Ice for planted tank

Originally Posted by ahlex

actually using bottles is a better idea than bags.. also by putting impurities like salt into e water will lower e freezing point thus making e water in e bottle to be cooler by a few more degrees... but imho, i think tat this method will only work for tanks that r 3ft n below...

Oh bro ahlex, my house dun have so many bottles mah but got a lot of plastic bags, btw, whats "imho"?

Originally Posted by ZhiQiang

bags? wat bags?

i'm not referring to ur statement, i'm referring to e threadstarter's statement below:

Originally Posted by Coolcrab

ah...............at last, I got to see someone did the same thing as me. Bro armageddon, I need to thank you for helping me..... you see, my wife said that I was "seow" to put ice into my tank ( I put several packets of water into the freezer every other day and my wife thought that I was arranging some party for my family ). I will show her this thread definitetly. Btw, is there any unbalance of the ecosystem in your tank?

anyway i still think fan is e best alternative though it may be unsightly n cause fast evaporation rate... maybe can think of ways to hide e fans...

Originally Posted by Coolcrab

Oh bro ahlex, my house dun have so many bottles mah but got a lot of plastic bags, btw, whats "imho"?

imho = in my honest opinion... i mean two bottles will do if ur tank is abt 2 to 3ft... but then again if u think fans r unsighly, e packets of bottles of ice floating on e surface would be more unsighly n e effect might not be tat great... however u r rite tat fans r in one way or another a bit expensive... not only e physical thing itself but e power it consumes... currently i'm using 2x28W fans so leaving them on for 10 hrs is like spending a few bucks more each month in addition to e lightings... so long termwise, wat can i say since we live in a tropical country with no seasons...

Originally Posted by ahlex

imho = in my honest opinion... i mean two bottles will do if ur tank is abt 2 to 3ft... but then again if u think fans r unsighly, e packets of bottles of ice floating on e surface would be more unsighly n e effect might not be tat great... however u r rite tat fans r in one way or another a bit expensive... not only e physical thing itself but e power it consumes... currently i'm using 2x28W fans so leaving them on for 10 hrs is like spending a few bucks more each month in addition to e lightings... so long termwise, wat can i say since we live in a tropical country with no seasons...

Bro ahlex, point taken, thanks

[armageddon]

Originally Posted by ahlex

actually using bottles is a better idea than bags.. also by putting impurities like salt into e water will lower e freezing point thus making e water in e bottle to be cooler by a few more degrees... but imho, i think tat this method will only work for tanks that r 3ft n below...

bro. agree with you. salt may bring down. but... 1 problem. in planted tank isn't salt discourage?? and also to bring down temp u need quite high % of salt in water. than in that case your plants inside all become kim chi liao arh

Originally Posted by armageddon

bro. agree with you. salt may bring down. but... 1 problem. in planted tank isn't salt discourage?? and also to bring down temp u need quite high % of salt in water. than in that case your plants inside all become kim chi liao arh

wat i meant is to put salt inside e bottle with e bottle cap on it of cos... leave a bit of space in e bottle so tat e pressure in e bottle will not built up when e ice is slowly melting... n also to prevent e salt from leaking out...

[armageddon]

Originally Posted by ahlex

wat i meant is to put salt inside e bottle with e bottle cap on it of cos... leave a bit of space in e bottle so tat e pressure in e bottle will not built up when e ice is slowly melting... n also to prevent e salt from leaking out...

oh!! ok sry sry misinterprate

using ice to cool the temp may not be that good an idea at all becos you will be subjecting the livestocks to fluctuating temperature, unless u constantly put in ice (or replaces the ice packs) to maintain a constant temp lower than the ambience, which IMO, is quite impossible.

It's in fact quite simple to do a little experiment - Measure the time taken and the amount of ice / ice packs added to make the temp drop, say 1degC. Measure the time for the temp to hold before it increases back to the original temp. Eg. it takes 5 kg of ice / ice packs to cool a 50gallon tank by 1degC in 5 mins and an hour for it to rise back by 1degC, that means you will need to add 5kg of ice every hour so as to maintain the lower temp of 1degC. The process?????.... hahaha.... near impossible.

and to Bro ZQ, what are u trying to achieve by topping up the 2L of cold water into your 4ft (2L against 230L is less than 1%)? have you ever monitor the temp of your tank before and after you add the 2L of cold water? i think it will be too insignificant to be picked up even with the most sensitive thermometer.

I'm sorry for sounding crude but the point i am trying to say is, I have did all the things you guys mentioned and came to a conclusion - it is not worth all the trouble. the most efficient way is chiller, and down the line is fans. any other manual methods can be tried and tested, but it never beats these two.

Originally Posted by NGuy

using ice to cool the temp may not be that good an idea at all becos you will be subjecting the livestocks to fluctuating temperature, unless u constantly put in ice (or replaces the ice packs) to maintain a constant temp lower than the ambience, which IMO, is quite impossible.

It's in fact quite simple to do a little experiment - Measure the time taken and the amount of ice / ice packs added to make the temp drop, say 1degC. Measure the time for the temp to hold before it increases back to the original temp. Eg. it takes 5 kg of ice / ice packs to cool a 50gallon tank by 1degC in 5 mins and an hour for it to rise back by 1degC, that means you will need to add 5kg of ice every hour so as to maintain the lower temp of 1degC. The process?????.... hahaha.... near impossible.

and to Bro ZQ, what are u trying to achieve by topping up the 2L of cold water into your 4ft (2L against 230L is less than 1%)? have you ever monitor the temp of your tank before and after you add the 2L of cold water? i think it will be too insignificant to be picked up even with the most sensitive thermometer.

I'm sorry for sounding crude but the point i am trying to say is, I have did all the things you guys mentioned and came to a conclusion - it is not worth all the trouble. the most efficient way is chiller, and down the line is fans. any other manual methods can be tried and tested, but it never beats these two.

I'd second William's words.

Originally Posted by NGuy

using ice to cool the temp may not be that good an idea at all becos you will be subjecting the livestocks to fluctuating temperature, unless u constantly put in ice (or replaces the ice packs) to maintain a constant temp lower than the ambience, which IMO, is quite impossible.

It's in fact quite simple to do a little experiment - Measure the time taken and the amount of ice / ice packs added to make the temp drop, say 1degC. Measure the time for the temp to hold before it increases back to the original temp. Eg. it takes 5 kg of ice / ice packs to cool a 50gallon tank by 1degC in 5 mins and an hour for it to rise back by 1degC, that means you will need to add 5kg of ice every hour so as to maintain the lower temp of 1degC. The process?????.... hahaha.... near impossible.

and to Bro ZQ, what are u trying to achieve by topping up the 2L of cold water into your 4ft (2L against 230L is less than 1%)? have you ever monitor the temp of your tank before and after you add the 2L of cold water? i think it will be too insignificant to be picked up even with the most sensitive thermometer.

I'm sorry for sounding crude but the point i am trying to say is, I have did all the things you guys mentioned and came to a conclusion - it is not worth all the trouble. the most efficient way is chiller, and down the line is fans. any other manual methods can be tried and tested, but it never beats these two.

Well said Nguy. Kudos for the detailed explanation.

ZQ, I have read all these before in other forums. Not recommended. It can turn out to be fatal to your livestock. As what Nguy had mentioned, chiller
or fans.