Hot weather/Water levels?? help

[Msbehavin]

I have been keeping my tank cool by using ice packs and frozen bottle of water because of the heat, yesterday my levels went out the nitrate and nitrite very badly, so today i replaced 40 ltres of the water (tank is 65) and it was fine, i fed the coral with coral liquidfeed and about 2 hrs later the water went slightly cloudy and the fish were gasping a bit, so i retested the water and foundthe NItrite was out again and the Ph was alot lower than normal( i usually struggle with the Ph for some reason). Anyone come with an idea what it could be .. could the heat be doing it and making the water go bad which sounds nuts but the only think i can think of i really have no idea i have had my tank for 7 months and nvr encountered anything like this...plus i also put in a purigen pouch into my external filter which is supposed to help with these problems as well..

[Woodsy]

Most larger tanks have a calcium reactor installed which will help with your alkalinity, and hence buff your pH. That's one reason your fish could be gasping.
The hotter the water gets, the less oxygen there is dissolved in the water. That's another reason your fish could be gasping.
If you're adding lots of fresh water (ice blocks) and your specific gravity (SG) drops, that will also make them gasp.
Toxins such as nitrates above 20ppm will also affect your fish, causing them to gasp or develop secondary infections.
Melbourne has such extreme weather conditions that it often makes it hard for us to ignore equipment that other reefers in tropical areas can do without. The typical Melbourne marine system has both, heaters AND a chiller for instance. Mini-reefs such as yours are notoriously hard to keep stable, Sarah. All you can really do is try to keep it in an air-conditioned room and do water changes weekly, or as soon as any of your toxins start to spike (which they can do readily). Marines can be so rewarding, and then they can be utterly soul-destroying too :P

[Msbehavin]

i can agree with the soul destroying part i have been on the verge of giving up quite a few times but im to stubborn lol..things are fine now plus im looking at getting a bigger tank which would help with tempreture fluctuations..and more space for the fishes..hmm more spaces more fishes to be had hahah

[ihadagoldfishonce]

Woodsy has it correct, and remember nitrite competes with oxygen binding cells in blood, so if you have high temp (lower oxygen) and high nitrite, your going to increase the toxicity of the nitrite. Try not to feed your tank for a day or so after having nitrite problems and big water changes, the filter bacteria can also go into shock and stop processing toxins!

[Msbehavin]

i see well i have changed my tank to 3 times bigeer now 160 litres since last week so hopefully this will help alot to..the fish are happier more space in all now just looking at getting a new lighting system and and skimmer as well any recommendations from anyone..

[Woodsy]

I'd go triple high output t5's, OOOOOORRRRRRRRR..... Solaris LED's!!!! Then you can be the envy of every person on this forum :p

[wombat1100]

get the solaris, then we can all come around and stare at it for a while!

[Woodsy]

A while? If there's food, I might not leave! :p