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I remember reading a while back about people talking about how to keep their tank cool during the hot summer months. I was wondering if anyone could give me some information about what to buy to cool a tank? Is the best way to go about this through a mechanical device or are there non-mechanical ways of keeping a tank cool? My fish enjoy having the warmer water, but I don't want the water temperature getting into the 90's or anything like that. Thanks to anyone who can help me gather some info.

if possible a fan blowing over the top of the water is a cheap solution .

OH TOLEEDY!

The fan is alright but you will get alot of evaporation and this can be hazardous for small saltwater tanks. If you have a sump freeze bottles of water in and float them in there. Or if your realy concerned you can by an adjustable cooler that sits in your tank.

neurotica1983

To start off with can you keep the room cool? More airation, and remove the glass cover. Yes you will get more evaporation but this can be adjusted each day with out too much hassle. Reduce the number of hours the light is on and certainly have it off during the hottest part of the day. A floating frozen drink bottle will take a long time to come to the tank temperature.

Just a few suggestions that might help.

Keith

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A few words of caution reguarding frozen matter in FW tanks.
Don't Do it .
While the theory seems logical the ice causes massivly cold spots as well as a sudden drop in temp in that area. And we all know what that means right students?
ICH!!!!

Additionally the ammount of cooling one small bottle provides doesn't last for very long making it a babysitting chore rather than a solution.

Like Keith mentioned, keep the room as cool as possible. Leave window treatments closed when the sun is shining on them, use fans, and consider the heat from the lights. Of course this does cause a problem with planted tanks that need 10+ hours of light a day. What I do is set my light timer to come on earlier in the day (gradually change lights on time to be 3am) and go off for a hour or so middle of the day then back on in the evenings. Raising the lights a bit from the tank (not too much or you lose wattage) and allowing air circulation to help cool will also help.
For non co2 tanks increase surface agitation with powerheads or airstones.

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'A few words of caution reguarding frozen matter in FW tanks.
Don't Do it .
While the theory seems logical the ice causes massivly cold spots as well as a sudden drop in temp in that area. And we all know what that means right students?
ICH!!!!'
If you had read my post i said 'if you have a sump'In this way the cool water is dispersed evenly throughout the tank.

My solution is an air conditioner. While my boyfriend likes the whole house sub-zero during the summer, a small room a/c is normally not too expensive, and if kept at a normal room temp (say 70) is pretty cheap to operate. Most have energy saver features now, which helps the pockets when the electric bill comes in. The things use less electricity nowadays than keeping our tanks operating. (but maybe that's cause I have so many...)

If you had read my post i said 'if you have a sump'In this way the cool water is dispersed evenly throughout the tank.

Indeed I did see that. However considering that 1) most FW tanks dont run sump, and 2) that sump outflow is often small considering the size of the main tank. I still see it causing more harm than good. Especially in cases where it will not be maintained 24/7.

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Cooling the tank the best way is using a fan.
My water got up to 30C..but now when i use the fan its stable at 26C-27C.
I have the fan in front of my 75g tank and open the hood 2-3cm so some cold air gets in the tank.
It's 36C today vey hot weather and my water is still 26c.

---

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Just do daily water changes of about 10% with cooler water.

My Scapes

I recall reading a DIY many years ago that showed how to modify a bar fridge to chill a marine tank.

It involved drilling a couple of holes through the fridge to run a water line in and out. The water line was coiled inside the fridge and may have sat in a container of water.

The fridge had a cooling control knob that had to be set to an appropriate level by trial. The system was not intelligent in that it did not self adjust if there was a cool spell of weather, in which case the chiller would simply drive the tank temperature farther down than desired.

Something along these lines might be worth exploring if one had only one large tank to chill. For those with basements, moving the fish downstairs for hot summer months might be an option.

If warmer than ideal tanks are unavoidable, adding extra aeration is prudent.

Anything cold being put into your tank should be avoided. This includes water bottles, cold water, ice bottles.

The best way to keep your water at a constant temp is to regulate your house temp. IE an air conditioner. You can save all your time and energy buy simply getting some AC.
You can get a small AC unit to just take care of a few rooms in your home if thats all you can afford. In the long run getting hooked up with some AC will make you more comfortable aswell. Why not kill two birds with one stone.

No need to spend the extra $$$$$ on an expensive Chiller for your tank.