Heatwave

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 3:52 am

It got into the upper 90s this weekend with the inside of the apartment retaining heat even though the blinds were all drawn and all the fans were going. It seldom even gets into the 80s in the summers here so not too many places are air conditioned, including my house. The tanks got hot. In a desperate attempt to keep the temp under 80 in the shrimp tanks, I was floating icebags. However, several of the bigger adult shrimp, the breeders, died. Luckily, all the babies seem to be doing okay and I stayed home all holiday weekend so I could change the ice every hour. Outside of installing an air conditioner (that would get used maybe 5 days all year), any practical suggestions on dealing with heatwaves?

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 7:43 am

Try to make daily water changes with cold tap water. Ice should never be put directly into a tank since it is just as likely to kill your shrimp as the heatwave. Also...open the tops of the tanks, turn off all lights (heat source) and let a fan blow directly over the tanks.

Mustafa

TKD · Post by **TKD** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 2:18 pm

Would the cool water shock the shrimp?

TKD

Post by **Mustafa** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 5:13 pm

The cool water won't shock the shrimp (since the cool water mixes immediately with the way too warm water), but the ice in the tank will shock them.

Mustafa

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Thu Sep 09, 2004 9:05 pm

Can't use tap water since there's chloramines in my taps and even I won't drink that stuff. Maybe I'll just buy an air conditioner (man, isn't it amazing what we'll do for the critters who really couldn't care less about us?).

ben · Post by **ben** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 5:47 am

i used an old fan out of a refrigerator (frigo) this summer. lights out and heater turned of. lifted up the cover and got the fan blowing under the cover. worked well .... temp. dropped 2 °celcius in 1 hour.

Also placed a circulation pump ricght under the fan, so water was always moving , and cooled down water was spread around.

but, my problems with temp. always come in the evening. when it cools down outside, the heat comes in. My room was 30°c, so was the fishtank, so i got it to 28°c and managed to keep it like that for a few days ('till the heatwave has passed, can be very fast in belgium!)

PS My english grammar needs work, i know!

51Cornell · Post by **51Cornell** » Fri Sep 10, 2004 2:28 pm

Ben, your reply was perfectly understandable. Thanks. I had a fan blowing on the water surface but it was just blowing hot air around. And the tank has a lot of circulation anyway, and I always throw in additional air stones so the oxygen levels stay good. Still didn't help so that's why I went for the icebags. We have cats so I don't like to leave electrical things like fans plugged in and going when no one is home, especially around bodies of water where they might fall in if knocked over. I'm just going to go for a small air conditioner that'll just chill one room and move all the shrimp tanks in there when the next hot spell is predicted.