Help, my chiller is broke!

[vlangel]

Hi all, I am asking for advise on keeping my seahorse tank temperature down while I am waiting for a new chiller to come in this Thursday afternoon. I have turned the lights off and put a fan to blow on the sump. The room temperature is 74 degrees. I have floated sealed bags of ice in the tank which seems to help a little. Any other tips?

 

[rayjay]

If you have AC, turn the room temperature down.

 

[vlangel]

I would do that except a Colombian family is staying with us for the summer and they are already wearing their coats in our house because they are cold. It's crazy I know, but I must take our guest's comfort into consideration. The AC does go down to 70 degrees at night though. I did a water change this morning with cold water and that takes the tank down about 2 degrees. Right now the tank is 72-73 degrees. It is only until Thursday afternoon. If the tank creeps up on occasion to 76 for a little while, for this short a time do you think they will be alright?

 

[rayjay]

Yes, they should be OK.
It would take longer I believe for the nasty bacteria to get to a problem point knowing your husbandry practices are almost certain to be sufficient.

 

[Sk8r]

Fan. Ordinary house fan blowing on the water surface. It'll knock temperature down fast.

 

[vlangel]

Thanks Ray. Even with the lights on a few hours the temperature never went over 72-73 so I think it's going to be ok.

Yep Sk8r, it's definitely running the fans over the tank and over the sump that has held the temps down. I am glad I have an ATO though.

 

[vlangel]

Well the lfs called and my new chiller came in a day early. Yippee, and the plumbing even fits!

 

[South City]

If something like that happens again, you can freeze RO/DI water and top off your evaporation with the ice instead of water. It helps some.

 

[tjdouglas]

Glad to hear your new chiller arrived. Been getting warmer all week.

 

[vlangel]

Yes, it got pretty warm here the last 2 days so I was glad to get the chiller. It was good for me to learn that 2 fans blowing on the sump and top of the tank will keep it cool in case I have a chiller mishap in the future.

 

[vlangel]

This Coralife 1/6 hp chiller is pretty sleek and easy to use. The temperature controller is built in, (maybe they all are nowadays). My old chiller was probably 15 years old and needed a separate controlleer.

 

[MasterMason_357]

following

 

[btreyes]

I'm sure they will be fine for a little bit. I used to add tuperwares or 2 liters of frozen DI water to the sump of my tank every morning and night when my air conditioner was broken.

 

[mwilliams62]

I would say just take the heater out of the tank since they like cooler water. My room temp tanks are at 77.5. No heater means you don't need a chiller. But my tank that has no heater is only a huge goldfish - freshwater tank.

 

[rayjay]

Seahorses stand the best chance of long term survival in aquariums when the tank temperatures are kept between 68° and 74°F.

 

[vlangel]

I would say just take the heater out of the tank since they like cooler water. My room temp tanks are at 77.5. No heater means you don't need a chiller. But my tank that has no heater is only a huge goldfish - freshwater tank.

I don't have a heater in the tank but like Ray says I keep it between 71-73 degrees. With the AC set at 74 during the day and down to 70 at night the tank stayed in range with a couple of fans, 1 on the tank surface and 1 on the sump surface. That is a bit distracting since the tanks are in our living room. This new chiller runs reasonably quiet and not terribly often.