How to keep aquarium water temp cool during hot weather

Question
I have a 55 gallon aquarium with a 12 inch shubunkin, a 6 or 7 inch fancy fan tail goldfish, and two large Comonon Plec's. The aquarium has two water pumps with two filters each.  The aquarium is located in a corner of a large, totally covered outdoor patio. It does not ever get direct sunlight. They have done very well for several years, but now the weather has become sizzling hot (100 plus degrees). How can I keep the aquarium water from getting too warm? It reached 88 degrees recently. I tried adding ice cubes to the water, but they melt quickly and do not keep the temperature down.  Any suggestions other than moving the aquarium indoors?

Answer
Hi Joseph;

It's an age-old problem. Very difficult to deal with too. Sometimes placing a fan to blow air over the surface of the water helps. Open the lid and put a screen (not touching the water) or plastic mesh over the openings so the fish can't jump out and animals don't get in. Place the fan so it blows across the surface of the water itself. Other than that there really isn't much you can do. Trying to adjust it with cooler water changes or with ice can be harmful if it actually works because it's too fast and just changes back again anyway. Fluctuations like that are more unhealthy than letting them stay where they are for a few days.

I live in northern California and we just went through temperatures of 110 or more every day for 11 days. I have evaporative cooling in my house though so my fish were fine.  Many people died though. Very sad. Thousands of livestock, mostly cattle I guess, died too.  

Try to stay as cool as you can. It will pass.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins