Question: Laptop Cooling Pad for cooling an aquarium

[Matthew Middleton]

I was wondering what everyone thought about using a laptop cooling pad to keep an aquarium at the right temperature for a salamander. I'm looking to raise a Plethodon Glutinosus (Slimy Salamander) and the last piece I need is a good way to keep it cool. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Justin]

I don't see why it wouldn't work. My main concern would be the size of the cooling fan, if it is too small I would think it would put too much pressure on the bottom of the tank and bust it. If the fan unit is larger than the bottom of the tank then this of course wouldn't be an issue.

[Abrahm]

I don't think that you'll have much cooling with a laptop cooling pad. I'm not sure what kind you are talking about. Do you have any links? Most of the ones I know about just use fans or other things to help dissipate heat. They won't really work on something that is already room temperature as these devices just help air circulate around the laptop.

[Matthew Middleton]

Are they're any good/cheap solutions out there that you've had success with? I'm hoping to keep it under $100 for the cooling unit. For the time being I could keep it in the basement, but I'd loved to keep it on my first floor for more interaction. Thanks again!

[Johnny O. Farnen]

The basement is the easiest, cheapest way to keep your caudates cool.

I feel the next closest thing is a small room fan aimed at the top of the tank. Evaporation from the air current helps, but it is still not the basement. The other disadvantage to this method is more frequent water changes due to lost water and concentration of dissolved solids and it is no good if you are away from home for more than a day or two.

[Abrahm]

Originally Posted by SludgeMunkey

The basement is the easiest, cheapest way to keep your caudates cool.

I feel the next closest thing is a small room fan aimed at the top of the tank. Evaporation from the air current helps, but it is still not the basement. The other disadvantage to this method is more frequent water changes due to lost water and concentration of dissolved solids and it is no good if you are away from home for more than a day or two.

With aquatic setups you can replace evaporated water with deionized, reverse osmosis or distilled water so that you don't build up dissolved solids. This is pretty much the only use of those water types in aquaria.

Fans don't really work well for terrestrial setups as they really dry the setup out quickly.

Cheap cooling methods are difficult. That heat has to go somewhere which means that the setup usually has to be somewhat elaborate.