Cooling advice

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Salt4Us

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
865
Location
Tustin, CA
Well the June gloom is over here in California, now the heat is here, when we had freshwater we would stick (this is probably the wrong thing to do but it was what we were told to do way back when) we would stick a ziplock bag that had frozen water in it and float it in the tank.

It worked, but it's probably not the right thing to do for a reef tank. Can anyone suggest a way to keep our tank cool at the right temp. Right now we prop the lid up and it helps the fans keep the heat from the lights escape faster. We don't have a sump, just a HOB fuge.

Can't afford a chiller.

Any help would be great!
 
Well when I got home it was 84.7, it's back down to 82.9 now. I know if I had left it, it would have gone up higher. Tomorrow is supposed to be a hotter one.
 
what is the ambient temp in the house? sometimes, just lowering that by 3 or 4 degrees will help, if you keep the hood up.
 
Floating an ice bag is what I did last summer. Temps were getting into the high 80s (87-88) it took a few hours and I usualy had to do it twice but it did bring the temp down.

Are there any adverse effects this could cause?
 
Depending on how fast the temp came down...and understanding that the water temp within a few inches of the bag was always several degrees colder, it could possibly contribute to some problems. Mostly stress of the animals, which could lead to other problems, when using this method, IMO, it is always best to use it in a sump. The water is cooled remotely then dispersed back into the tank allowing for a more even cooling of the water.
 
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