Tank too hot?

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tinyli0ness

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I set up my axolotl tank a while ago preparing for ordering one, and just got a thermometer today, and my axolotl comes in the mail in a few days. Basically the water is 74 degrees right now which i know is too hot. Ive got 4 water bottles freezing to start alternating until i find a fix, which i plan on doing a screen top without lights (i have just a standard closed black one with lights right now) and one of those clip on fans.

does it sound like im handling this okay? Do i need to invest in a chiller? My tank is only 10 gallon. I saw a heater with the lowest setting 68, but i didnt know if that would really help that much... Should the ice bottles be enough til i can go get the lid and fan, which is a few days.

I just dont want my little dude to be stressed when he gets here. Id feel horrible if something went wrong right off the bat.

Any input helps! thanks :happy:
 
Keeping the lid off the tank will definitely help. I cool my ten gallon with a fan, and it stays around 60-62 degrees, though I do keep my room slightly chilly as well ( that is another option, turn down the heat in the house, haha).

As long as you can keep the temp stable with the ice bottles ( no dramatic swings) that is fine. Just remember to freeze dechlorinated water in case they leak.
 
Do you have a heater in your tank? I'm not sure why you are talking about heaters. Axolotl tanks don't need any heat. If it is a challenge to keep your tank cool in the winter it will be a real problem in the summer.
 
michael said:
Do you have a heater in your tank? I'm not sure why you are talking about heaters. Axolotl tanks don't need any heat. If it is a challenge to keep your tank cool in the winter it will be a real problem in the summer.
Click to expand...

I think they were just looking at a heater with a low setting of 68 under the false assumption that it would lower the temperature from 74. I wasn't going to point it out but - even if you set the heater lower than your current temp it isn't going to somehow lower the temperature. Its a heater, it will add heat no matter how low you set it.
 
My building was heated last month to the point where I was adding water bottles every hour or so. Keep your AC temp about 70-71F since a fan on a 10 gallon can only lower the tank a few degrees. 10 gallon tanks are not that large so it won't be able to hold on to the temp the same way a much larger tank can. If the tank is staying a few degrees too hot you might want to move it to the floor of the room in a corner. That alone can lower it a few degrees. hope that helps
 
My freezer currently has 4 (2 liter bottles) 2 (20 oz bottles) and 2 ( 1 liter bottles.)
I try to keep my tank to 64F so I use the smaller bottles when it goes around 66F and I use the larger bottles when temp starts hitting 68F.
Not to mention all the frozen blood worms in that poor freezer!

I also have a mini clip on fan which I'm getting a medium clip on fan but I went to Wal-Mart twice today and forgot each time! I'm such a bad mother...anyway that is what I do.
I keep my ceiling fan on high at all times and have the AC on during winter except when my family starts to groan and whine about heat.
 
I am working on a low budget cooler using peltier devices, which I will be assembling this week, keep an eye for my post on it, over all cost is less then 150.
 
Where are you located in the US? I'm in deep south Georgia, but it's more than cool enough down here.

Check to see how cold your tap water is, and if it's below 70 then use that (you won't have to go through the trouble of freezing water just now). My tap water is around 54 at its lowest temperature, but I usually run it in the low 60's when I'm doing water changes.

If it's still pretty warm wherever you are, try doing water changes at night after the water has had a chance to cool in the pipes a bit.

I usually keep four frozen water bottles in the freezer, but during warmer months I also have at LEAST one 2liter of dechlorinated water in my fridge at any point in time. This makes small water changes a lot easier, plus using this in addition to frozen bottles really helps. If you're still having trouble, move your tank to the coolest place in the house, invest in a fan, or spring for a chiller (though a chiller might be a bit much for a 10gal)

Don't use heaters. Ever.
 
Okay so i feel sorta very stupid now for thinking that about the heater. Sorry to cause any confusion.

An update is that with the frozen bottles ive kept the temperature down overnight so im feeling like this is a good solution til i can get out and get a screen top for it and a fan.

