# Sticky  CRS 201: How to Deal with Heat Waves



## CrystalMethShrimp

The DO's and DON'Ts of cooling a shrimp tank for those hot summer months.

-Dont use ice cubes or frozen water bottles.

A lot of hobbyists will suggest the use of ice and in theory it's a good idea. But when I spoke to the owner of feelaqua in korea he warned me to never do that. "It can crash your tank and does more harm. Small pockets of vast shift in temp change can kill good bacteria." He called them "bacteria depth charges" especially if they land near your filter intake. The last thing you want with high temps is a crash and no3 spike.

-Do small 5% water changes daily

You can keep the water in the fridge (dollarama water pitcher) ahead of time (4-6 degrees) and keep the change SMALL. The trick with these micro w/c is that it allows you to dump the water right into your tank without affecting your shrimps. No drip method required with the whole process taking less then 5 minutes. Best time to do this is after work or school. This will lower your temp and bacteria density.

-Don't muck around with your parameters.

Your shrimps are probably stressed and the last thing you want to go is change all the parameters around. Other then the w/c leave your tank alone.

-Do use a fan

They sell fans at CND tire for $15 (wall,ceiling mountable) and they can lower your temp by 1-2 degrees. You should aim the fan directly on the water surface and be sure to SECURE THE FAN in place so it won't tip over and fall into the tank.

-Don't feed

Shrimps can live off of biofilm for weeks at a time. Food will speed up the metabolic rate of shrimps and bacteria which will put a higher depend on your already strained O2. It will also increase the workload on your nitrifying cycle. ( Your air bubbler should be turned on full)

Do turn on your A/C

Don't be cheap about this. If you know it can make a difference leave your a/c on. At $5 per crs death it won't put much of an overall difference in your budget, not to mention all the babies that won't survive ( they require a steady low temp without fluctuation to survive infancy)

-Don't keep your lights on during day time

The hottest time of the day is at sunset and the coolest at sunrise.
The best times to turn on your lights are at bedtime for a few hours( timer) your lights can cancel the effect of the fan by raising your temp 1-2 degrees. Another strategy is to hang the lights higher off the tank if possible. The less it's on, the better during hot days.

-Do add Indian almond leafs and beta glucan

A high number of shrimp deaths at high temps can be accredit to bacterial infections. You can see this with crs developing a pinkish, peach hue from within or black spots. Bacteria always flourishes in high temps. This can be combated with SMALL (5%) water changes, which lowers bacteria density. Indian almond leafs which promotes gram positive bacteria and faster healing for shrimps. Beta Glucan which boosts shrimp's immune system significantly. I've had great success using this and wish I knew about this a long time ago. AI has Mosura tonic pro and Franks (new location?) Has the Borneo version. Keep o2 levels high as it creates an unfavorable environment for gram negative bacteria.

-Don't forget to check your parameters
Temp goes up->metabolic rate goes up->bacteria population explodes->bacteria feeds on no2->no3 goes up-> shrimps die from nitrite poisoning->my blood pressure goes up.

-Do buy property instead of renting

Price inevitably goes up and in 20 years time you'll be glad you did.

-Don't buy facebook shares.

Something better will come along. Something better always does.

-Do watch this video.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=sTJ7AzBIJoI


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## Windowlicka

Ha! Great post!

This needs to be "stickied"...


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## Dman

Wow great read, wish I knew the almond leaves helped get rid of bacteria infections, and I knew ice cubes were not good but didn't know the actual reason why


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## zfarsh

after reading this, went on to change my timer on the light, close some blinds, and keep the air conditioning on at 26C even in day times. I only have Red Cherry and Amano shrimps though, so hopefully they are more tolerant.

As for Almond leaves, never hurd of them, where do i get these and how much do i put in?


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## getochkn

zfarsh, Aqua Inspirations sells Almond Leaves.

Not sure on where to get beta glutan or what shrimp products have it.


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## CrystalMethShrimp

getochkn said:


> zfarsh, Aqua Inspirations sells Almond Leaves.
> 
> Not sure on where to get beta glutan or what shrimp products have it.


It's an immunestimulant. Humans take it as well during allergy season or flu season to give their immune system a boost. Mosura tonic has it.


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## Fishfur

I put one of those 10 inch 'personal' fans, with the clip like a giant clothespin, on my 5 g tank yesterday when I checked the temp and it was 90 ! The fan dropped the temperature by 10 degrees in a few hours. From 90 to 80. I put a larger fan on the 30 G tank and it also dropped the temp by 10 degrees, but it did take longer to do it. I've had them running non stop since, though at lower speeds once they cooled the tanks off and the temp has remained stable. I've left the lights off, and took the hood off the 30 G also. To prevent any accidental suicides, I draped a large piece of coarse tulle netting over the tank top. Only pain is having to top up much more often because of the vastly increased evaporation rate. But so far, don't seem to be any ill effects from having got so warm, so I hope that means I cooled things off in time. My fan shrimp appear to love the new net top, they've spent hours hanging upside down on the net, fanning their little 'hands' in the filter outflow.


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## CrystalMethShrimp

Please sticky.

P.S the thermal bag with the cryo packs works very well. Few days ago when the temp hit 32. My tank was holding At 24 with a combination, of the cyro packs, fan, bubbler. And lights elavated to 10".


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## Symplicity

CrystalMethShrimp said:


> Please sticky.
> 
> P.S the thermal bag with the cryo packs works very well. Few days ago when the temp hit 32. My tank was holding At 24 with a combination, of the cyro packs, fan, bubbler. And lights elavated to 10".


I must have the opposite issues in the summer. My tank is in the basement and my dad likes his AC on to like 20C.... basement freezing and my tank heater actually kicks in ............ LOL


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## randy

Symplicity said:


> I must have the opposite issues in the summer. My tank is in the basement and my dad likes his AC on to like 20C.... basement freezing and my heater actually kicks in ............ LOL


My tanks in the basement are okay, never got over 23C. I know it will be okay in the winter when heater is running, but it's spring they will get really cold (like 15-16 degree). This is because the heater is no longer running but it's still very cold underground. I'll see what happens next spring.


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## MananaP

All i can say is if you are buying or renting a house find one that has a basement which i did a couple of years back when i was looking to buying a new house and found one, all problem solve!


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## ScarletFire

Fishfur said:


> I put one of those 10 inch 'personal' fans, with the clip like a giant clothespin, on my 5 g tank yesterday when I checked the temp and it was 90 ! The fan dropped the temperature by 10 degrees in a few hours. From 90 to 80. I put a larger fan on the 30 G tank and it also dropped the temp by 10 degrees, but it did take longer to do it. I've had them running non stop since, though at lower speeds once they cooled the tanks off and the temp has remained stable. I've left the lights off, and took the hood off the 30 G also. To prevent any accidental suicides, I draped a large piece of coarse tulle netting over the tank top. Only pain is having to top up much more often because of the vastly increased evaporation rate. But so far, don't seem to be any ill effects from having got so warm, so I hope that means I cooled things off in time. My fan shrimp appear to love the new net top, they've spent hours hanging upside down on the net, fanning their little 'hands' in the filter outflow.


Where did you get the coarse tulle netting? It SEEMS like a good idea to string some java moss into it to make a wall out of it, and to make the java moss look like a better floater.


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