Hey guys. Living in Florida in the middle of summer, I am reliant on my A/C keeping the temperature in my home low enough so my tank does not over heat. I recently had an A/C failure that didn't get fixed for nearly 48 hours. I just wanted to share what I did to ensure that everything in my tank survived without the use of a super expensive chiller.
You will need:
5+ feet of airline tubing. (helps to have more but you can get by with this).
A water pump you are able to attach the tubing to.
Bucket
Ice
Directions
1) Attach the airline tubing to the powerhead/pump and ensure water is able to be pumped through it.
2) Place the other end of the tube somewhere in your tank and clip it to the glass/rim.
3) Fill your bucket with tap water and place a few pounds of ice in it.
4) Take the extra tubing that is hanging outside of your tank and place it in the bucket of water.
5) Turn the pump on.
The water will be pumped from your tank, and when it travels through the hose that is sitting in the ice water it will cool off and return to your tank much colder than before. Monitor your tempature to make sure it does not drop too quickly causing stress on corals and other life. If your temperature is becoming too low, you can either remove some ice from the bucket or take some of the excess tubing out of the bucket. If it is still too hot, try to add more ice and some table salt to the water to make it colder.
This follows the exact same concept of a chiller, but is practically free and only to be used in a pinch! I hope this helps someone from a destroyed tank! Best of luck.
You can see here the water is pumped out of the tank, through the ice bath, and back in. With a 40 gallon display and 20 gallon sump, this kept my tank at a constant 78 degrees over 48 hours as my house was well above 85 degrees.
You will need:
5+ feet of airline tubing. (helps to have more but you can get by with this).
A water pump you are able to attach the tubing to.
Bucket
Ice
Directions
1) Attach the airline tubing to the powerhead/pump and ensure water is able to be pumped through it.
2) Place the other end of the tube somewhere in your tank and clip it to the glass/rim.
3) Fill your bucket with tap water and place a few pounds of ice in it.
4) Take the extra tubing that is hanging outside of your tank and place it in the bucket of water.
5) Turn the pump on.
The water will be pumped from your tank, and when it travels through the hose that is sitting in the ice water it will cool off and return to your tank much colder than before. Monitor your tempature to make sure it does not drop too quickly causing stress on corals and other life. If your temperature is becoming too low, you can either remove some ice from the bucket or take some of the excess tubing out of the bucket. If it is still too hot, try to add more ice and some table salt to the water to make it colder.
This follows the exact same concept of a chiller, but is practically free and only to be used in a pinch! I hope this helps someone from a destroyed tank! Best of luck.
You can see here the water is pumped out of the tank, through the ice bath, and back in. With a 40 gallon display and 20 gallon sump, this kept my tank at a constant 78 degrees over 48 hours as my house was well above 85 degrees.