Member

Posts: 266
From:Canada
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 02-03-2004 02:31 PM         

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Over the weekend the heating system in my apartment failed and there was no way to turn the temperature down. While I was there on the weekend I was able to keep my goldfish tank cool by doing water changes and floating bags of ice. I had left the top off to allow evaporation, and it seemed to help, but Saturday night one of my GF jumped for it. Amazingly he landed in a 5 gallon pail sitting by the tank with a tiny bit of water left in the bottom, just enough to lay on his side and breathe. He's still fine, but during the week I work out of town and my wife couldn't check on the aquarium while she was at work. The apartment heated up and one of my fish died (he'd seemed more susceptible to the heat over the weekend, too. I had to keep him in a cooler bucket where he recovered nicely).

My question, does anyone know of a DIY system of tank cooling that doesn't require large bags of ice? I was thinking of maybe an aquarium pump and evaporative plate or something.

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Member

Posts: 501
From:Missouri
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 02-03-2004 02:37 PM         

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I don't know of any DIY tank coolers, but can you leave some windows open?

-Chelle

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Member

Posts: 78
From:
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 02-03-2004 03:50 PM         

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I've only seen one DIY chiller. This however was an outside tank so it was amenable to the process. The unit itself was huge. Basically water was pumped from the tank over a dripbar that let the water run down a large sheet of filter pad (about 4 ft. square) that hung suspended from one edge - so it basically hung there. A return pump in the reservoir below then ran the water back to the tank. I think your options are limited in an indoors environment to a standard chiller that can be tripped by a thermostat to save on electricity when it's not needed.

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Member

Posts: 12
From:Madison, WI, USA
Registered: Jan 2004

posted 02-03-2004 07:00 PM         

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Yes, leave a window open! I am freezing my butt off right now in WI. I can't imagine how cold it is in Canada!

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Moderator

Posts: 199
From:El Paso, Texas
Registered: Oct 2002

posted 02-03-2004 10:03 PM         

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Chillers, for the most part, are very expensive. They require you to pump water out of the tank and into a refrigerated device, and then back to your tank again.
There is one cheaper model, but it requires you to drill a hole in your tank! I don't think that either is a very good proposition.
Just try and get control of that heater and hang in there!

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Member

Posts: 65
From:
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 02-03-2004 10:21 PM         

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Hehehe, if your a DIYer, check this out.

Cheap small, like a dorm fridge. Take a 5 gallon bucket, and coil 1/2 inch tubing from bottom to top. Drill thru the top of the fridge, two 1/2 inch holes. One for input of water, the other back to the tank.

Fill bucket with water, put in fridge, and hook the plumbing up. Under 100 bucks

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