I know if your tank temp is too low you can always get a heater but what do you do if you tank temp is too high? and how bad is it for the fish if there is nothing you can do for it? My tamk temp is never lower than 75 and often as high as 82 (right now even higher because the stupid air isnt working in my dorm) I try turning the lights off when I feel like its getting too hot but what else can I do? Should I add cold water? take the hood off so it can let some heat escape maybe? point a fan at it? would turning my bubble wand off have any effect? Would doing somethingl like putting ice or frozen veggies in a plastic bag and floating it in the tank have any bad effects?
thanks
Sarah

My goldie tanks are permanently heated to between 25.5 and 27.9 celsius. That's 78 to 82.5 farenheit according to an online calculator. So I'm curious as to why are you saying yours is too high and need to lower it.

Do you want to slow the fish's metabolism to reduce the feeding and maintenance needed? I'm not sure there's a way you can do it without lowering the temperature of the room/dorm itself. All the methods you suggest would create large temporary temperature fluctuations where stability is most important, even if it's stable at higher temps. Whatever method you find, I think it has to be sustainable and stable and the only thing I can think of is a chiller (they use on marine tanks) which costs several hundred dollars or more.

oh ok...the things I have read like in all the info that came with my tank and such said that 70-75 was ideal for goldfish and I had heard that having higher temps can make them sluggish or make bacteria grow faster but if you keep yours that high then it must be even higher that creates those kinds of conditions. I thought that getting up in the 80's was too high but I would be glad to be wrong because like you said none of those options sounds very good to me either...so what would be the highest temp that would be good for goldfish to deal with?

Ha ha! Far be it for me to dispute the experts! You're absolutely right. 70-75F is the accepted ideal for goldfish, and they can also tolerate from 30F (I think) up to 86F. So that narrow 5 degree ideal range is pretty much just that, an ideal. I don't think that makes water which is much cooler (50F) or slightly warmer (78F) 'bad'. Just not as 'ideal'. So I'm pretty sure that your 75-82 isn't enough for you to start worrying and thinking about adding cold water or frozen food packs etc.

For me personally, my 'ideal' is slightly warmer than 75F. I basically keep my water warmer (it's exactly 79F right now) for faster growth and more activity. But it requires more maintenance as they eat more, poo more and bacteria produces faster (as you said). So that extra maintenance and feeding may not be ideal for others.

Oh, PS: Don't switch the bubble wand off. Warmer water holds less oxygen than cooler water (something like 6ppm compared to 8ppm at the temps we're talking about), so if anything you should turn the air up.