Need A Chiller For A 10g Freshwater Aquarium!

[trojannemo]

hey guys.

believe it or not, my fiancee's tank (10G freshwater community) needs a chiller, not a heater. her house isn't climate controlled unfortunately, and she keeps losing fish because her tank's water temperature is usually around 88-90F. one time it got so bad that a huge bacteria bloom came up overnight...the water felt warm to the touch, i'd estimate at that point it was around 96F+.

we thought maybe the heater was messed up, going crazy. but it's a Marineland Stealth, so i doubted it. anyways, I took it out, and since then the temperature hasnt really dropped!
on a regular day it's around 88-90F as i've said. if it's cool, it'll dip down to ~85F.

so you can see there are two problems here:
1) water temperature is way too high
2) without a chiller, I can't stop the water from overheating to 88-90F or so, and then drop down to 85F or less within hours, and this is messing up the poor fish.


she's already mysteriously lost two tetras (lemon, serpae) and a ballon molly. all seemingly healthy, no physical or behavioral signs of disease. just alive at one point, dead within hours.

in looking for chillers all I find are for 50G+ and start at $250 and up. is there nothing for a 10G tank? I'm open to trying to make one myself if there are DIY instructions for one.
any suggestions on how to deal with this would be great!

one last question, if/when I get the chiller, i'll lower the water temperature to 78F let's say. if it's cold enough outside for the water temp to dip below that preset temperature, i'm assuming the chiller will stop? can I also have a heater in there so if the temperature drops below 76F it'll kick in and start heating up? in other words, can I have a heater and a chiller working in tandem to keep the water temperature controlled both in going up and down?

thanks for the help!

 

[Arachnidzone]

YO! I personally would scrap the heater, whats the lowest end of the room temp in Florida? A 10g shouldn't fluctuate fast enough to stress the fish. Dont keep the tank in a draught though, not anywhere near the window for any additional heating through sun rays!

More aeration, more water movement. If money isnt a prob you can get a cooler, but move movement and air in the water will cool it a little better, certainly should stay less than room temp. What lighting you using? and what ventillation does the hood have? this can both add to higher temps.

Also another option is to change to heat tolerant fish, discus gouramis etc.

hope it helps!

If you adamant on a chiller let us know and we can come up with ideas etc. A fan in the hood is also another step in the right direction.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

A fan in the hood is also another step in the right direction.

agreed,

aeration and evaporation is the name of the game here, the hotter the water gets the less oxygen it holds, when fish die in hot tanks most of the time it's because there's not enough oxygen. so adjust the filter or set up an airpump to create lots of surface movement which will get plenty of oxygen into the water.

then either buy a pc fan or you can get aquarium specific ones (generally look in marine shops for these) and rig that up in the hood so constantly cool air is being blown over the top of the tank. if it's closed topped then the evaporated water will build up inside the hood meaning the air above the water resembles that in a sauna...... if you have it open topped and a fan blowing over the top of the tank then all this condensation will disperse and it'll keep things much much cooler.

 

[Arachnidzone]

A fan in the hood is also another step in the right direction.

agreed,

aeration and evaporation is the name of the game here, the hotter the water gets the less oxygen it holds, when fish die in hot tanks most of the time it's because there's not enough oxygen. so adjust the filter or set up an airpump to create lots of surface movement which will get plenty of oxygen into the water.

then either buy a pc fan or you can get aquarium specific ones (generally look in marine shops for these) and rig that up in the hood so constantly cool air is being blown over the top of the tank. if it's closed topped then the evaporated water will build up inside the hood meaning the air above the water resembles that in a sauna...... if you have it open topped and a fan blowing over the top of the tank then all this condensation will disperse and it'll keep things much much cooler.

Hiya Miss wiggle, great minds and all that!

 

[StevenF]

Small cooler for small tanks do exist. For example this one:https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/icep...VUebVCSQ6xT7J-opBaAGVk17XoHC8r3RoC6kQQAvD_BwE

It uses a small device called a Peltier array to convert a DC power into heat on one side and cold on the other. The metal rod on the unit above touches the cold side of the peltier array and the other end is in contact with the aquarium water. IF possible find one with a longer rod so that it can be mounted on an aquarium lid.

Also if you do a google search for Peltier aquarium cooler you will see information on people that have built their own. Note I do not have a cooler for my aquarium and I have not tried the product above.