DIY poor mans chiller

[kenneth_kpe]

after reading an article today i decided to do something to lower my tank temp down so i came up with this idea with a lil help from a friend of mine into cars

well the plan is to fill the styro box with around 5-6 bottles of iced water and fill the box with normal water... what do you guys think ?

heres a pic and better description of the idea
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?act=ST&f=22&t=95987

 

[Lateral Line]

You'll need to be carefull attaching a pipe of any length to the internal filter. Internal filters are not usually terribly powerful pumps because they dont need to be, they normally do not have to drive lengths of pipe.

The pipe walls create drag and resist the flow of water - the longer the pipe the more resistance to flow. Blow through a 1m length of airline, then try the same with a 100m roll - you'll see what I mean.

Placing an external canister filter in a bucket filled with ice would work well I would suspect.

I've never lived in a place warm enough to have these problems.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i see i see, im gonna try it out first with my internal filter (its a cheap china made one anyway)

im worried about the copper tubing ? will it leak poisonous metals into my tank ? ?

im planning on using a copper tubing of roughly 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch in diameter.... a slow flow maybe ? what do you think ?

 

[IovaykInD]

I wouldn't suggest using copper, since there's copper in it. Try using pvc pipes, they are much easier to work with, and come in many shapes.

Isaac

 

[quintessential]

Good idea i think but how will you control the temp?

 

[simonbrown403]

Good idea i think but how will you control the temp?

my aquarium has overheated a few times, and i,ve found a large fan pointing at the water suface works, a friend of mine has use pop bottles with frozen water in his aquarium.

i think it will depending on the flow, if its to fast there will be no afect the heater will compensate, to slow and the temp may drop to quick and stress the fish.

its so crazy it might just work

 

[Sky042]

Another relatively easy way to do that would be instead of using the internal filter you could use a small sump pump like a little Taam Rio to do the circulation. You wouldn't need a LOT of flow to keep the tank cooled.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

o i c, so copper isn't really a good idea.... i need to use a conductive tubing to be placed inside the tank.... im not sure a plastic PVC pipe would do the trick... what do you guys think....


o ya tried the fan! works great but i cant keep the fan pointed at the tank all day... its not possible because of other reasons