The Planted Tank Forum banner

how to cool down a 185 gallon tank without a cooler...

1K views 13 replies 11 participants last post by  theredben 
#1 ·
I have a 185US gallon tank with high lighting and a hood..the light is just about 3-4 inches away from the surface of the water..and due to that,my water temp is very very warm...as in 30C/86F...so i cant have many nice plants...so i was wondering if there are any ways to cool down the temp to about 27 or 28 without the use of a cooler?...coz a cooler is just way out of my budget..thx
 
#11 ·
but wont it be a little troublesome to put in and remove the ice cube? and the temp might drop too quickly and scared my fishes...
 
#9 ·
A few tricks come to mind:

1. Raise the light. Gives more room for air movement. Which if you do that, might as well take advantage of that by.....

2. Install some ugly Wal-Mart clip on fans. Cheap, work well, and fairly quiet. Used them on a 180g reef tank and two of them dropped the tank by 3-4F. Tossed one on the sump, dropped another degree.

3. Improve surface agitation. This sucks if you are using CO2, if not....go for it I guess. Used it on reef tanks to help cool them a lot.
 
#10 ·
The OP is in Malaysia... Walmart might be hard to come by...

That being said... Venting the hood, having a fan to circulate air out of the hood and one that points towards the water(though just good hood circulation in general will help a TON) and running your lights shorter periods or less bulbs will all help.

Find a way to ventilate your hood. That is the most important step.
 
#13 ·
30 degree C is their(i mean Malaysia) ambience temperature. There's no way to bring down the temperature if you don't use a chiller. 185 gallon tank probably needs 6 good size clip on fans to bring down 2 degree C maximum.

You should find someone in the air-con industry if they are willing to convert 1 unit for you. It'll be cheaper than buying those German / Italy chillers. You must have at least 1/2 hp unit to be able to bring down the temperature of your tank to 26 degree C.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top