My newly completed 44g hex setup

[Brandon]

So i have had a little wild type (squishy) since small larvae and i got hooked a few weeks after buying him i bought two juvies from zaria a wild type( the brain) and a golden albino(Pinky). my current setup is an aquatop ife 30 rated for 60 gallon that also has an integrated spray bar attachment that is also selectable between spray bar mode and waterfall mode, a great filter imo for 40.00 on ebay. i also have a 48 inch bubble bar and a double sponge foam filter element style filter for extra clean water. My substrate is fine blue sand and is planted with amazon swords, elodea/anacharis, hornwort, java fern and hair grass in the substrate and some duckweed and other little plant bits floating, oh and a fake plastic log hide that i picked up from walmart and pulled all the crappy fake silk plants off of and filled in there places with live elodea. my temp varies between 71f and 74f and i was looking to get a sheet of 3/8 plexi and cut it to fit my tank top and integrate one of these into it.

AQUATEK ChillMaster Aquarium Cooling Fan (6 fan) +gift | eBay

i hope that will get me into the 68 to 70f range consistently. i also just this morning got in the mail 20 wild type melanoid mix eggs that i have set up in a breeding trap in the tank and was hoping this would be alright. im attaching pics of the setup as well as my happy lotls

[John Clare]

I have to say, reading your description of the tank, I simply must see a photo of this gorgeous setup please!

To answer your questions, the fans should help, though on a 60 gallon aquarium I'm not sure how significant the impact will be. Keep in mind that you will lose water due to evaporation caused by the fans. If you seal the top of the aquarium, you will reduce the ability of the fans to cool the water, because the evaporated water (now in gas form) will saturated the air under the lid, and less water can evaporate, leading to less heat being used up to convert the liquid water into gaseous water. I hope you're following me.

Regarding the axolotls in the breeding trap, I wholeheartedly recommend not keeping them in a breeding trap. The larvae will eat and kill each other in cramped spaces.

[Brandon]

Well for some reason the pics would upload from my laptop so I'm tons try from my phone instead. And as for the babysitter in the breeding trap I just have them in there till they hatch so I know that they are in good water and once they do hatch they already have a long shallow tupperware setup and waiting on them. I did lose a few to cloudyness already I think I'm down to 15-18 out of 21 but the rest look great can't wait for them to hatch :)
The fourth pictures is a little guy I rescued from a local pet store yesterday can't wait to see what he turns into. Anyone have any ideas? I'm thinking wild type
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[Brandon]

Originally Posted by John

I have to say, reading your description of the tank, I simply must see a photo of this gorgeous setup please!

To answer your questions, the fans should help, though on a 60 gallon aquarium I'm not sure how significant the impact will be. Keep in mind that you will lose water due to evaporation caused by the fans. If you seal the top of the aquarium, you will reduce the ability of the fans to cool the water, because the evaporated water (now in gas form) will saturated the air under the lid, and less water can evaporate, leading to less heat being used up to convert the liquid water into gaseous water. I hope you're following me.

Regarding the axolotls in the breeding trap, I wholeheartedly recommend not keeping them in a breeding trap. The larvae will eat and kill each other in cramped spaces.

As for the fan setup I was not going to seal the top I am going to leave the back area slightly recessed around a few things ie the filter spray bar and air lines. The front of the plexi forward of the light I had planned on cutting a section out and installing two hinges and a little knob so I have thus created a little acccess and feeding door. The fan setup as I had hoped to run it, is as a pull type exhaust style fan rather than a push type but I am open to ideas hear as I am more electrical oriented than thermodynamically oriented and not sure which way would be more efficient setup for cooling. So please someone let me know :) thanks

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[shultzbaby]

In my opinion, if you are running only one fan then its best to have it push rather than pull. If its blowing directly on the water then it will be cooling the water by evaporating it. If its pulling, I think most of the air will just be pulled gently through the space between the waters surface and the tank lid. This would create a gentle air current and will cool the tank, but a push fan will create lots of vortexes in the air current on its way out, increasing evaporation.
However I am not a scientist, and I could be wrong. This is just an explanation of the way I see it.