5 Simple Tricks to Cool Aquarium Water
- Jan 09, 2022
- Anshika Mishra
- 526 0 0
Heatwaves are a major issue in the summer. For cold water, pet fish like Goldfish, Livebearers, Oxolotol, and others cannot tolerate warm temperatures for a long period.
Heating an aquarium is easy. Just get an aquarium heater. But, collating water using a chiller can cost several hundred to over a thousand dollars depending on how big that tank is. So, here are five simple tricks to cool down your water.
But before we begin, a useful tool you might be interested in getting is a digital thermometer that has an alarm on it if the water gets too hot.
Remove Heat Sources
The first thing we want to do is remove all unnecessary pieces of equipment in the aquarium. Most tanks have hot light water up to or maybe an aquarium heater, but there are also things like a skimmer or UV sterilizer. These things use some amount of power to translate into heat that gets into the aquarium water.
So, if possible, remove that unnecessary equipment and switch to a light that may be to LEDs and things that do not give off as much heat.
Change Location
The second thing to consider would be the location of your aquarium. So, we don't want the tank to be under direct sunlight that will heat it, even if it is in a room with lots of windows. You might want to close the curtains during the daytime, so the water is warming up.
Make sure you place your aquarium not next to any heating vents or doors leading to the outside. Because every time you open your door, more hot air will blow into your tank.
Another thing you might not have considered is your aquarium near some appliance that gives off lots of heat so for example, an oven, a dryer, maybe even a gaming console, or a desktop PC.
If you have your aquarium in some rack system, definitely put your cool-water fish in the bottom-most aquarium. Because heat tends to rise, the lowest aquarium can be a few degrees cooler than the aquarium up top.
If removing all the heat sources and putting them in the ideal still does not make the tank cool enough, let's try method number three, evaporative cooling.
Evaporating Cooling
Evaporating cooling is very effective. It is the same as having beads of sweat on your skin when your body gets too hot and the sweat evaporates. It cools you down. So, in the same way, we can encourage evaporation in your aquarium, thus lowering it a few degrees.
Now, the easiest way would be just to remove the aquarium lid, and that way, the water can evaporate and escape. However, some people might not feel comfortable because they may have animals that might jump out of the water. So, you can take a page for the saltwater aquarium friends, and they sell a lot of DIY mesh aquarium leads, which you can make and custom to fit your aquarium.
Now, if you don't like the idea of using a mesh lid, you can also just lower the water a few inches so that the jumpers won't come out.
If passive evaporative cooling is not enough, we can also increase the surface agitation of the water to boost up the evaporation. So, the easiest way would be to add an air stone or another sponge filter into the aquarium because as the bubble rises and pops up at the surface, there is more evaporation occurring and more gas exchanges.
Often, we don't think that not only is the temperature getting hotter in the summer, but also warm water holds less oxygen than cooler water. So, adding more bubbles and more exchange will help with oxygenation. You can also get a table fan to blow on the aquarium or maybe a room fan that will cool the whole room but will also be a little louder than the table option.
Insulation
The fourth option is to use some insulation to cover the sides and back wall of the aquarium. Although, in case of an emergency, you can always cover the front panel if you need to. But, some people like to get sheets of styrofoam. However, you can also choose to earn double reflective inflation.
Cut a piece out that could cover the sides and the back wall, and tape them to the aquarium. This is very effective. Any type of method that could save you any degree of temperature and minimize the amount of heat coming from outside the area and trying to get into your colder water aquarium is worth it, even if it is not the pretties.
Chiller
The most expensive and reliable method of cooling down your tank is getting a chiller. It works like a canister filter where a big box machine sits outside of your tank, and then it has two hoses that reach into your aquarium. One of them sucks water in, and then instead of filtering water, it cools down the water inside the box. The other tubes send the water aquarium back into your aquarium, thus cooling the water overall.
Do your research on the best brand and performance that works for your budget. But, if none of the other methods work, the chiller is the way to go.
What about Ice?
It is very time-intensive. The ice melts very quickly, and you have to constantly put in new ice, freeze more bottles, and then the tank's temperature will hugely fluctuate, which is not good.
Another method would be doing lots of particle water changes using cooler water, but that is assuming that your tap water is even cold at all, which may not be the case in extreme temperatures. So instead, the methods mentioned above are far reliable and effective ways to achieve lower temperatures.
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