This recent heat wave has resulted in my tank temp rising 6 to 8 degrees above where I like them to be (as high as 88 F). In order to beat the heat I've been doing small (10% to 20%) water changes a couple of times in the past week using straight cold water. It works well to get the temp back to 78 - 80 F.
I've thought about just dropping some ice cubes into my tank, but I have a question about that;
If I was going to add half a dozen ice cubes every afternoon, would I even have to worry about adding Prime or some other de-chlorinator?
I don't really want to add Prime to the ice cube tray - just in case someone decides to use them.
Anyhow, if you have any advice on the ice cube idea, or if you have other ways to beat the heat, post them here...
Before I went to a "high tech" system with CO2, LED lights (which don't add all that much heat, honestly), I used to just shut my lights off during heat waves. Not really a good option anymore, but I have reduced the photo period to about 6 hours. I figure the ambient sunlight is helping the plants a bit anyhow... I'll bump it up to 7 or 8 hours in the fall.
