heres an idea: for cooling tanks

My axies tank is creeping up to about 23deg, which won't be so bad once I do my water change on the weekend cause Im planning on moving it to a cooler part of my house then.

Anyway, at the moment I'm using the ice brick method but I can't always keep up with as and I'm never home during the hottest parts of the day to change the ice bricks so the temp is fluctuating. I can't afford a marine chiller and I mean its only this hot for a few months. Im considering putting styrofoam around the tank and then i had another possible idea.

My cousin used to work night shifts and he had trouble sleeping during the light and heat of the day. He ended up gettin aluminum foil and sticking its shiny side out, onto the windows (with the help of a spray bottle of water) It kept the room really dark during the day and since the sun was reflected off the foil, im pretty sure it kept it cool too. So what do you think, do you think it would work on my fishtank or would it just make it look like a silver UFO type thing? Cause I wouldn't mind trying it and I thought I was really clever for remembering it

Is your tank in the sun? If so, that poses algae problems as well as the heat problems.
Aluminum will not 'reflect' heat in an enclosed room. Aluminum's thermal conductivity is a lot higher than the glass or acrylic your tank is made out of... meaning, aluminum is not a good insulator at all. If the room gets a lot of sunlight, closing the blinds to keep it from heating up the room would be a big help. Styrofoam around the tank will help maintain the cooler temperature longer.

not aluminum around the tank, but aluminum foil. I know it made his room cooler cus when it was stuck the the glass it reflected the heat off it

It made the room cooler because it reflected the light coming through the windows. It would work just as well with thick white paper, or thick curtains. It wasn't the aluminum foil that made the room cooler, but the barrier between the light and the room. Putting aluminum foil around your tanks won't make them noticeably cooler.

oh thanks, for that. Now I understand, I only took biology in highschool.. I might try the stryfoam idea aswell as the ice.

I had another thought today. Our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it has no windows. Well it does but the window goes out into the hallway so the window isnt getting direct sunlight. No one is having steamy showers at the moment and we have an exhaust fan in the ceiling and we always air out the bathroom after using it. Could I put the tank in there until the weather cools down?

Nattles88 said:

oh thanks, for that. Now I understand, I only took biology in highschool.. I might try the stryfoam idea aswell as the ice.

I had another thought today. Our bathroom is in the middle of the house so it has no windows. Well it does but the window goes out into the hallway so the window isnt getting direct sunlight. No one is having steamy showers at the moment and we have an exhaust fan in the ceiling and we always air out the bathroom after using it. Could I put the tank in there until the weather cools down?

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If that's the coolest room in the house, then that would be the best place for it. Also, a north-facing room is usually cooler.

Whoever designed this house wasnt thinking very properly when the placed windows. The either get the heat in the morning or in the evening.. The only north-facing glass in the house is that of the large patio sliding door, so it doesnt really work

i moved the tank a little whole ago and the temps already gone done a bit so i think it work well

well this morning at midday the water was about 24deg and its 5.40pm now and its down to 18deg, (with the ice bricks) Is that too quick? Well i thinks its 18deg, I have one of those stick on thermometers and it only goes down to 18

Hi nattles,

Your temperature drop is about 1 degrees per hour. I think its just right.

Cheers

What works for us is to freeze partially filled 2 litre coke bottles. We use de-chlorinated water in the bottle just in case it leaks. Our trick is to first wrap the bottle in 2 or 3 layers of bubble wrap and secure the bubble wrap around bottle with elastic bands. The advantage of using bubble wrap is that it insulates the cold bottle and prevents the water temperature dropping fast and ice in the bottle lasts longer. So the temperature is held reasonably constant right through the day even when we are not home.

On days when it is not too hot you can still use 2 litre coke bottle wrapped in bubble wrap but place the wrapped bottle in a plastic bag before putting it in the tank. This really improves insulation around coke bottle and provides a mild cooling effect in the tank all day.

We have also found that adding styrofoam is a great help as it insulates the tank when the air temperature in the room is hotter than the water. I have glued foam onto 3 pieces of wood to make it easy to install. The three bits of wood are joined (using plastic or material hinge). When fitted it covers the front and sides of the tank. I have permanent insulation in place at the back of the tank.

Using these methods we can keep water temperatures almost constant in the range from 18 to 20 degrees even when during our recent heatwave where we had 10 days of +40 C every day. On very hot days we did keep evaporative air conditioner on in the house so air temperature in house was about 28 to 30 degrees.

Hope this helps.

Hi Caity,

Thank you for sharing your innovative ideas. These ideas will continue to improve methodologies on cooling the water. Just thought i shall acknowledge your wondeful contribution.

Cheers

Hi Jennewt,

North Facing in the southern Hemisphere gets the most sunlight. I guess it must be different up there after all your water goes down the drain the wrong way too.

Hi guys!!!

I was searching in the web and I found this mini chillers:
http://www.marineandreef.com/1_15_hp_chiller_1_15_chiller_1_10_chiller_1_10_hp_chiller_s/200.htm

They are not made for bigger tanks, but the price is about 1/3 if you compare with the regular prices. I just thought this might help.