Heat killed my favourite angel

[Jim Morcombe]

We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as the
nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days well
above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.

Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my tanks
only has an external cannister filter.

The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable cooling
effect because these aquariums were okay.

The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well. Virtually all
of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest angel
passed away.

As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the tank
and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.

Jim

[skozzy]

Sorry to hear about your angel, but purhaps you might want to concider a
water chiller, they are getting a lot cheaper these days. I had to put one
on my Salt water tank for the corals.


"Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
...
> We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as the
> nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days well
> above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.
>
> Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my tanks
> only has an external cannister filter.
>
> The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable cooling
> effect because these aquariums were okay.
>
> The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well. Virtually
all
> of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest angel
> passed away.
>
> As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the tank
> and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
> whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.
>
> Jim
>
>
>

[Carlos]

theres also a DIY chiller type of thing, maybe at the krib you can find a
cheap version of how to make one. i saw once a DIY cooling tower for reef
tanks but somewhere else.

explore at the krib or www.premiumaquatics.com

the small chiller is called an ice probe, i think it is to be attached to a
power filter. look in premium aquatics under chillers, aqua therm/ice probe
to get an idea. it also depends on the size of the tank, there are very
cheap small models but for very small tanks.

take care.


"skozzy" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry to hear about your angel, but purhaps you might want to concider a
> water chiller, they are getting a lot cheaper these days. I had to put one
> on my Salt water tank for the corals.
>
>
> "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> ...
> > We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as the
> > nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days
well
> > above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.
> >
> > Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my
tanks
> > only has an external cannister filter.
> >
> > The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable cooling
> > effect because these aquariums were okay.
> >
> > The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well. Virtually
> all
> > of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest angel
> > passed away.
> >
> > As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the
tank
> > and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
> > whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> >
> >
>
>

[KEITH JENNINGS]

Instead of considering chillers for your aquaria, would getting a room air
conditioner be a possibility ?

A friend of mine bought a small one last summer at Walmart for $110 each .

"Carlos" > wrote in message
...
> theres also a DIY chiller type of thing, maybe at the krib you can find a
> cheap version of how to make one. i saw once a DIY cooling tower for reef
> tanks but somewhere else.
>
> explore at the krib or www.premiumaquatics.com
>
> the small chiller is called an ice probe, i think it is to be attached to
a
> power filter. look in premium aquatics under chillers, aqua therm/ice
probe
> to get an idea. it also depends on the size of the tank, there are very
> cheap small models but for very small tanks.
>
> take care.
>
>
> "skozzy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Sorry to hear about your angel, but purhaps you might want to concider a
> > water chiller, they are getting a lot cheaper these days. I had to put
one
> > on my Salt water tank for the corals.
> >
> >
> > "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as
the
> > > nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days
> well
> > > above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.
> > >
> > > Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my
> tanks
> > > only has an external cannister filter.
> > >
> > > The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable
cooling
> > > effect because these aquariums were okay.
> > >
> > > The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well.
Virtually
> > all
> > > of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest
angel
> > > passed away.
> > >
> > > As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the
> tank
> > > and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
> > > whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

[Tedd Jacobs]

"Jim Morcombe" wrote...
> We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as the
> nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days well
> above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.
>
> Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my tanks
> only has an external cannister filter.
>
> The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable cooling
> effect because these aquariums were okay.
>
> The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well. Virtually all
> of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest angel
> passed away.
>
> As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the tank
> and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
> whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.

one technique i used last summer was to place a small (8 inch) osculating fan
over the opened top of my angel tank. even if the surrounding air is no cooler,
the evaporative effects can help to keep the temperature down a bit.

[Dan Drake]

On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 02:45:17 UTC, "Tedd Jacobs"
> wrote:

> one technique i used last summer was to place a small (8 inch) osculating fan
> over the opened top of my angel tank. even if the surrounding air is no cooler,
> the evaporative effects can help to keep the temperature down a bit.
>

I have a muffin fan (the thing that cools the interior of desktop
computers), and on hot days I rest it on a piece of egg-crate plastic
across one of the top openings in the plastic tank. The 12-volt kind, of
course, no shock hazard, do *not* use one that runs on house current.
Available from any computer supply place, as is the little wall-wart to
power it. Best if you put a fuse in the circuit to protect against
shorts. Cools the water by several degrees. Not so effective, though,
where humidity is above California levels. And don't forget to allow for
a couple of liters a day of evaporation (55-gal tank).


