Cooling a tank down safely?

[RandomWiktor]

Ok. In my apartment at college, the heater is currently broken and is pumping heat into the room despite the fact that its 70 out and the dial says the dang thing is off. So, the temp in my apartment is close to 90 degrees at the moment. It probably won't be fixed for at least another week, but knowing my school it won't get fixed till after I leave for the summer.
This is bad news for my fish. Their tanks have been from 82-87 degrees the past few days as its been very hot out so even opening the window doesn't help. I know bettas do "ok" in temps of 82-84, but I'm seeing bacterial problems, algae growth, lethargy, etc. as a result of this uncomfortably high temperature. I've been adding cooled water to the tanks and removing the origional water, keeping the windows open night and day with fans running, pulled the heaters from the tanks, and keep the hood lights off day AND night. There has to be something I can do better to maintain a healthy temperature; these poor guys having high temps and living in the dark constantly can't be good for them, no?
So, I was wondering. Would it be safe to take baggies and fill them with ice cubes, or even an ice pack, and float them in the tanks during the day? This way nothing in the ice (which would be hard to dechlorinate..) or the ice pack would get in the tank? I'm thinking it'd lower the water temp slower than removing the water and adding cold water is, and that'd be safer for the fish.
Does this sound like a plan? Can you reccomend anything better? Help, please!

 

[BettaMomma]

I would say that'd be a very good idea.
I remember someone saying - and I think it was Rachel - that she warmed up her tank when the electricity was out exactly the same way.

I'd be super duper paranoid, though, and I'd still dechlorinate the water in the bags. And I'd freeze dechlorinated water for the cubes, too.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

if you have an extra cube tray, you can just freeze the tank water

 

[phishluvr]

just a word of caution, bettas are more sensitive to high temperatures than low. ice packs sound like a great idea... maybe keep two, one in the tank and the other frozen to swap out.

hope the heater's fixed soon! maybe look for a used/freebie swamp cooler?

 

[isu_guy]

Although the most practical way is the ice cubes as you are doing it here are some (perhaps far-fetched) ideas.

I make my own wine, and because of this I know a little about making beer. Beer has to be cooked, then cooled rapidly. One easy way to do this is people have a contraption that is a coil of metal tubing that is attached to some tubing that connects to a tap on one end and on the other is more tubing. Connect one end to the faucet, put the metal part in the wort (prebeer) and the other end to the drain, the cold water can cool the coil and run right into the drain without ever contacting the wort.

Now you don't have to go out and run to get this same contraption, but there are some college adaptations that you could make. Grab that friend that knows how to make a beer bong and go to the hardware store. If you made a beer bong type contraption you could funnel cold water through the tank and back into another container or drain.

I actually think your ice cubes in a plastic bag is a fine way, just thought I'd throw out an idea incase stuff got drastic to get the problem solving gears turning.

good luck to you

 

[Eelzor]

I tried ice cubes on hot summer days and they never helped at all. What did help however was having a large fan blowing wind downwards onto the surface of the fish tank. Give it a try.

 

[Ben]

put ice in water bottles and let them float on the water, helps for me,

DD

 

[Bignose]

Eelzor's fan idea is a good one, and then I just read a hint the other day that makes the fan idea even better: take wet towels and wrap them around the tank while the fan is blowing on them. Evaporation from the top of the tank, and evaporation while the towels dry out will both take heat away from the tank. In this way, you can cool down the entire tank, not just where the ice is floating. I never liked the idea of having part of the tank hot and part cold (near the ice).

 

[Kinda Fishey]

Frozen water bottles, fan accross the surface all probably work. Remember all the temp changes must be slow.......................But................
Why not get the mantinance guy, or your landlord to shut the heater off ??.
I don't suggest you disable the unit, unless you REALLY, know what you are doing.
KW

 

[Dorkhedeos]

HULK SMASH!

 

[andywg]

Just a pointer, while I don't know of any great ways (other than an expensive chiller module) I can recommend asking in the Saltwater areas. Over heating is a real concern with reefs and a number of people have good ways to cool down their tanks.

 

[Paul_MTS]

freeze large blacks of ice then bloat them. pond vats at work get too hot in the summer because it's a warehouse basically so it just heats up to made temps. so floating large blocks of ice is the only way.