How to Cool a tank down?

[Rocket2001]

Its been 85-90 degrees outside here for three day. My tank temp has steadily risen to 84 from 77 last week. On the advise of my LFS I have used Ziplock bags filled with ice to keep the tank from going any higher than 84. It has worked and the temp is currently 82.
But I was wondering instead of floating a bag in the tank and possibly contaminating my tank, would packing my canister filter in a bucket of ice accomplish the same thing without puting the fish throught the stress of the bag being put in and taken out over and over again.
I wonder if anybody out there has tried this and what the results were, logically it seems resonable but since I'm new to the hobby I'm afraid to do anything too "crazy".

 

[smallfry]

Hey Rocket,
The least obtrusive way to cool the tank down is aim a fan at it and if you don't have jumping fish, leave the top open so the fan blows across the top of the water....this works nicely and lowers the temp. GRADUALLY without having "cold spots" or disturbing the fishies. I usually put my fan about 5-10 feet away from the tank. HTH!

I have also used the ziplock bags in extreme cases but it's a bit more drastic and could be too fast a temp adjustment for the fish. The fan is good because it's gradual and keeps the temp down to 80. (at least in my 10g tank)

 

[Blackpearl]

Do you think I can put one or two ice cubes into the tank?

 

[deeni0z]

I have a filter that goes over the top of the tank (it's like a box with a divider so i can put stuff in... not sure if it's a trickle filter). I'd stick some ice cubes in the actual filter so it would circulate the cold water rather than have like a top layer of ice--and really cold water. It didn't lower the temperature much (only like 4 degrees) because I have like.. 20 gal of water and only like 20 ice cubes doesn't really help much.

If you have surface agitation (like your filter spouts water at the surface so it's constantly moving) you can probably get away with ice cubes in the tank. If you have an auto-ice cube thing in your 'fridge, I know there's a filter of some sort in it but I don't know what it filters out. You'd probably be safer freezing bottled, treated, or aquarium water.

HTH and GL!

 

[smallfry]

Don't use ice cubes unless they've been treated with De-chlor....