any suggestions for warm tank water? My apartment gets soooo hot in the summer and I can't afford to keep the A/C on 24/7. My tank was up to 88F today! I put a couple of ice packs in a zip lock bag and floated them in the tank until they melted. It lowered the temp to 82F. Any other suggestions? The tanks are not in the sun (I also keep the shades closed for good measure)

you can put a little clipfan over the top of the water to keep the water a little cooler.

Maybe get a ziplock bag and fill it with ice. Make a way so it will hang in the top area of the water. That seems it could work.

Some people use empty soda bottles filled with water then frozen and set them in there. Keeping the light off and the room dark can help slightly as well.

I agree with LaurieP, i tried the frozen bottle tip and it worked out great!!!

I would maybe try a water cooler becuase i know they make them, or maybe you can try keeping the light off more and not on so much.

How many hours do you keep the light on?

keeping the light off is not only a way to cool your tank. It cuts your bills as well!

i've left the lights off for all but a few minutes at feeding time and the temps are still 86F. i have a 20gal tank and a 1liter frozen bottle of water completely thawed in 25 minutes! lowered the temp to 85F

I am no expert here, but if your tank is large enough, maybe you could use a gallon plastic milk jug? Wash it really well, rinse it to death, fill it with dechlorinated water(in case any leaks out), freeze it and plop it in? It would displace a lot of water but you would think the impact would be huge-at least you'd think so? EDIT: I just read that you have a 20 gallon, so a gallon jug would displace a lot of water...some places have half gallon jugs..or maybe a 2 liter soda bottle (unless that is what you already tried?)

Also, what would happen if you added cold dechlorinated water, a bit at a time throughout the day? Again, depending on your tank size, it might help? You would have to add just a buit at a time so the temp change didn;t shock the fish, but it might help? Also, you have to have the time to do it, which can be an issue as well.

Again, I don't know if these ideas would work, or if they are safe, but I was just racking my brain. I use a heating pad wrapped around my betta tank when i am trying to warm it up after a water change, before I put him back in. It works great, my fiance came up with that idea. LOL, maybe I'll ask him if he can think of anything! Good luck.

I wouldn't do anything unless the fish are stressed. My tanks temp for about 5months of the year is like 90F day and night. My fish might be just used to it, but it dosent bother them, being cold (70-80F) stresses them a bit, they are quite lethargic at this temp.

The reason why i dont bother changing my tanks temperature is that temperature fluctuations are a huge stressor on fish, I believe that playing around with 0degree C frozen bottles would just make things worse.

Lots of people in QLD buy chillers, they are very common but still very expensive.. but at least they keep the tank a constant cooler temp.

i do a round robin with a few frozen soda bottles so i put one in tank and one in freezer i only do this if tank goes over 85f.
The temp fluctuations by doing this are so slow it will do no harm so stress is not a problem,
don't let any frozen water mix with tank water as when it melts it loses most of its oxygen content

I have never did anything to cool my tanks off when hot out in the summer and my goldfish are healthy and over 3 yrs old. They have never looked stressed and adjust to the slow change of the water temperature. In the winter the water is a little colder and slowly warms up as spring and summer comes along. I would not bother, I tried once to use pop bottles I froze and it did nothing to the temp of the water. If you have a basement, pain in the butt, you can move your tank down there every summer if possible. Would not be good if it is a larger tank, and possibility of disturbing the levels and start a mini cycle.