--
Dan Drake

http://www.dandrake.com

[Tedd Jacobs]

"Dan Drake" wrote...
> On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 02:45:17 UTC, "Tedd Jacobs"
> > wrote:
>
> > one technique i used last summer was to place a small (8 inch) osculating
fan
> > over the opened top of my angel tank. even if the surrounding air is no
cooler,
> > the evaporative effects can help to keep the temperature down a bit.
> >
>
> I have a muffin fan (the thing that cools the interior of desktop
> computers), and on hot days I rest it on a piece of egg-crate plastic
> across one of the top openings in the plastic tank. The 12-volt kind, of
> course, no shock hazard, do *not* use one that runs on house current.
> Available from any computer supply place, as is the little wall-wart to
> power it. Best if you put a fuse in the circuit to protect against
> shorts. Cools the water by several degrees. Not so effective, though,
> where humidity is above California levels. And don't forget to allow for
> a couple of liters a day of evaporation (55-gal tank).

it'd be nice to come up with a little DIY project that entailed using a pair of
those mounted into a hood that could operate on a simple thermostat that detects
the air temperature inside the hood. i've noticed that just having the hoods
open or closed on my tanks can vary the water temperature by a few degrees on
any given day. it could help alleviate worries of fish taking the leap of doom
if we leave the hoods open to vent the heat.

tedd.

[skozzy]

Before buying my chiller I experimented on an old fridge/freezer that I
picked up from the side of the road on those councel tip days. I managed to
find a rectangle container that fit in the freezer section then put two
holes in the front door and feed 10 meters of clear acrylic tubing into it
and used a powerhead to pump the water around, the temp in the freezer
was -4 deg'C, the water in the containers after 3 days was 17deg'C and the
water going through the tube was 27deg'C, and the outside air temp was
35deg'C, it did work but the clear acrylic tubing doesn't transfer the
heat/cool very well, I wish I has some stainless stell tubing to try it out
on. Anyhow, that was a project that ran for 2 weeks then after getting the
chiller I took the fridge to the tip.

Next time I find a fridge I will look out for the type that has the cooling
plate internal, that way I can lower that into the water in the container to
chill the water faster, then I will use the fill/drain method like on my
coral tank, where you pump water into the container, then with a larger
drain hole it can drain back into the tank, that way I can directly cool
that water and not have to put up with a heat/cool transfer.

I have yet to experiment with peltier coolers, I guess next time I am at the
electronics store I will see what they cost.


"Carlos" > wrote in message
...
> theres also a DIY chiller type of thing, maybe at the krib you can find a
> cheap version of how to make one. i saw once a DIY cooling tower for reef
> tanks but somewhere else.
>
> explore at the krib or www.premiumaquatics.com
>
> the small chiller is called an ice probe, i think it is to be attached to
a
> power filter. look in premium aquatics under chillers, aqua therm/ice
probe
> to get an idea. it also depends on the size of the tank, there are very
> cheap small models but for very small tanks.
>
> take care.
>
>
> "skozzy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Sorry to hear about your angel, but purhaps you might want to concider a
> > water chiller, they are getting a lot cheaper these days. I had to put
one
> > on my Salt water tank for the corals.
> >
> >
> > "Jim Morcombe" > wrote in message
> > ...
> > > We had a few hot days this summer. This is not usually a problem as
the
> > > nights give the tanks a chance to cool off. However, we had two days
> well
> > > above 40 degrees and the night in between only dropped to 28 degrees.
> > >
> > > Most of my aquariums have air pumps of some kind. However one of my
> tanks
> > > only has an external cannister filter.
> > >
> > > The air blowing through the aquariums must provide considerable
cooling
> > > effect because these aquariums were okay.
> > >
> > > The aquarium with the cannister filter didn't fair too well.
Virtually
> > all
> > > of the fish were gasping for breathe and my biggest, best, cutest
angel
> > > passed away.
> > >
> > > As usual I over-reacted and dropped a spare RIO 1700 powerhead in the
> tank
> > > and the problem disappeared straight away. The tank is a bit like a
> > > whirl-pool and the Silver Sharks love it.
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>