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I have a 90 gallon tank in my classroom with 26 malawi cichlids. Normally keep my tank at 77 degrees, but dropped it to about 72-74 as the weather got warmer and the fish became more aggressive.

Unfortunately, when I came in to school on Monday, not only was my classroom baked, but the hot weekend and hot classroom caused my tank temp to spike to 85 degrees.

I've since been able to lower it to 82 degrees, but since my room is still a sauna, I can't seem to get it any lower.

I'm worried that I'm damaging my fish. Also, as I expected, they are hyper-active, and hyper-aggressive right now. I don't think they can keep it up without one of them becoming a casualty.

Any suggestions?? Is there such thing as a water "cooler" (vs. a heater)?

we're expecting chillers
on Wednesday, but they are expensive
$550-$850 each...
Try to get the school to leave the a.c. on in your room,
set the a.c. at 77 degress F.
also....lower the water level in the tank so you get a little splashing
...open the glass tops...and put a strong fan in front of the tank...

I think this weekend caught a few of us off guard. I had to put in the AC this weekend of things could have turned bad.

What kind of filter do you have on the tank?
I believe eheim has an attachment that can help add more oxygen into the water as well. It is like $5-15 or something.

Ned,
I wonder if you could do something like what the plant people do to get CO2 into a tank with an airsone and those tubes with the bio balls in them. They dissolve the CO2 into the water. I wonder if you can do that with oxygen as well?

timk,
Since lake malawi can reach temps of 86 for short times in extreme weather situations, (I have never gone higher than 82 in my tanks) I think the oxygen in the water is more of a problem than the temperature being at 85 for a short time.

Chiller is best option though.

Great thoughts... but it's a public school - NO a/c! We're regualrly at 90+ on warm summer and fall days in the classroom.

My filter is a wet/dry sump. I'll try some of the things suggested, i.e. water level, open top, and fan.

get rid of the cichlids

if you keep mature Malawi cichlids at 90 degrees for 3 months
you'll probably only have 1 cichlid left

try gouramis and swordtails
they like it hot...
you can also try low tech a.c. ...
blow a window fan in all night
then turn it around and blow it out all day

90...ouch

I'll think of something before I get rid of them. I'm enjoying them very much - I'd be too sad to lose them.

someone mentioned the co2 thing...
no no please...
we need to add o2...
you may be refering to air injection with a power head....as opposed to co2 injection with a power head....
this might help...
hot water is very bad at holding dissolved oxygen,
so...yes...any form of extra aeration is welcome...
air pumps... whatever you got

Hey Ned - I may invest in one of those chillers. What's the story on those?
How do they work?
Will one chill a 90g tank?
Will it work in an acryllic tank?
Are the two you mentioned sold?

there are basically 2 styles...
drop-in
&
in-line

drop-in requires fewer skills on the part of the user

both require an additional water pump

basically
you pump water through the unit
and the machine chills the water

the heat that the chiller _ out of the water
is also an issue
because the heat needs to go some where

come on by
I'll show you some

we have at least 2 in stock
and I can always re-order

Thanks Ned! Hopefully it will work out. I'll set up tomorrow and see how it works!

p.s. I think I left the water conditioner at the store.

if you are not there, the chiller is definitely the way to go
if you are there every day you can use ice to cool the tank in the afternoon
I use plastic soda bottles - fill 2/3 with water and seal - freeze
each afternoon it gets above 85 I drop in a frozen bottle. The water inside the bottle melts but does not contaminate the tank. Re-freeze and repeat.