Keeping Water Temp Cool

I'm prepping for a new pet (axolotl, so I hope it's okay I still post it here), which needs a water temp at around 17 degrees C, which I suspect will be difficult in my apartment due to the heat. I have read of some people using the ice bottle method, rotating to bottles of frozen water that they float in the tank. Roughly what temperature would that keep a 20 gallon tank at when the room is around 23-25 C? Are there other better methods to keep a consistent cool temperature?

 

They definitely like cool temps in the low to mid 60's, but will tolerate temps up to 70ish. I can't imagine you keep your apartment over 70 do you? We have a digital, timer-controlled, thermostat in our house. The temps set for 62 at 8pm and only comes up to 68 at 4pm. If I didn't heat my fish tanks theyd never be above 64ish. If you leave your heat on 70 constantly, which will cause your tank temp to be 70, then barring buying an expensive cooler, do cool water changes regularly.

 

With frozen water bottles, ice or cold water changes I couldn't imagine you could hold any kind of consistant temp. I can't see anybody rotating out frozen water bottles how ever many times every day for 5-6 years.

 

I'm getting an axolotl too! Keep the tank close to the floor, heat rises. Use the mesh tops, hoods hold in heat. And use fans pointed at the water surface, fans cause evaporation and all of this combined can really help keep the tank cool!

 

Frozen water bottles are a short term solution and usually only suggested when the external heat is worse then the Yoyo-ing temperature ice bottles cause. A fan like Fearyn suggested would be best. (Though I disagree with the tank close to the floor. Heat is pumped in at the baseboards and rises usually so there’s no specific height in the room that’s cooler or warmer. Just don’t have it in front of a window.)

 

I can't imagine you keep your apartment over 70 do you? We have a digital, timer-controlled, thermostat in our house. The temps set for 62 at 8pm and only comes up to 68 at 4pm.

Wow that's cold! I keep my apartment at 76!

I would suggest adding a fan or an extra power head to hit the surface of the water for more air flow. Also making sure the hood has big enough gaps in order to have air not be trapped.

 

Frozen water bottles are a short term solution and usually only suggested when the external heat is worse then the Yoyo-ing temperature ice bottles cause. A fan like Fearyn suggested would be best. (Though I disagree with the tank close to the floor. Heat is pumped in at the baseboards and rises usually so there’s no specific height in the room that’s cooler or warmer. Just don’t have it in front of a window.)

Floor level is a lot cooler in my home! Though I live in an older house

 

Floor level is a lot cooler in my home! Though I live in an older house

Okie dokie.

 

Wow that's cold! I keep my apartment at 76!

Up here in Maine, when its -15 out PLUS 30mph winds, 68 is downright HOT. lol

 

Up here in Maine, when its -15 out PLUS 30mph winds, 68 is downright HOT. lol

Here in Chicago it's unpredictable. 65° and sunny one day and 20° and snowy the next. We have older floor to ceiling windows in our apartment so they leak a lot of heat. So 76-78 feels more like 72-74°. Luckily we don't pay for the heat!

 

Lucky. If we run the furnace at 68 non stop we use about 1,100 gallons of heating oil (did it the first year we owned our house, won't make that mistake again). At $2.50 a gallon, give or take, it can get pretty expensive. By keeping it down during the day we can get by on 600 gallons plus we supplement with 2 tons of pellets ($265 a ton). So it cuts our heat bill in half.

 

The problem is that I can't really control the heat in my apartment (heated with floor heating) besides opening the window, and it's sort of unbearably hot even for me. And this is during winter with -5 outside. I'm worried for summer, tho hopefully then the heat is turned off. At least the temp is very consistent in my home, so I suppose I should test and see what temp the water will naturally be at. I've read that while axolotls tolerate temps up to 23 C, they thrive between 16-18 C. Fans might work. I've never heard of this before, and I'll look into it.

 

Honestly, if you're going to keep Axols and you can't really control your heat & ac and it gets that hot and cold, you'll need to buy a cooler. Fans will work to a degree, but not like people make them out to. When its 90 in the summer, a fan won't cool off your tank that much, it will just help in evaporation and then you'll need to add more water, at which point you can add cooler water.