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Help for cooling down tank please D:

Atherose

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I know this is a common question but I have been really stressed about the oncoming Australian Summer for my Axolotl, it's late Winter now and his tank is already sitting just beneath 25 degrees Celsius most of the time.
I work a lot so the times I am at home can vary greatly.
I'm so worried about his health it's driving me insane. I don't want my little guy to die from the heat.

His tank isn't huge, just an average fish tank size ( I will be getting a larger one when he grows more, I just can't afford it at the moment)

Is it worth is to get an aquarium chiller? I read that even the expensive ones only cool the tank by approx. 5 degrees.... ?

What's the easiest way to keep him cool this summer...?
I've read about Fridging, but I don't know whether I could handle the upkeep of changing the small container daily and I wouldn't want to put him in such a small place for such a long time... ( It stays very hot for nearly half the year here)

I admit an Axolotl probably wasn't the best pet choice considering where I live, but the conditions at the pet store were so poor, I couldn't leave him there.

Please, any suggestions are really appreciated!
 

Salamanderfire

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AW: Help for cooling down tank please D:

Hi,

I have some tanks with bee shrimps in a room under the roof. Those tanks I have to cool down during hot days.
I use computer fans that blow to the water surface so that lots of water evaporates and that cools down the water temperature about 2 to 5 degrees, depending on the room temperature. But here in Germany the summers are not es hot as in Australia so the evaporative cooling might not be strong enough for your tank.

There are aquarium chillers that are able to cool down the water to any wanted temperature, but they cost quite a lot and consume much power.

Do you have a cool basement where you can put the tank with your axolotl during the summer? That would be a possible solution which won't cost you anything.

Peter
 

lea

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I have done a couple of summers without a chiller and it is hard work. I purchased a second hand chiller from the trading post and another one for my 5ft tank from ebay and they havent skipped a beat. It kept my 3ft tank at 18oC during summer without a problem......Please get a chiller if you can afford one your axie/s will thank you........
 

blackdog

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Is it worth is to get an aquarium chiller? I read that even the expensive ones only cool the tank by approx. 5 degrees.... ?

Yes, it is worth it for the peace of mind. Just knowing the tank will be cooled to a nice 20-21 on those 40 celcius days is a load off your mind.

And yes and no re how much they will chill by. The amount a chiller will work depends on the ambient air temp, the amount of water in the tank, and the size of the chiller. If you are concerned because you are in a hot part of au, then perhaps buy a bigger chiller than you need. For example, if you have a 200 ltr tank, and there is one chiller recomended for up to 200 ltr, and another recomended for up to 500 ltr, you could go for the bigger one.

Chilling & Heating - Guppy’s Aquarium Products Online - Chilling & Heating - i bought a Hailea from here, it hasn't missed a beat. These are the cheapest new chillers you can get in AU, i did a lot of looking :) , if you google around you will get mixed reveiws of the hailea range, they are an entry level chiller for sure, but my experience has been good.

My reasoning was that if i get a Hailea and it only lasts 2 years before i have to replace it, it still only cost me $700 for a chiller over 4 years. None of the $700 + chillers have a guarantee longer than 4 years, so i figured i had little to lose even if it broke in two years - know what i mean?

Anyways, it's been running for nearly two years now and so far so good.

I use a 150 to chill a 3ft / 160 lt tank to 18 c. It worked reasonbly hard over the summer, but did the job well.

I chill it to 18 c now, in the summer months i gradually sneak the temp of the tank up to 20 c just so the chiller isnt working so hard so often.

Oh, and the hailea do not have an interneal pump, so you need to supply a pump. You can run them in line with your canister filter if you have one, or you need to get a seperate pump.

Bren
 
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