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  #1  
Old 06/25/2007, 07:05 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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Angry Help... Im in hot water... Im mean my critters are.

My air conditioner went out. My tank is heating up. I have shut off the lights. Other suggestions for dropping the tank temp. Up about 5 -7 degrees from normal.. right now 86.

Nobody looks stressed out but I dont know what to do. The part for the ac is on order may be two weeks before it comes in!
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  #2  
Old 06/25/2007, 07:06 PM
local44 local44 is offline
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try floating some bags (ziplock) of ice

low tech but it works
  #3  
Old 06/25/2007, 07:10 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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Thanks!
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  #4  
Old 06/25/2007, 07:51 PM
philagothos philagothos is offline
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You might also try getting a fan blowing across it, if you don't already have that going.
  #5  
Old 06/25/2007, 08:25 PM
GreenBay1 GreenBay1 is offline
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RO/DI water in the fridge till it is cold and then add it to the tank. Float ice bags while the water gets cold. Fan always helps.
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  #6  
Old 06/25/2007, 09:33 PM
medic29 medic29 is offline
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If you have a canopy over your tank....take it off. Take some fans and place them so that the fan is blowing air over the top of the water, not down at the water. Keep water bottles (3/4 full) frozen in the freezer to have available in case the temps start climbing higher than the fans can keep up with. Be careful adding too much R/O water unless you are making up for evaporation...you don't want to lower your sp. gravity.
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  #7  
Old 06/26/2007, 01:07 AM
saltyseaman saltyseaman is offline
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Yikes . All of the above is good advice. You may also put some saltwater in the fridge to account for the SG shift medic mentioned.

Since you just set-up your 72 Bow you can change your lighting cycle to run at night when it is cooler. You may want to put something other than a halide on your 29, if you have something. That halide will cook that tank without AC. Maybe you can get a couple 10K PC's to put in place of the actinics that are in the halide unit. That, along with the sun that it has been getting, should keep everything kicking.
  #8  
Old 06/26/2007, 12:02 PM
lglamb lglamb is offline
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fwiw, the Savoy Wal*mart has some small (5000ish btu) window a/c units
on "sale" for $75 and change. Almost thought about gettin one just
to keep from running the house air at times.

Lowell
  #9  
Old 06/26/2007, 01:04 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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Thanks for all the advise guys. I am doing bags of ice. Any freezing more to try to keep the temp down. Luckly today is cooler.

Zak... I have totally shut off all the lights in both of the tanks. There is no way anything would be alive under that halide in the heat.

Rick... I cant figure out the fan thing. Tank too high.. nothing to sit the fan on.. ideas that may not have come to me yet? Now I know why you have a chiller!

Lowell.... unfortuantely we have weird slide sideways windows on the only windows in the house that actually open. There is no way to put in a window unit unfortunately.

Luckily we have a basement and I have moved all of our other animals downstairs. My daughters degu was near death when we got home yesterday. We cooled him off with wet towels but, he is not the same. He only lays in the corner. Won't move or come when we call. He is very old and the heat stress may have been too much. The sugar gliders only come out of the pouch at night but seem ok. The turtle water was pretty warm but, put ice packs in his tank too. The gerbils were already in the basement so, they are ok. My dog is so worried about all of them she has worked herself into a mess running between cages.

I called the ac place again today and complained that in 2 weeks everything will be dead.... DO something. They are calling the manufacturer again to see if they can find a part off another unit. I will keep you posted.

Michelle
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  #10  
Old 06/26/2007, 01:09 PM
medic29 medic29 is offline
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You can get fans that can be clipped onto something at Wal-mart. I got a nice 6-inch fan there for my tank. I would imagine you could get 2-4 of those and place around the tank. It cooled the tank in the garage way down to 76 when I had it set up as a quarantine tank.
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  #11  
Old 06/26/2007, 01:28 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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Thanks Rick.... didnt think of that --- duh... just trying to balance fans... making me nervous over the tank!
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  #12  
Old 06/26/2007, 01:50 PM
redvipe2010 redvipe2010 is offline
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What are your temps down to now? It looks like you will be getting a break in the heat over the next few days.
  #13  
Old 06/26/2007, 02:00 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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New tank.... 81, small tank 80... Fans and Ice are working ...YEAH
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  #14  
Old 06/26/2007, 02:07 PM
redvipe2010 redvipe2010 is offline
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Great! You are fine at those temps! Keep doing what you are doing and I hope the A/C part comes in soon!!!!
  #15  
Old 06/26/2007, 02:50 PM
medic29 medic29 is offline
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You should be okay as long as your temps don't go above 84. There was a thread where there was A LOT of discussion as to what temps are okay. Personally, my tank has gone up to 85 and everything did okay. I wouldn't reccommend it, but....stuff happens. Now, my tank has been up to and stayed in the 84 range during the day and everything has done fine.

Since putting the chiller on....it doesn't get above 81.
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  #16  
Old 06/26/2007, 02:56 PM
Horace Horace is offline
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If you dont already have fans in your canopy, you def should invest in some. You can use regular computer fans, and a DC converter to power them.
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  #17  
Old 06/26/2007, 02:56 PM
redvipe2010 redvipe2010 is offline
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I've had temps get up to 85 / 86 before, anemones all took a walk and all split, corals and fish were fine.
  #18  
Old 06/26/2007, 03:04 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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Horace... I have fans on the light system. They only work when the lights are on. I guess I need to make adjustments for messes like this.

The good news is... I found the right person at TRANE to yell at. A part that will fit my system will be here Thursday ( the actual part for my ac is on back order until AUGUST! are they nuts!). It is yet to be seen wether I will have to pay $50 in overnight shipping - for their own good, they better decide to pick up the tab! I am not a happy camper when it is hotter in the house than out and my critters are sick from the heat!

FYI or IMO .... Pick a diff manufacturer for your next HVAC upgrade!
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  #19  
Old 06/26/2007, 03:07 PM
redvipe2010 redvipe2010 is offline
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How old is the A/C unit? Is it under warranty?
  #20  
Old 06/26/2007, 03:48 PM
medic29 medic29 is offline
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Back order until August....just in time for Fall
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  #21  
Old 06/26/2007, 03:55 PM
Horace Horace is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by seachel71
Horace... I have fans on the light system. They only work when the lights are on. I guess I need to make adjustments for messes like this.
Good deal, with high room temps like this, it probably isnt going to make much diff anyway. If its 90 in the house, its going to be pretty darn hard just keeping the tank below that w/out lights on
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  #22  
Old 06/26/2007, 08:45 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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It is hotter in the house than outside. Our silly house has only a very few windows. We just bought the entire heat and ac system last August so it is not yet a year old. It is still under warranty, however, that doesnt seem to make them move any faster.

Water temps are back to normal tonight... temp in the house is about 83 so that is cooler than earlier, although still a little warm for me. The fish dont seem to mind the humidity.
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  #23  
Old 06/26/2007, 10:39 PM
redvipe2010 redvipe2010 is offline
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Thats sad that its a new unit and they don't have parts readily available.
  #24  
Old 06/26/2007, 10:46 PM
seachel71 seachel71 is offline
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I know I was pretty ticked! I did a bit of yelling today.. hopefully that will speed things up a bit.
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  #25  
Old 06/27/2007, 11:01 AM
lglamb lglamb is offline
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Crossing our fingers. But still stock up on ice.
Nice weekend, but forecasting for 90's next Tuesday.

Lowell
 

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