# cooling off tank water



## barbarian206 (Apr 2, 2008)

i have a sick idea dont know if it will work i might just try this i have an extra power filter just sitting around its a wisper 60 i have a 55gallon tank and was wondering if this would work need feedback i would take the filter and use it as a home made chiller by putting ice packs in the filter instead of the media and changing the packs when needed anyone think this would work well i think i will try it so i will let you all know how it works im just sick like that . :fish: :fish: :fish: :fish: :dancing:


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## yankz12603 (Mar 2, 2008)

this is for saltwater i guess then? I would think they would need to be changed out alot more frequently then u think. but idk maybe it will work....


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

If you are having a hot spike, one common method is to put ice cubes in ziploc baggies and toss them in the tank or sump (if you have one). When they melt completely, you stick them back in the freezer, and repeat.


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## barbarian206 (Apr 2, 2008)

its not for salt water the tank has 1yellow lab 1albino socolofi 1blue cobalt 1yellow tail acei 2bummble bee 1mel. arautus 1 metriaclima estherae red i dont know what catagory they fall under im fairly new too africans the filtration is a fluval305


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## DMWave45 (Jan 22, 2008)

I would say it was a waste of time personally. You would probably have to change the ice packs out every ten minutes to have any real effect, and even then I would say the temp. drop would be minimal. I would just use that filter on the tank normally for extra filtration. Also, your fish are mbuna and you have several of the very most agressive species. Watch out as they mature because it may turn into an all out war.


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## barbarian206 (Apr 2, 2008)

DMWave45 said:


> I would say it was a waste of time personally. You would probably have to change the ice packs out every ten minutes to have any real effect, and even then I would say the temp. drop would be minimal. I would just use that filter on the tank normally for extra filtration. Also, your fish are mbuna and you have several of the very most agressive species. Watch out as they mature because it may turn into an all out war.


 heyty for the info on the fish


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## aaxxeell (Jul 28, 2007)

if you have a desktop fan or big pc fan you can set it up above your sump or tank to blow accross the surface of the water to cool it a few degrees...

frozen plastic bottles of water can be put in the sump, say 2-3 at a time, and alternate them with another 2 or 3 in your freezer...


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

try haveing a fan blowing on the water


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## gib (Oct 13, 2007)

I tried this method in my saltwater reef tank to prevent myself from having to buy an expensive chiller. I froze pop bottles of various sizes ranging from 20 0z to 2 liters. I then placed them in the sump to cool the tank. This worked OK, but requires many bottles of frozen ice bc they thaw SO FAST like mentioned above. Also i couldnt be there all the time to do so bc of working and going out of town for a weekend at a time. One weekend my tank went up to 92 F which killed half my corals.

This is why tank placement, AC, tank cooling fans and surface area for evap is so important in the summer months.. .

I learned my lesson. .. An expensive one :-?


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

You know....I was just reading this and had an :idea: It doesn't happen often to me 

I am a bit of a computer geek. I have some water cooling devices for my computers. I wonder if that would work. It's basically a little radiator with a fan on it. I know they aren't probably designed for such a big tank and I dont know what the GPH is. I'll have to look into it!


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

I don't remember where I saw it, but on one of the saltwater forums a guy ran a small coil of tubing through the ice maker of his fridge. He had a small power head in the tank to push water through the tube which just drained back into the tank. It wasn't meant to be a permanent thing, just for the height of summer. I have seen people do similar things with the little office/dorm room fridges.


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

it depends on what the copper would do to the water properties and such, most (keyword) radiators are a lot smaller diameter than the hose that we use on fish tanks, so i dunno what the flow or results would be like, but those are the only problems i can really see with that idea


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## MalawiLover (Sep 12, 2006)

The guy didn use copper tubing due to the copper sensativity of his inverts, but for a fish only freshwater tank it would likely work. it was also an open loop. the powerhead sucked up the water directly from the tank and the other end of the loop just poured back into the main tank. So only a portion of the tank water was going through the fridge. It brought the temp down something like 5-6 degrees at full tilt.


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## booba5 (May 3, 2008)

sry my first response was for the water cooling PC idea, the fridge would work, but that seems a little much, and must of not been very efficient to only cool 5-6 degrees.


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