My mom gets cold really easily so our house is like 80 or higher during the winter. During the summer we put air conditioners in our windows and crank them up and its closer to 75 or lower if i had to guess then. So im not too concerned about cooling it then.

Thanks for all the input!
 
Okay so this is a little trick if you absolutely MUST keep the heat on. Always keep your door closed and sealed as possible, then close ALL the vents in your room (I'm assuming this is where the axolotls are) If it is colder outside you can crack your window open slightly unless it is absolutely freezing. keep fans blowing over your tank and this all will help keep the temperature down without cooling down your whole house.
 
i have a 20 long and use a heater on the lowest setting of 68 and they stay stable and fine otherwise it would average a temp of 72.
 
also my thermometer sys its at 68 degrees so...
 
I'd try screened top and evaporative fan for cooling too. If you have to big of a temp swings from ice bottles it can be a bigger problem than a little warm.
M.
 
I really dont wanna risk the heater thing now though. It may be too much for my tank since its only 10 gallons. But im glad that works for you!

Also I probably will close off the vents to my room and keep the door closed if worse comes to worse.
 
AshSeek said:
i have a 20 long and use a heater on the lowest setting of 68 and they stay stable and fine otherwise it would average a temp of 72.
Click to expand...

What? Are you trying to say that your heater lowers the temperature? ? ?

Because logically that doesn't make any sense 8X it creates heat. There is physically no way it is lowering the temperature. I would remove it right away :x

68 is a little high by the way, I would endeavor to bring that down.
 
tinyli0ness said:
I really dont wanna risk the heater thing now though. It may be too much for my tank since its only 10 gallons. But im glad that works for you!
Click to expand...

But it doESNT it's physically impossible guys please understand this. We're gonna do science~

Your heater has temperature settings to control how much heat it puts out. It will not thermoregulate your tank.

Inside your heater is a heating element (Kinda like... in a toaster I guess would be an okay analogy) surrounded by glass or ceramic to make it submersible in water. The adjustable thermostat controls the strength of the heating element.

If your ambient water is warmer than the setting, the heater will still create heat. It can't lower the temperature by any means.
 
Kaini said:
But it doESNT it's physically impossible guys please understand this. We're gonna do science~

Your heater has temperature settings to control how much heat it puts out. It will not thermoregulate your tank.

Inside your heater is a heating element (Kinda like... in a toaster I guess would be an okay analogy) surrounded by glass or ceramic to make it submersible in water. The adjustable thermostat controls the strength of the heating element.

If your ambient water is warmer than the setting, the heater will still create heat. It can't lower the temperature by any means.
Click to expand...

I agree now. This makes sense. Im sorry for causing a bit of a problem.
 
michael said:
I'd try screened top and evaporative fan for cooling too. If you have to big of a temp swings from ice bottles it can be a bigger problem than a little warm.
M.
Click to expand...

Ah, yeah i can see how that could be a problem. I havent changed the bottles in a few hours now and its staying about 66 degrees so im just gonna wait and see if it goes up. If not im probably not gonna keep doing the ice bottles.
 
I've had a tank full of water sitting in my room due to not having the chance to pick up my little guys yet (digitalxri0t has been keeping them fat and happy until I can take them home), and I've noticed that with nothing in it but a thermometer my tank sits in the low 40s. My room isn't heated during the day and because it's winter time in the basement it gets very cold.

For this reason I've actually been considering a small heater for in the day time when it's cold.
 
SkollSunChaser said:
I've had a tank full of water sitting in my room due to not having the chance to pick up my little guys yet (digitalxri0t has been keeping them fat and happy until I can take them home), and I've noticed that with nothing in it but a thermometer my tank sits in the low 40s. My room isn't heated during the day and because it's winter time in the basement it gets very cold.

For this reason I've actually been considering a small heater for in the day time when it's cold.
Click to expand...


Ok, I'll amend my earlier statement and say that unless your water is in danger of freezing over, or it's too cold for the axolotls to live reasonably normally, don't use a heater.

If you're using a heater to keep your water above 40, I won't complain about it x)
 
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