Cooling tank down!!

[MarkW19]

We're in a strange high temperature period here in the UK at the moment, and yesterday for the first time my tank (35 gal) reached 29°C, which is higher than I want.

I keep it between 27.5 and 28.2 usually, which is still a little high, but I can usually keep it very stable at that.

But, I'm wondering if there's any way I can cool my tank down a bit (short of getting a chiller!). I've turned the lights off (no corals etc.) and taken the lid off, but it's still high.

Anyone any suggestions?

 

[tropicalman]

Try directing a fan to blow across the surface of the water. This works for me.

 

[tropicalman]

I have heard of other people try to float frozen bottles of water. I would think that might make the temp vary too much though. As long as you keep a fan blowing at a constant speed, the natural evaporation process is fairly constant.

 

[Atari]

Mark, I've had the same problem these last few days. This heat is crazy!

Even with the usual fan blasting across the surface my tank is reaching 29, so I've resorted to floating a bag of ice every now and then

The other thing because of all this, I'm getting massive evaporation which means I can constantly top-off with cooler water too.

 

[MarkW19]

If I use a fan, will that not make a lot more evaporation though?

I don't have much evap at all at the moment, and don't really want to make it an issue (having to top up etc. every few days).

 

[MarkW19]

The heat is mental! And it's not cooling down this week apparently!!

Floating a bag of ice sounds a good idea - will that cause more evaporation though?

 

[Atari]

Eh.. how can ice cause evaporation?

 

[MarkW19]

Good point! lol

Ice it is then.

 

[Shultz]

I bought 2 of those cooler bag type ice packs from Asda for 77p 4 2!!

just rinsed them before using them yesterday for a little while, they float nicely as well

Cheers Shelton.

 

[MarkW19]

How much do they lower the temp down? Your tank is a similar size to mine!

 

[Shultz]

They took it down by 1C before I decided that was enough & removed them, I suppose it could have gone further had I have wanted, didn't seem to take that long either, but I know you have to watch out for rapid changes in temp...

These cooler packs are quite small, about half a pint in size I suppose? I can take a pic if you like?

Cheers Shelton.

 

[MarkW19]

Nah it's ok matey - thanks for the offer though!

I've just put a bag of ice in there, will see what difference it makes.

Good ideas though guys!!

 

[GrndHog]

Ive got a small fan in my stand pointed down on the sump and it keeps my temps down nicely.

 

[got bait?]

I've just put a bag of ice in there, will see what difference it makes.

Why not freeze chunks of RO water? This would cool and top-off at the same time. JAT

 

[MarkW19]

Well, the ice makes a massive difference!

It goes down about .5° in 15 mins until the ice has melted. I don't want it to go down any more than this in one go anyway so it's perfect.

Good idea about the RO

 

[Hara]

If you keep bouncing your temps back and forth, you will end up with ich in a hurry. It would be better to use a fan which would drop it at least 2 degrees. That would put your temp in an acceptable range to maintain. Ideally, your temps should not have more than a 2 degree swing per day. Having to add top off water due to evaporation is not a bad thing. Also, if you are dropping it a half degree in 15 minutes, that is pretty fast. After the ice melts, does the tank warm up again?

You might also want to try a reverse light schedule, turn lights on at night when it is cooler and keep them off during the day.