How To Keep Your Tank Cool In This Monster Heat

[D1s]

Evening all. I was hoping we could all talk about the different ways we keep our tanks to the correct temps when it gets really hot.

At the moment I'm using Ice cubes put straight into the tank to keep the temp around 25-26 c. It's 62 gal so makes it hard to maintain the temp.

If any of you use this Or other methods please share. Many many thanks

 

[Chad]

I live in the desert here in Arizona so this is a topic we often discuss locally, especially on days when it reaches 117 degrees.

Depending on the lighting one has over the tank some aquarists will run a chiller. Pehple with MH lighting always have issues. Chillers are pretty costly to buy and run though.

I solved the heat issue by switching to LED's for my lighting.

In the past I've used fans, extra surface aggitation, and floated ice in bags as you do.

Of course keeping the tank open top also helps greatly.

When you don't float the cubes how much hotter does it get?

 

[Baccus]

I know you can get aquaruim fans that sit on the side of the tank, but I don't have any.

You can try to increase surface movement- rippling across the surface this will increase evaopration thus cool the tank slightly, or you can have a normal household fan blow across the surface of the tank provided you have open topped tanks.

The only other way apart from investing from a chilller is to leave the lights off on the tank through the hottest part of the day, as the lights can really warm up the surface of the water.

 

[D1s]

During the day I now leave the lights off, they don't tend to come on till 6ish til 11. The temp before the ice cubes can get 27-28. 28 being rare, so the temp doesn't drop that much but enough so it's right. There's no direct sunlight either. I got the ice cube method off a friend who's been doing it for years. Is it possible to get some sort of cool aid for the filter so it circulates cool water maybe?

What sort of temps do your tanks get to and what fish do you have in your tank

 

[Chad]

Becuase my tank is a reef tank and has anemone in it I keep the tank at around 80 but it doesn't get higher than 82.5.

 

[MBOU]

If you have tropical fish, most will happily tolerate up to 28 deg C thankfully

But lights off during day, propping lid open a few inches and iff possible, have a fan blowing accross the surface of the water and move he filter so that it riples the surface (or air pump).

Worst I have seen it was when working in a shop that was basically a greenhouse with no air circulation and we were having a heatwave (about 4.5 years ago), it got so hot that customers couldnt come in and staff were passing out but it hit 40 deg C in one spot, the 5ft marine display tank suffered worst, it hit 38 deg C and we had big 2 liter bottles of ice floating in there, open lid and fans but nothing kepts he temps down long and we lost a lot of fish, big expensive ones too.

I also lost the brackish pipefish i had too because of the heat, while we were panicking about the marine tank, the temps crept up everywhere else too. Really sad.

 

[Aquascaper]

Back when I had my reef a friend used a small fridge with two holes drilled in the door and filled it with large diameter (but thin walled) hose coiled up and a low lph inline pump. One end of the hose was connected to an intake pipe, the other to the inline pump then back to the tank. This seemed to work quite well albeit a bit of a hassle to setup and run and was obviously only an emergency setup.

 

[Chad]

That's pretty much a do it yourself chiller but it costs less to run and you can put sodas in it!

 

[Blubble37]

i have my lights turned off in the hottest part of the day and i've installed a fan in the hood of my tank

 

[Blubble37]

i did a DIY thing on it - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/365170-diy-12-volt-brushless-cooling-fan/page__p__3046891__hl__%2Bcooling+%2Bfan__fromsearch__1#entry3046891

 

[D1s]

It all sounds good and worth looking into. It looks like it may get cooler next week (fingers crossed), so that should offer some help aswel. Many thanks again

 

[Chad]

Here's the recap as I as I see it.

1. Float bags of ice. (this is an annoying and time consuming method but works in a pinch)
2. Uncover the tank if it's covered.
3. Increase surface agitation or some other method that ups the amount of evaporation like a fan.
4. Get a chiller. (costly but very effective).
5. Run the AC in the house if you have one to lower the ambient temp.
6. Create a DIY method as mentioned above.

Let us know how it turns out for you and which method you pick!

 

[DrRob]

Also, cool the room down, if it's possible, sometimes a shade over a window will have a miraculous effect, or just opening doors.