice and all if you have well water....but what if you have city or town water that used chlorine and chloramines? are people still just dumping the water directly from faucet to tank?

I do, everytime. I clean the gravel then reverse it the flow and fill it right out of the faucet. I am on city water. As the tank is refilling I add my Prime directly to the tank. Never any deaths or problems.

I have for years added straight tap water to tanks during water changes, and added dechlor at the same time, maybe a bit heavy on the dechlor. Never a problem.

That's what I do, too. Just squirt dechlorinator directly in the tank.