Water temp is to high

So i am in the process of setting up my Girlfriends new tank for her chinese fire bellies. I went to go get the thermometer out of their temporary tank when it read a shocking 78 degrees. Both of the newts were on the little land area. I raced to turn off my apartment heater and I grabbed some cold spring water and dumped it in the tank which dropped it to 72 degrees and then i dumped in a ton of ice to keep it cool through tonight.

My question is what can i do to keep this tank cool. I looked up chillers but they seem to be out of our price range. Does anyone know of a solution that will cost 150 or less?

This is a problem that most of us here have faced at one point or another in our newt keeping experience. So there is a nice article on the subject here.

The easiest thing to do would be to turn the thermostat down in your apartment to something closer to 70 or less. Also try taking temperature readings around the room. Some spots are cooler than others, especially those near the ground and away from heat registers.

Try freezing some soda bottles partially full of water so that if the temperature gets up there you can add one to bring the temperature down. My freezer is full of them so I can rotate them as needed.

Evaporation by putting a fan over the tank also helps considerably. I would suggest looking at that article for more ideas and for actual examples. You could probably find some workable cooling solutions from free to $20.

Where do you have the tank? Never place a tank in front of a window or a place where it will get direct sunlight. This will basically bake the newts because of all the heat That will build up inside the tank and it might solve your problem if you move it.

At least the temp doesn't have to be as low as it does for a mudpuppy! Because man, my house is cold!

And if you fill water bottles with water and freeze it make sure is dechlorinated water!! 'cause if the bottle were to leak with chlorine you're in trouble. Also remember that water expands when you freeze it so don't fill the bottle all the way 3/4 should be fine.

In addition to te other suggestions mentioned, the cheapest solution is usually to NOT use a submersible filter, and to add a fan and ventilation.

My submersible filter only raises the temp by maybe 3 degrees at the absolute most.

I use a submersible filter (fluval 2 plus) and I haven't noticed any temp change.

In a large tank, the heat generated by a submersible isn't very noticable, especially if the tank is well ventilated. In a 15-gallon or smaller tank, it's significant. I had a "sand shark" filter at one point, and it raised the temp by about 5F; at the time I was battling to keep the newts cool enough (no basement), so I ditched that filter!

If you can cut 3 degrees by not using the filter, and another 3 degrees by switching to a screen lid, you've just dropped your temp from 78 to 72 without even needing to mess around with ice bottles. Using ice gets really tiresome.

I don't know what size tank you are using, but this is what I did on my 56G. It is just 2 computer fans and a cheap ac/dc converter. I think I paid a total of $50 for it, and that included the plexiglass for the lid. I also keep the temp in my house at 67 degrees.