[APD] Re: CONVERSION CHART (was 'CONVERTION CHART')

[David Aiken <daiken at iprimus_com.au>]

I don't know where to find a chart but if there is one, it would only 
work for a tank of a particular volume since the critical factor is the 
proportion of water changed.

To drop the temperature by 10 degrees, you would need to do a water 
change of half the water with water that was 20 degrees lower, or a 
quarter of the water that was 40 degrees lower. You simply work it out 
by proportion, and the less water you change the greater the difference 
in temperature of the added water needs to be.

Do this fast and you're likely to induce temperature shock. Water is 
relatively stable in temperature, meaning it tends to change 
temperature slowly, and fish aren't well adapted to fast temperature 
swings. You're better off doing it in a couple of water changes rather 
than in one. There are a couple of other techniques for lowering the 
temperature a bit more slowly than a large water change. You can simply 
add ice blocks and allow them to melt slowly. Because there's a large 
temperature difference between the ice and the tank water, you need a 
much smaller volume of ice. You could also put the ice in a net bag of 
some kind and place it in the water flow from your filter. That will 
help distribute the cooled water around the tank, and the fact that the 
ice takes time to melt slows the speed of the temperature change which 
will help prevent the fish from being shocked. Another, similar, trick 
is to get empty large drink bottles, fill with water and freeze, then 
add them to the tank. When the ice in the bottle has melted, return the 
bottles to the freezer and replace with other frozen bottles. You can 
drop the last few degrees fast with a partial water change at lower 
temperature if you want a sudden snap to stimulate spawning.

I use the water bottle trick to help keep temperatures in my tank down 
in summer. My tank can get up around 32 degrees Celsius in summer, way 
over the 26 or 27 degrees Celsius I like to run it at. Adding frozen 
water bottles in mid to late morning as it starts to heat up helps to 
slow the temperature rise and keep the temp at a much more reasonable 
level, though I do allow it to climb a couple of degrees.

Also, if you have a heater in the tank, remember to lower its setting 
to the temperature you want to achieve, otherwise your heater is going 
to prevent you from ever getting there.

David Aiken

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