Summer

[neilm]

Just wondering what tips/tricks you guys have for keeping your tanks cool in summer.  There's a thread on ace forums which suggests taping styrofoam to the back and sides of a tank as an alternative to insulating the entire room in which the tanks are located.
I have 8 tanks in a double garage which would take quite a lot of insulating.

[Otorix]

You could try taking the lids off and running a couple of fans to cool things down. If you have the extra money and want something long term buy a cheap 1HP split system from Kmart for $300 although you'll need to pay to get it installed and thta could be the same price again.

[GTR73]

On extremely hot days I turn off the tank lights and run fans blowing directly onto the open water surface. This seems to work well keeping the tank temperature from rising too high (not any higher than room temp anyway), as well as ensure maximum O2 exchange.
The main thing is ensure the fish receive adequate oxygen - when the temps rise in the tank, the less efficient the O2 exchange with outside air there is. So make sure no lids and extra bubblers going and/or filter outlets directed to the water surface so it's adequately agitated. Lack of O2 on a hot day is the biggest killer to fish and not so much the actual temp in the tank. Basically the fish need to use more O2 to stay cool.

I remove a couple of lids and cover with pieces of gutter guard - helps prevent trapping any heat, provides fan access to the surface, and prevents any escape artists jumping out.  
As far as ice cubes or frozen plastic water bottles go, I find them a waste of time in a decent sized tank and too labour intensive.
But as for your shed I'd look at getting a roll of the silver insulation paper and line the roof at very least, if not the walls too. You can get the basic insulation paper - silver one side, blue the other, or there's better stuff with a thin layer of wool fibre inbedded.

[ashhhh]

dont bother with the silver paper (roof sarking) all thats used for is to stop condensation dripping from the botton of your roof tiles onto your ceiling.
In the long run *Depending on your budget*, you AND your fish are much better of installing a few whirly birds on the roof to expel the trapped heat they are $40 - $50 each  and are esy to DIY.
If the garage is joined to the home with an internal door, a nice reverse cycle split system will do the trick.
I have natural fibre insulation in the roof space and 3 whirlys on the roof and that alone makes a big difference, but I'm getting AC within the next few weeks :twisted: ahhhhhh....I'm looking forward to summer this year :P

i just run a chiller on my tank.  it might be expenceive though ifyou have 8 tanks.

[jason]

if it is your garage go buy a window ratler and stick on a chair in the middle of the room. the heat generated off fthe back will cause the aircon to work slightly harder but they cost only $200 for a good size one. beats paying 500 and then another 500+ to have it installed for a split system.

[gasnitro]

Air con is the only way I used an oil heater this year for my fish room as I have been rebuilding it.  i usually run a 1 1/2 hp through wall type.  last winter the bill was about $650 for air con and this year with the oil heater nearly $1100 that hurt.

[ancalimon]

[quote:c934dcab78="neilm"]Just wondering what tips/tricks you guys have for keeping your tanks cool in summer.  There's a thread on ace forums which suggests taping styrofoam to the back and sides of a tank as an alternative to insulating the entire room in which the tanks are located.
I have 8 tanks in a double garage which would take quite a lot of insulating.[/quote:c934dcab78]

Neil,

I had a garage that was 5m x 5m located in my previous house.  It just had a colourbond roof and got really, really, really hot (40 degC +) during the height of summer.  I installed a wirlybird, but it didn't drop the temp.  

During winter the heat of the room coupled with the humidity (even if the tanks had their covers on) caused condensation which would drip onto the timbers of the trusses and then over the tanks.

So I purchased about $400 (about 25m2 - back in 2001) of 50mm foam (normal expanded polystrene) from Hi-Tek foam @ Acacia Ridge (just off Bradman Rd).  These were then cut to size to fit between the trusses and jammed into place.  Other than a couple that kept falling down, the effect was instanteous.  During summer the temp inside was within a few degrees of outside (mainly the difference was because I didn't do the walls other than the ones that received the westerly sun).  I didn't cover the outlet for the whirlybird to allow it to draw over hot air out and I had a window propped open (about 2") under an awning to allow cool(er) air to be drawn in.

During winter I just used an oil heater with a couple of in-tank heaters in the larger (6') tanks.  I also blocked the hole for the whirlybird to stop it drawing out the warm air (and closed the window).  It kept the temperature no less than 20 degC in Runcorn.  Total elec bill for the quarter was in the order of $300 to $350 (unfortunately I now live in Ipwich and my a/cs push the bill out a bit more  :cry: )

This worked really well and I was disappointed to have to pull it all down when we moved our to our current location.  Needless to say, I now have a large pile of underlay (about 2m tall) :-)

As such I can recommend no matter how you cool your tanks that you insulate the ceiling as a minimum.  It will stop the radiant effects of the sun from cooking the shed, plus act as a barrier to stop your warm air from cooling on it.

caio
Graeme

[Tabbycat]

Wel it is luck i only have one tank lol. I just turn off the lights and heaters and take off the lids and for really bad days I have about 6 bottles of frozen waser to pop in the tank. I put 2 in at a time and the fish go up and hang around them. You would want a lot of freezer room to cool 8 tanks this way lol.

[here fishie fishie]

This is what I do every year. Just a bit of mess over the top of the tank to stop jumpers, make sure the water surface is well agitated & run a fan across the top of the tanks.

[img:d5cab849d1]http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y236/Herefishiefishie/DSCF0937.jpg[/img:d5cab849d1]

Frenchy :D