Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 So with the recent bout of hot weather, and with more on the way, I thought it might be good to see how you all cool your tanks when it gets hot. I live in a timber house with cladding and not alot of insulation so for me this is a bit of an issue, I have put some bottles of water in the freezer and am hoping this will get me through. We do have air con in the main part of the house but as much as I would like to the other half won't allow me to have this on at times when we aren't home (ie. work)...... She just doesn't get fish Ps. I am hoping the more people she see's who share my thoughts re. air con, the more reasonable it may start to sound haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Check the temp of your tap water on the hot days. In a heat wave sometimes I do a 90% pwc if the tap water is under 27 and my tank is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 A water change was also one of the things in my bag of tricks, good point re. the water temp in the tap though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Bottles of ice are good but only cool 2 deg at night then pop them back in in the morning when you 1st get up until you leave for work.If there is only 2 deg diff between tank and tap a 50% pwc will only help by 1 degree and a 90% will get you closer to 2 degrees and actually help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowie Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Depending on what species i vary my method for my more bread and butter stuff i use the frozen bottlesFor my rarer species like xenotilapia and foai i have invested in a chiller as the cost of the chiller is nothing compared to the cost of replacing the colony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Good point rowie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 What effect would frozen bottles placed in the tank in the morning have on keeping the temp down over the course of the day? And if you don't mind me asking what kind of prices are you looking at for a chiller? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrox Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Water takes a long time to heat up, if you can knock of half a degree in the morning it buys you time. Cooling with ice is faster than the heat transfer through glass via air. With ice, the heat goes into breaking the bonds that hold ice together and this takes a reasonable amount of heat energy to achieve. Remember that the ice remains at 0 deg C throughout the melting process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firthy13 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 chiller need to be purchased for the size of the tank they are cooling. range from $400-$1200 depending on brand. as per the frozen bottles, if i were you i would do a few experiments. monitor the ambient temp and the tank temp and recorded results ever half hour or so. and see the effect of adding different number of bottles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Well fortunately I am home tomorrow so looks like I'll be getting scientific I have a few fish in each tank that I would rather not lose lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Placing water bottles in your tank in the morning will do very little for cooling the tank. Being that the tank temp is around 25 degrees the ice will be melted before the heat of starts raising tank temp. Try removing lids, increasing surface movement and blowing a fan across the water. I have found this has helped in the past.Chillers aren't cheap, it may be cheaper to run the air conditioner. You might be able to find a second hand one somewhere.I am lucky to have a fully insulated fish room that never gets above 30 degrees even on the hottest days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 The problem there is a few fold, firstly see 1st post about air con and the other half , secondly I never feel right about leaving lids off when not at home due to the possibility of jumpers, and thirdly fans across the top of the water rely on the removal of the lid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason130497 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I have a fan for each of my tanks that I put on each morning and leave it through the day while I'm at school which I find very effective. I also use the frozen bottle method too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I am considering wiring up some old pc fans to my hood. One blowing air in and one out. That way I can simply take off lids and run fan over top of water surface. I will generally just up the aeration on hot days. If your worried about fish jumping you could simply drop the water level.<br /><br />Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 I have to admit with this impending heat wave (sorry to those who are already suffering it) I am stressing! Just got my colony of utinta's to the verge of breeding, don't wanna lose any!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Another method I used in the past was to pump water out of tank (with a small power head) through a long narrow tube wound up into an esky full of ice then back into the tank. DIY chiller. Problem is that esky needs to seal to work over longer timeframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason130497 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Im meant to get my multies tomorrow and i have school! I dont want them to be left outside with the heat while im at school 10 multies must NOT die on me or else my parents will never let me order fish from people again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 Easy answer, day off school!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0oks Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Try having alot of areation and not having any lights on. I just keep mbunas. There pretty hard fish so i don't get much lose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Get a Deco chiller/heater, cools the tank in summer heats it in winter, works great.I am often away on weekends in summer time and have often come back to see the temp be at 31 degrees, having to do immediate WC now doesn't matter what temp outside tank is always 26 degrees.CheersFrank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuin Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I look at it this way.Tank full of tropheus and other bits: about $800 - $1000 worth. Running the AC on the hot days - about $20/day.That's about 40 -50 really hot days before it starts to cost more to replace fish. What about the argument about making sure that the better half would be more comfortable with the AC too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerrin Posted November 29, 2012 Author Share Posted November 29, 2012 When we are home there's no argument, AC goes on, fish are cool! It's when we are at work that I lose the AC argument, and sometimes I come home and the tanks are higher than 31 Frank, what is a deco chiller/heater, you have me intrigued Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason130497 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Easy answer, day off school!!! Please convince my parents haha :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Kerrin just have the A/C set at 26/27* this will reduce the run time of the A/Calso look at closing off any rooms that don't have tanks to reduce cooling areaand that it won't be every daytell her how nice the place will be to come home to at the end of the day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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