Whether you are in aquaponics, hydroponics or aquariums, whether you take care of your plants, your fish or both, when it gets too hot, you will have to find solutions.

In this article, we will see together the consequences of this heat and will try to prevent the water from rising in temperature. We will also determine all the possible solutions to cool your system and, we will end with some tips and tricks.

So in the summer, the water can easily rise to 30 degrees or more

And this will inevitably have consequences for your fish and your plants.

What you should know first is that this too hot water is a real problem because because of the thermal inertia, it is difficult to modify the temperature of the water. It will take time, either to heat it up or to cool it down. Of course, that takes time. We will realize that the fish are suffering, even in danger of death. This will of course depend on the species you have in your aquariums or your aquaponics tanks, but inevitably, for each species, there will be minimum temperatures and maximum temperatures that their metabolism will be able to withstand. So going beyond what they can handle is bound to put them at risk in hydroponics and aquaponics.

You also have to understand that it's not just the fish that will suffer, but the plants as well. It is indeed very complicated for plants to withstand the external heat via the leaves. But it is even more complicated to fight against the heat at the level of the roots.

So whether it's your fish or your plants, they're going to be lacking in oxygen. Not because it's not there, but because they're going to have a hard time absorbing it. And obviously, who says heat says pathogens. We know very well that microbes, bacteria, parasites in a humid and warm environment will develop more quickly than usual. Too hot water can therefore have serious consequences on all your systems.

The first thing to do is to anticipate. It is essential at all costs to prevent the water from heating up.

We will see how to minimize the rise in temperature of your water. The first instinct you must have is to reduce or eliminate the exposure of the water to the sun's rays via radiation. There will be energy transmitted between the rays and the temperature of the water will rise.

Concretely, this means that you must change the place of your aquarium if possible, cover the greenhouse if you are outdoors, obscuring 40%, 50% if you are in aquaponics. Also pay attention to your clay balls because they will receive the radiation and thus accumulate the heat.

The second reflex is to lower the temperature of the room in which your water is.

There will inevitably be heat exchanges between the air and the water. So the warmer you are in a room, the higher the water temperature will rise. We are therefore going to try to close the shutters during the day and rather ventilate the night by putting on air conditioning, etc. A final tip for greenhouse owners is to create a cold wall, a kind of metal structure with a pump. Then you bring water up and run it over that metal. All cooled by a fan which is positioned behind and which will therefore ventilate the entire structure. This will obviously increase the humidity a little bit.

Another thing that we don't necessarily pay attention to is the fact that you have to check all the elements that could heat your water. It is for example the heating that you put on in winter.

In hydroponics, it may be more interesting to put the grow lights at night rather than during the day.

What to do if you have not been able to anticipate and your water has risen in temperature?

You don't have many choices, you will have to cool your water or risk losing your fish and/or your plants. The first solution, which is a bit cumbersome but infallible, is to buy a cooling unit. A refrigeration unit is equipment where the water arrives via a pump, passes through this kind of small refrigerator and comes out cooler. Just adjust the thermostat and you're done.

A second solution is to ventilate the surface of the water.

To do this, you position your fan on the surface of the water and there will then be an exchange of energy and a heat exchange which will occur by evaporation. It works quite well. It is not very expensive, on the other hand, it will generate an evaporation of the order of 4 to 5% of the volume of water in your aquarium or your aquaponics tank per day. This means that if I have a 100 liter aquarium, I will lose five liters every day. It works well, but you will have to add water quite often.

Finally, there is one last trick that seems quite natural but which you must be wary of, it is to position frozen water bottles in your aquarium or in your aquaponics tank. However, be careful not to put it in direct contact with the fish. The fish that will be attracted by the bottle will approach and this could give them a thermal shock. So what we can do is position this bottle in an external element. For example, in aquaponics you will have a sump or with your aquarium you will have an external filter.

Other tips and tricks to know.

1. If you have an aquarium that has a cover, you can replace the aquarium cover with a net . This will improve heat exchange, cooling, especially at night and the net will prevent jumping fish from committing suicide.
2. You're going to have to oxygenate your water a lot more than usual. You can add a burner or have a Venturi effect.
3. Good to know in hydroponics, if your water temperature is too high and your plants begin to suffer, you will reduce nutrients by 20% compared to usual to limit plant stress.
4. Put the lamps on at night, especially the growth lamps which, in hydroponics or aquaponics, consume a lot and, depending on the technology, give off more or less heat
5. You have to add a little bit of silica and also special bacteria that preserve the development of pathogens