House too Hot... So is tank, How to decrease temp?

[chesnutz99]

I live in central texas and am a poor graduate student

in freshwater stream ecology who spends very little time at home. Air temperature outside is over 100 on average and a few degrees cooler in the house. The tank maintains about 88-90 whereas ideal temp is 78-82 for the organisms I want. The tank is not near a window or in direct sunlight. Keeping the AC on all day just so the tank stays cool is out of the question. I just started the tank (no organisms) and am eager to get started but have no idea how to effectively chill the 35 gal. tank without buying a chiller, which is meant for cold water tanks to support sub artic fish and is very expensive AND meant for 100 gal. + tanks. I have talked to my friend who used to work in a LFS and we spoke about trying to use clear tubing, a water pump, and a mini-fridge to rig some sort of slow cold water circulation. Sounds pretty "McGiver" (spelling?) to me. If anyone has any Ideas I would really appreciate it. This is the only thing holding me back and I WANT MY SALTWATER TANK NOW!!! :help: Please help

 

[alyssia]

I have heard of people with metal halides (they heat up the water) blowing a fan across the surface of the water. But honestly, it sounds like you are going to have to kick on the AC or get a chiller.

 

[chesnutz99]

tank not that high tech. no metal halide lamps.
Really need to think outside the box on this one.
how much are chillers? $300 + ? too much for my pay bracket.

 

[vtfishies]

u can also take a plastic bottle ( pepsi,water etc) and freeze ro/di water in it. put cover on it and let float in the tank..that will also help cool it..depending on size of tank u can use 2 liter or as small as a 16 oz...good luck..i use on my 75 gal a 2 liter bottle..

 

[fishcake]

use a fan pointed to blow over the surface of the tank that will help
but.... you will evaporate alot of water and will need to monitor your salinity.

 

[fanker]

my old elementry science teacher used to raise trout and to chill the tank he would have a tube connect to the fridge some how and come back and he could keep the tank at a 56 degree temp al the tine and he could keep it at any temp he wanted to

 

[chesnutz99]

Thanks for all your help guys but we have two main problems with your Ideas.
1: The hot air around the tank is what is causing the elevated temp. Therefore pointing a fan at the tank will not work. If the lights were overheating the tank then this would be a great sugggestion, but not the case here.
2: I like the bottle Idea, But I only have a 35 gal tank and don't want an unsightly bottle floting around in such a small area and crowding my fish. Also, has to be changed every day or so, which may become a hassle (but not a major problem)
I like my buddies idea (very theoretical) of being able to maybe use a mini-fridge and wrapping a long coil of plastic tubing throughout the cooling coils on the back of the refridgerator. Using a flow control periastaltic (sp?) pump to pass water through the coiled tubing wrapped around the cool refrigerator element and then back into the tank. I have a nice heater that can keep the tank from getting too cold effectively stabilizing the temp? HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS SORT OF SETUP?

If any one has give me some insight because what I just wrote sounds like jibberish to me.

 

[hardcrab67]

Search the archives, there was a disccusion on how this guy did it. Looked like an efficient chiller to me. Might of been a link page for a diagram.

 

[dogstar]

Use a water flow/powerhead to aggitate/ripple the water surface. This helps with gas exchange/evaperation and a small fan blowing down on to the water surface. This ' will ' help to cool it SOME.
Then because the tank is not a huge one, the DIY fridge chiller should help some too.
Cant say if this all will get you were you want it but worth a try.

 

[chesnutz99]

I have an eclipse system and a small powerhead already in use. Pretty good flow and circulation throught the tank producing ripples on the top. I used my stand oscilatting fan that was in my room and pointed it at the surface for a couple of days. None of this has worked. bottom line is the house is just too d@mn hot and I don't have the money to cool the living room while I'm not there. I have to do some cold water circulation system through the tank otherwise temp will remain at the constant 90 deg. feh. + that the air temp in the house is.
I checked the archives and did find someone that had a similar problem and a similar idea with the minifridge/ water tubing coil Idea. after more research I will post my findings. until then if anyone has set up a DIY chiller your posts will be GREATLY

appreciated

 

[dogstar]

Can you Google ?? " DIY water chiller " lots of links out there....

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by chesnutz99
tank not that high tech. no metal halide lamps.
Really need to think outside the box on this one.
how much are chillers? $300 + ? too much for my pay bracket.
Chillers cost more to operate than your Air conditioner. Try a fan and lower the room temp with air conditioning.

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by chesnutz99
Thanks for all your help guys but we have two main problems with your Ideas.
1: The hot air around the tank is what is causing the elevated temp. Therefore pointing a fan at the tank will not work. If the lights were overheating the tank then this would be a great sugggestion, but not the case here.
The fan is used to increase evaporation. If you dry the air using your Air Conditioner then a small fan can easily lower the water temp 4 or 5 degrees through increased evaporation. Of course, this means replace the evaporated water constantly.

 

[chesnutz99]

can google. did google. and you were right. there are about 50 different plans for a DIY chiller on the net. thanks for the suggestion. I feel foolish for not checking there in the first place.

 

[monalisa]

I think that you would be really surprised what a small fan cooling the surface water will do to the overall temp of your tank...this is the first summer I've tried it after a disasterous summer last year (don't want to talk about it). I haven't had a single problem so far in the hot weather we've been having.
Lisa :happyfish

 

[deeze]

Here's my Ghetto Chiller idea... would work great for a smaller tank like yours.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/217667/ghetto-chiller-for-200-gallon-reef
I ended up with a chiller but it had more to do with my overall volume of water than anything else.

 

[frank2005]

i had the same problem everything in my 460 gallon tank was overheating and causing the water to rise so i had to install its own air conditioning unit in the attic and ran it downstairs into the base of the tank...everything seems to be working fine now

 

[lukeb321]

I have had my tank as high as 86, live in s florida, just recently got a small fan at walmart for 5 bucks and a clamp for 2 and attached it to my filter - my tank never gets above 80, even when my apartment is HOT !!!! Just face towards the water, put your hand above the water youll feel the breeze.

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by fanker
my old elementry science teacher used to raise trout and to chill the tank he would have a tube connect to the fridge some how and come back and he could keep the tank at a 56 degree temp al the tine and he could keep it at any temp he wanted to

The theory and idea has been tried, but actually a waste of time and electricity.....Not enough contact time in the fridge to effectively pull the temp down........

 

[bang guy]

Originally Posted by acrylic51

The theory and idea has been tried, but actually a waste of time and electricity.....Not enough contact time in the fridge to effectively pull the temp down........
It's a matter of tank volumn. You can chill a nano with a minifridge but not a large tank. There's a reason chillers are rated in terms of horsepower vs watts.