Cooling the tank on a budget

wcolwell88

wcolwell88

AC Members
Jun 25, 2007
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Oakland, MD./Terra Alta, WV.
www.waynecolwell.com
Its 10:40 PM and it seems my central air has froze up. This happens every now and then. Anyways, the 29 gal. I'm setting up, I've had running with just water for a few weeks. I just noticed the temp in the tank was 84F. I put about 6 ice cubes in the in-tank refuge and they all mounted in about 40 sec. with the flow of a ro 50 in the refuge. I live in West Virginia up on a mountain so this is not a warm place and it is most likely cold outside right now. The ice cubes brought the temp down to 83.5F. I was thinking about a chiller until I saw the prices. Now I am not going to be here dropping ice cubes in the tank at night time, so what kind of options do I have to help keep the temp down? This tank is in a nice bedroom which is kept clean to the point of a showroom and I spend most of my time in here and have a lot of people the come in here so I don't want to use anything that would stand out or look bad in the room. I also would prefer something quiet. Any suggestions. As much as I don't really have the money for it, I will try to by a chiller if I can't find a better option. If no suggestions, any recommendations on a cheap chiller?
 
You could DIY a custom fan set-up with some black computer fans if a regular household fan is too loud / too big (or small) / not the right color.

Is the top of the tank completely closed / partially open / completely open? If it's closed tight by a glass top, adding a small fan and propping the glass top open slightly will have a noticable effect on temp.
 
I'd try some type of fan then. I'd suggest not having it too close to the tank itself (or simply use a low setting if it's close), so the fan doesn't create overly excessive surface disturbance and end up misting your light fixture.
 
I use the $10 fans from Walmart,you can get the clip on kind or the ones that will set on flat surface.They will also hang on the wall,thats how I have mine.
 
a small black fan that clips on the back of the tank don't sound too bad if its not too loud. Starting to run out of room back there. I have the in and outs for my fluval 405, AquaC Remora skimmer, small in-tank refuge, and some powerheads on the back of the tank and will be trying to squeeze in a phos-ban reactor back there soon. Might post some pics of what I have so far tomorrow. It don't look that great right now because of the brownish greenish algae which finds my tank to make a nice home.:hypnotized:
 
If ambient air temperature is 82[SIZE=-1]°F you can expect your tank to be 84[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]°F and higher. Using fans to speed evaporation will only bring your tank closer to the air temperature.

If this happens often and you don't want to invest in a chiller, I suggest stocking animals that are used to temperature swings in the wild.

Until then, start keeping 16oz frozen bottles of water in the freezer.
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