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plastic ice cubes...maybe these can be used to cool tanks in summer?


monty703

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I was in my local supermarket and came across these tiny square plastic cubes, that you freeze for drinks etc.  They can be re-used often.  Of course everything I see I think..."can I use this in my shrimp tanks"   As I have air-conditioning all summer long, I don't need to cool the tanks, but several of my fellow shrimp lovers, have a very hard time keeping their tanks cool enough during hot summer months.

 

If you froze several of these you could pop them in the tank (they would probably float) and then when

the water was cool enough, just rinse them off and put them back in the freezer for further use.

 

Any thoughts on this?

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Because they are small, they would probably melt quickly.  I know some shrimpers freeze water filled plastic bottles and use those in the tank, however many more people use fans to blow across their tanks.  The evaporation causes temperature drop, but of course you need to top off.

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I tried last summer with these, but I think you'd have to be around to change them frequently to have any real effect. Even the big ones seemed to melt pretty quickly without doing much, and I'm gone all day, so I can't be swapping out the bag when it needs it.

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I'd get home and the "ice" was melted and the tank was just as warm. I never tried a plastic bottle, but in my 10g, I always felt the bottle would be huge and floating it with the light was troublesome.

 

The fan was the way to go for me - reliably lowered temp, could run all day (and night, if need be). You just have to have RO water to top off, can't use tap water.

 

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Because they are small, they would probably melt quickly.  I know some shrimpers freeze water filled plastic bottles and use those in the tank, however many more people use fans to blow across their tanks.  The evaporation causes temperature drop, but of course you need to top off.

 

 

same here. frozen water bottles, found an ice cube tray that makes cubes that are like 4"x4" I make RO blocks from those, those serve 2 purposes, cool the water and top off from the fans i use.

i dont use small clip on fans, i use those black turbo ones that move a lot of air.

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I tried using ice cubes. Filled zip lock bags full of water and iced them. It is a waste of time. Threw a full bag into my tank, melted in like 10 minutes and the temp went down like 2F then back to original temperature in just a few minutes. The best thing to do is daily top offs with cool water and a fan blowing the top

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I use frozen 20 oz soda bottles to regulate temp in my 10g with a small clip fan. Timing on the bottle is what makes all the difference on maintaining my temp. Frozen bottle goes in at 1 -2pm; as the heat us getting bad for the day. The bottle usually melts in about 3hrs....really hot days ill trade it out for a second one, but as long as my tanks iced during the worst heat of the day I dont see a ton of fluctuations

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  • 2 weeks later...

Less than $150 for a 5000BTU window air conditioner... both the shrimp AND you will be chillin' :)

I wish - but I live on the ground floor in the far back of an apartment complex so can't safely have an A/C unit in a window. Plus shrimp are in different rooms.

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