12 replies to this topic

[Joshaeus]

Hi everyone! I was wondering...aside from buying a several hundred dollar aquarium chiller, what are some ways to reduce the temperature of an aquarium by several degrees? I was wondering whether there was any reliable way to push a tank into the 50's when the room temperature was in the low to mid 60's...this would be to overwinter fishes that need a cool down to spawn. The only way I've come up with is evaporative cooking via a fan (coincidentally, would insulating the tank improve the cooling effects imparted by fans or other cooling methods?). Thanks

[Matt DeLaVega]

How large is the tank? There are some thermoelectric coolers that may do something. I think a chiller may be the only option to accomplish what you want.

[centrarchid]

Insulation would reduce gain coming with warm air convection and conduction through sides of tank. I have been doing cool down by directing a small amount of well water into tank. Temperature could be pushed down a few degrees. Actual temperature change a function flow, tank volume, and heat transfer rate between tank and environment. Keeping tank on floor in basement where room is stratified helps a lot. Even let tank stratify.

[Joshaeus]

How large is the tank? There are some thermoelectric coolers that may do something. I think a chiller may be the only option to accomplish what you want.

None of my tanks are larger than a 10 gallon.

 

Insulation would reduce gain coming with warm air convection and conduction through sides of tank. I have been doing cool down by directing a small amount of well water into tank. Temperature could be pushed down a few degrees. Actual temperature change a function flow, tank volume, and heat transfer rate between tank and environment. Keeping tank on floor in basement where room is stratified helps a lot. Even let tank stratify.

Thanks

[Matt DeLaVega]

Then, yeah, 10 gallon will probably work with those thermoelectric units. Might be able to lower 10 degrees below ambient temp.

[El Todd]

The cheapest effective thing I've ever read about is someone running a line through one of those small refrigerators.  He bought it used for a very cheap price and drilled holes in the sides for the line if I recall correctly. He said it worked great. It might be overkill in your situation though. If you're interested, I can try to find the link to the article.

'

[Joshaeus]

The cheapest effective thing I've ever read about is someone running a line through one of those small refrigerators.  He bought it used for a very cheap price and drilled holes in the sides for the line if I recall correctly. He said it worked great. It might be overkill in your situation though. If you're interested, I can try to find the link to the article.

'

Yeah, go ahead

[El Todd]

Here's a couple links; in your situation with a small tank and a temperature differential that isn't huge it might work. 

 

https://www.thespruc...chiller-2924600

 

Joey King of DIY has a video about it:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=n5s8Cu59-NM

 

There are also a bunch of threads that talk about the downsides. To make a long story short, a fridge is not really designed to have a constant influx of higher than set temperatures. If you think about it, your refrigerator is closed at least 99.5% of the time during the day; running water that is of higher temp into the fridge is equivalent to leaving the fridge door ajar which means the cooling mechanism is running much more frequently than the use it is designed for. As a result of this the electric bill goes up and the life of the equipment goes down. These are things to weigh when you think about trying it out.

[Matt DeLaVega]

Here's a couple links; in your situation with a small tank and a temperature differential that isn't huge it might work. 

 

https://www.thespruc...chiller-2924600

 

Joey King of DIY has a video about it:

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=n5s8Cu59-NM

 

There are also a bunch of threads that talk about the downsides. To make a long story short, a fridge is not really designed to have a constant influx of higher than set temperatures. If you think about it, your refrigerator is closed at least 99.5% of the time during the day; running water that is of higher temp into the fridge is equivalent to leaving the fridge door ajar which means the cooling mechanism is running much more frequently than the use it is designed for. As a result of this the electric bill goes up and the life of the equipment goes down. These are things to weigh when you think about trying it out.

I spent some time looking into this years ago and that was pretty much what I came up with. A DIY chiller from a dorm fridge might work, but not necessarily work well.I have thought of coils of pipe buried in the ground outside of my basement to take advantage of geothermal cooling, but you would need copper pipe to have enough heat exchange. I am not sure if the copper would be problematic or not. Not a problem in household pipes, but when you are recirculating through it 24/7/365 it might be a different story.

[Joshaeus]

I came up with an idea...why not exploit the fact I live in New England? I am thinking I could put a pair of fish in a water garden outside in October, November, and maybe early December, and then pulling them inside. The water garden would have a titanium heater plugged into an inkbird controller set to 40 fahrenheit (to prevent the water garden from freezing); if the fish being chilled were darters or something else highly sensitive to low oxygen levels, I would also include a powerhead. How does this sound? Would such a cooling treatment be adequate to coax spawning in, say, rainbow darters or Enneacanthus sunfishes when I pull them back inside?

[Matt DeLaVega]

Stock tank heaters are good for this. They have a built in thermostat.

[Joshaeus]

Stock tank heaters are good for this. They have a built in thermostat.

True...but I already have a 400 watt titanium heater lying around (currently in use in a 15 gallon water garden), and the inkbird would allow me to precisely control the water garden's temperature rather than keeping it right above freezing.

[Matt DeLaVega]

True...but I already have a 400 watt titanium heater lying around (currently in use in a 15 gallon water garden), and the inkbird would allow me to precisely control the water garden's temperature rather than keeping it right above freezing.

Sounds good.