Summer temps

[spotfin]

with the recent warm weather, my acf tank has warmed up a few degrees to about 75 F. In the colder months, it stays at 70 or so with the help of a heater. will the frogs be ok at 75 or even a bit warmer for the summer?

[Strider18]

I would try to not let the tank get any warmer than 75 F if at all possible. They will be happier and healthier if they stay at about 70-75 F. As long as they aren't in any temp higher than that for to long I wouldn't worry. Hope this helps!

[spotfin]

Thanks. Any tips for keeping the tank cooler?

[Strider18]

You can probably add more cooler water when doing water changes, make sure it is dechlorinated though! Or the other option is you can buy some a tank cooler off of amazon Hope this helps!

[mpmistr]

with the recent warm weather, my acf tank has warmed up a few degrees to about 75 F. In the colder months, it stays at 70 or so with the help of a heater. will the frogs be ok at 75 or even a bit warmer for the summer?

I've run in to the same issue. I actually keep my house at 68F but for some reason my tank likes to creep up to about 74F (probably because I use a glass lid and my tank receives a good amount of indirect sunlight). How large is your tank? A larger tank is usually easier to stabilize vs a smaller one. I myself have a 40B and it usually holds temps fairly well but obviously a 125 gallon would be much harder to shift in temperatures and a 10g will swing wildly in temps (which is why small tanks are pretty worthless).

Here are somethings you can try, some of them would work best in combination with each other:
1. Get a large fan, I use a box fan, to blow air on the tank. I you have a nylon mesh lid and a fan blowing air on the surface of the water that could easily lower the temperature by a few degrees. (This is what I do and it has my tank down to 70F). if you combine this with the nylon mesh lid and can get the fan to blow across the water surface this drastically reduces temperature as it promotes heat to escape (also increases evaporation, so you will need to replace the water more frequently as it exchanges to gas).
2. If you use a glass lid, try a nylon mesh screen top instead (this would probably have to be a Do It Yourself project). You just want to make sure the lid is secure because ACF can and will jump out of their tanks, I know this first hand!
3. Do more frequent water changes, swapping out the warmer water with cooler water. Same as weekly water changes, just more frequent. The bonus to this is, the more water changes the healthier your frog(s) will be.
4. If you use a canister filter, you could place it in a bucket of ice, that would cool the tank as the water runs through the canister and back in to the aquarium.
5. You could fill a 2litre soda bottle with water and freeze it and then place it in the tank.
6. Is your tank getting indirect sunlight? Move it to somewhere that receives little to no light from a window, indirect sunlight incases temps.
7. Purchase an aquarium chiller, but these are very expensive and usually for saltwater tanks..$$$.
8. An air pump may help, but honestly I would not use these with clawed frogs because it may saturate the water with oxygen and cause gas bubble disease (at least in theory..).
9. I'm not sure what your A/C situation is but if you have central AC, lower the temperatures a bit. If you do not, place the tank in a room with a window AC unit or put a window AC unit in the room with your tank to lower the rooms temperature.

Here is my, albiet ghetto, summer time setup. Since I have a glass lid, I just placed a cheapo box fan in front of my tank to cool it. It's crude, but it works. I also have my glass lid cracked enough to allow air in from the fan but not allow the frogs to escape so that some heat can escape.

[spotfin]

Thanks for the tips. My tank is a 30 gal breeder, a bit shorter than yours. It is located downstairs, but there is no AC. I do close the blinds this time of year, so no direct light. I have a small aquarium chiller that I may try. I also use a glass lid so would have to make a top, unless directly blowing a fan on the tank will work.

[Strider18]

Yea that is probably why it is getting hot. I would give the chiller a try if you can. Hope this helps!

[mpmistr]

Thanks for the tips. My tank is a 30 gal breeder, a bit shorter than yours. It is located downstairs, but there is no AC. I do close the blinds this time of year, so no direct light. I have a small aquarium chiller that I may try. I also use a glass lid so would have to make a top, unless directly blowing a fan on the tank will work.

Try chiller + fan, crack the glass lid a bit (just put a small peice of plastic on there to keep the lid open a bit).

Since you have no AC what so ever, I really think your best bet, short of getting an AC unit in that room or turning your AC on is to get a nylon mesh + fan blowing on the waters surface, this will cool down the tank considerably.

[spotfin]

What about one of these?
Aquarium Cooling Fans: Zoo Med Aqua Cool Aquarium Cooling Fan AA-13

[Strider18]

That could work but it really depends. You could always give it a try.

[spotfin]

Do you run the fan all of the time? I wonder about daily temperature fluctuations, say the fan is only run during the day and the tank cools off but shutting the fan off at night and it heats up again. Would this swing in temperature affect the frogs in a negative manner? I would guess that in their natural habitat they would be exposed to daily temp swings.

[Strider18]

I would try to keep it at a constant temp if possible. Just think about it this way, would you want the temp in your house fluctuating that much? I would try to run it as much as possible and keep it below 80 F as stated before. I hope this helps!

[mpmistr]

What about one of these?
Aquarium Cooling Fans: Zoo Med Aqua Cool Aquarium Cooling Fan AA-13

Honestly for the same money you can just get a big box fan or a standing fan, slap a nylon mesh on top and get a lot more air flow on your tank. It won't look near as pretty though of course but you will probably get cooler temps.