Keeping Aquariums Cool?

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Ken

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Jan 24, 2004
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I live in a moblile home, and this summer heat inside will soar.

I am looking for practical ways to keep my aquarium water cool.

Two ideas I have is freezing bottles of water and dropping them in to cool things off, and raising the hoods about a half-inch to let air circulate.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Can someone tell me is there are flourescent lights that will srew in and replace the metal-filament type light bulbs in my ten-gallon hood?

Thanks
-Ken
 

Ken

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...also, would adding a few ice cubes straght to the water be bad?

I am on well water which I use directrly in my fish tank and ice cubes.
 

Dapple2

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Changing the lights will help a great deal. You can also leave the tank partly open-topped (or put on some mesh if you have jumpers) and clip a small fan so it blows across the water. The evaporation will help cool the tank, although it will also mean more frequent topping off. You can add ice cubes in baggies, but it's only a short term solution, unless you are going to keep adding and adding them throughout the day, so the fan works much better.
 

johnnyxxl

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I lived in a trailer how hot does the water get mine never got hot enough to riase waters temp. But I also had fans going to help cool the rooms off so I was comfortable. I know that putting water bottles in tank with ice in them helps and can actually be a long lasting drop of temp. You could use a chiller either a bought or home made one also.
 

anonapersona

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unstable temps

I would not consider adding ice cubes to a tank for the temps will be unstable and unpredictable. Better to increase air flow across the tank.

Open the hood front and back if possible.

Raise the lights on small blocks of wood or similar stuff.

Lower the water level and allow filters to "waterfall" to cool the water. This also puts more distance between the hot lamps and the water.

Turn the lights off sooner. Drop from 12 hours on to 10 or 8 or less if you have no live plants.

Yes, there are screw-in flourescents that will be cooler than the incandescents you have. Check Walmart in the pet department for the 10 watt compact flourescents with the u-shaped tubes, about $5 each, in good 6500Kdaylight spectrum, so they are even appropriate for planted tanks. I've also see some by Coralife for $10 each at petstores, some in daylihgt 6500K and some in 10,000K+actinic for saltwater.
 

aquariumfishguy

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First thing I would ask is do you have air conditioning? Lord help you if you dont (especially if you live in the South or Mid-West) but nonetheless you need to help your fish which is what you are doing now. Congrats on thinking ahead!

Some will suggest the ice cube method or whatever but I dont think thats very practical myself. They would melt way too fast, especially if we're talking about an un-airconditioned home.

The thing that works best is keeping a small fan blowing across the top of the aquarium. This can cool the tank up to 5-7 degrees than if you didn't have a fan blowing across the water. Some of the water will evaporate faster but thats easy to refill and hey, we all deal with evaporation in the summer...even in air conditioned houses. ;)
 

Ken

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I have air conditioning, but no one is in the house for at least eight hours a day, and we have always turned the air off during this time.

This is in southern Oklahoma, so in summer the house can get pretty hot in that time.

Even now my small tanks are running close to eighty with the incandescent lights on all day (they are planted).

If I have to I will leave the air on more, but this runs into big bucks in a mobile home.

I have been told that adding frozen bottles of water works well in bigger tanks such a my 55, so I may try that along with the other suggestions.

Thanks for all the help!

-Ken
 

aquariumfishguy

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It does? I would think that it would be less noticeable on your electric bill being that its a mobile home.

My house is about 4800 square feet and I only pay about 15 dollars a month extra in the summer for AC.
 

johnnyxxl

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my powerbill in a mobile home went up about 40 dollars a month for air which is a lot. thats in NC in the mountains.
 

pinballqueen

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Speaking from trailer experience...

Air conditioning, if it's not a pretty sophisticated central heat/air system designed specifically for cooling a tin can, gets really really expensive for those of us that, well, live in a tin can.

Trailers are not insulated nearly as well as homes are, because the regulations are not as stringent, especially on older homes. Therefore, the air escapes fast, and the heat gets worse, since you're looking at a metal box in a fairly open field (most of the time)... sit a coke can on your porch in the summer and see if you can touch it an hour later.... I can't touch the sides of my house on a summer day. That heat goes straight in the house. It's tough to keep it cool, and it runs the electric way up really fast. My KUB bill goes from 60 bucks in the winter to 150 or more in the summer, and the only change is how often my air condensers in my ac and my fridge are running =/

I keep my tanks cool with the "waterfall" method... that, and I run a room-temp tank, and it's used to a fairly warm temperature because, well, I might as well be a reptile and prefer my house at about 80 year round, so I keep my heat kinda high in the winter.
 
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