A new way to keep axolotls cool this Summer?

Hey guys, just to let you know I think I may have found an easy, cheap way to keep axolotls cool this Summer.
I was despairing because I couldn't afford a chiller and I found the bottle method was not working for me very well, when my parents offered me a frozen freezer block. I've found these work really well, are relatively cheap and don't alter the water's temp too quickly. Just wondering if this might help anyone in a similar sitch.

What exactly is a frozen freezer block?

Do you mean these things? (picture)

I used them for a little while during last heat wave we had. But I have no idea what's inside them so I was afraid it would leak in to the tank if the block somehow got damaged (like normal wear and tear after being frozen and melted nonstop for days).

If it is what keiko said, then I am not sure how well they work. The ones I have are just filled with water, and I used them to cool my T. granulosa to try and stimulate breeding. Mine melted just as fast as water bottle's, and the one's I have get so cold on the outside that I feel like if a axie touched one it could burn it or harm it. -Seth

I've been using them, and they still aren't keeping the water cool enough :/ I've got some shaped like a block, and some that are cylindrical, the cylinders work a lot better it seems... also, not sure how well they hold up with constant freezing and melting. I put some ice cubes in the water too, and that helped cool the water a little... I think I am going to do a partial water change, lower the water level a bit, and do the water bottle thing. Even with the tanks by the air conditioner, on the days it gets really hot, my tank temps spike.

Last summer I used water bottles, but this summer I found the best solution!!


A bigger tank the difference between my 20 gal (old axi tank) and my 40 gal is 10-12 degrees!! And Stanley is happier! Haha and if that wasn't enough, I invested in a window air conditioner for just my room

I have used those things as well, and to be honest there is little difference between them and a water bottle for an equivalent shape. Let's look at it in terms of the physics...
Assuming a water bottle and freezer block are of equivalent mass and dimensions and are chilled to exactly the same temperature by the freezer, then the difference in cooling they provide is determined only by the rate of conductivity of the material and the latent heat needed to produce the change in state from solid to liquid. Since an axolotl tank is generally a large volume of water and its own exchange of heat with the air around it is a slow process, for simplicity's sake we can therefore treat the rate of conductivity from the chilling item as negligible difference, as the tank isn't going to absorb heat from the air anywhere near as fast as its water is cooled by the chilling item.
That means the only difference is the latent heat required to melt the ice inside, and since those blocks are water based this too will be negligible. Hence, it can be deduced that a water bottle or a freezer block of the same size and shape as the bottle will cool a tank pretty much identically. What makes a far greater difference is the shape of the chilling item. A cylinder will have a smaller surface area/volume ratio than a flat block and will subsequently take heat from the water more slowly. However, the overall amount of heat taken from the water will be the same if the volumes of a bottle and a block are the same - it's just the speed at which it does it. Fast cooling is considered bad, so a bottle or cylindrical block is superior to a flat one.

I heard of a way to cool a room unconventionally the other day. It's where you use a fan and point it out a window or door. That way it's blowing all the hot air outside, rather than just spreading it around inside.

I haven't tried it, but it might be worth a go. I suppose it could probably cool the room down a few degrees ( F ). But you would probably need a water bottle or something as well, but both together could possibly cool the tank significantly.

EDIT: Oh, and I have heard of simply putting ice pack's on the outside of the tank, in contact with the glass, and it seems to work pretty well. Also, here's a cooling setup that I have done before.....
Take a Styrofoam cooler, large enough for a tub(s), put about two inches of water in it. Next, put however many tubs in as axies that you need to chill, and fill them with water. Put a hole in the lid of the tub. Put your axies in the tubs, and put a few ice pack's in the Styrofoam cooler. Make sure they aren't in contact with the tubs.
What this does is it cools the water in the Styrofoam cooler, and in turn cools the water in the tubs. -Seth

So something totally random spinning off that last idea by Seth with the styrofoam. I realize this wouldn't be really attractive to look at but I'm sure there are people like me who are gone at work most of the day and don't care what the tank looks like while not there.

So does anyone know if it would be useful to cut up some styrofoam and make like a cover for a tank? like cut out 4 sides and tape them together around the outside of the tank maybe with those coolie blocks between the styrofoam and the tank? maybe even put velcro around one side so it can be like snapped on and off easier

That might just work.....Good idea!

if anyone tries this before I do please post pictures!! the styrofoam cooler thing I have is gonna be too small I think so I'll keep it as a travel case (I have moved them in tupperware containers inside the cooler and it works amazingly. kept the temp in the tupperware super low (about 46) until I took them out several (6ish?) hours later and kept the water bottles frozen) but it only cost $2.47 from walmart

I saw a video on Youtube where a guy cooled his red cherry shrimp tank by blowing a fan across it, switching to LED lighting, and using an insulated box/wrap thing that he put around the tank while he was at work to keep it cool and it worked well for him. Can't seem to find the link at the moment, but I was searching "DIY aquarium chiller" when I found it.

Insulating the tank with sheets of styrofoam would help keep the water in the tank cooler. You'd still probably have to cool the water somehow but it'd take longer for it to heat up again.

I wouldn't suggest putting ice packs outside the tank in contact with the glass. The temperature differences might make the glass crack at some point.

I have clip on fans and have a foil-like car windscreen cover around the back side of the tank to help insulate it a bit. I can't see it as I have 3D background hiding it. It sticks on the glass with suction caps. Even though it only covers one side of the tank it seems to work a little in conjunction with the fans. But it would be easy to cover all sides if necessary for a better effect. As Keiko mentioned, you would need to use insulation with a cooling method.

Did you find that the car-windsreen cover thing worked? I was using a clip on fan and frozen water bottles last summer, but that was barely working. We've still got a few months before the heat returns, but advanced planning is always helpful.

The windscreen cover does seem to help but you need to use it in conjunction with other methods. It would not do much without other cooling methods as well. I only have it on the back side so it would be more effective covering all sides but I have not had to yet. The clip on fans i have work pretty well. I got the fans from guppies online and they work wonders. Though I have avoided most of the 40C heat as I got my axolotls late February so this summer will be the true test.

I might look into it. I almost lost my little bugger a couple of summer's ago, so I've been a bit paranoid about his temp. I didn't like the frozen water bottle method, as the cracking ice scared the bejezus out of Jax, and I was worried the bottles would land on him as the ice melted. But taking the lid off, and leaving the clip on fan blowing worked well.

I accidentally froze my cuz diet mountain dew I thought it was one of my ice bottles the thing stayed frozen for a week before it melted I was replacing bottles around it wondering how it was staying frozen when it did thaw I found out it was soda not water so im thinking about switching all my water yo soda just worried about popping in the freezer I have my filter in a mini fridge and stock it with ice instead of floating them

Just an idea, could you freeze tank water and just put the blocks of ice in ?

Yes that's why people were saying to use dechlorinated water in the water bottles, it's just easier to freeze water bottles and take them out and refreeze them than to use blocks of ice in the actual water. Also ice blocks in the actual water would probably mess with the amount of water you have in the tank and with how much I switch water bottles my tank would overflow lol but if freezing tank water would work better for you, try it!