Axolotls and vibrations from a chiller

[RogerWilco37]

Hi All,

Has anyone noticed that their axolotl(s) don't like the vibrations from the chiller?
Ours went crazy when it first turned on and now pretty much stays in it's hide most of the time.

We put a cut up yoga mat under the chiller and that helped a little, but you can still feel the vibrations when you place your hand lightly on the tank.

Any ideas on reducing the vibrations going up the hose in to the tank?

Thank you.

 

[Kc0olm]

Hi All,

Has anyone noticed that their axolotl(s) don't like the vibrations from the chiller?
Ours went crazy when it first turned on and now pretty much stays in it's hide most of the time.

We put a cut up yoga mat under the chiller and that helped a little, but you can still feel the vibrations when you place your hand lightly on the tank.

Any ideas on reducing the vibrations going up the hose in to the tank?

Thank you.

So, interesting. I just got a chiller - from Baoshishan. The unit is on the floor, but I did not consider vibrations in the tubes. I don't really feel much when I put my hand on the tube - maybe something very slight, which might be enough for an axolotl!

But indeed, a few days after I got the chiller, my axolotl went into her "cave" and didn't come out until today. Now, I have another detail: I have an HOB filter that pour water into the tank like from a bucket! The flow is huge, and extends down into the tank. I had moved that, after the chiller, because the chiller's flow blows the substrate sand up into the HOB, which clogs the little fan. When I moved the HOB, that's when my axolotl went into hiding. Last night, I rigged a DIY baffle onto the HOB, which dispersed the flow a lot, and, lo and behold, my axolotl came out of her cave this morning.

So, I was attributing the stress to the HOB, not the chiller. Sorry I am not giving you the advice you need. I am more looking for information: how do you know the level of vibration in the chiller tubes?

 

[axolotl nerd]

Hi All,

Has anyone noticed that their axolotl(s) don't like the vibrations from the chiller?
Ours went crazy when it first turned on and now pretty much stays in it's hide most of the time.

We put a cut up yoga mat under the chiller and that helped a little, but you can still feel the vibrations when you place your hand lightly on the tank.

Any ideas on reducing the vibrations going up the hose in to the tank?

Thank you.

i don't have a chiller, but i do have two air pumps and a small fan running at all times. the vibrations have never seemed to bother her, despite how strong they are. perhaps it just takes some time to get used to? I've never had much of an issue. the shrimp in her tank don't seem to care much either

 

[Kc0olm]

i don't have a chiller, but i do have two air pumps and a small fan running at all times. the vibrations have never seemed to bother her, despite how strong they are. perhaps it just takes some time to get used to? I've never had much of an issue. the shrimp in her tank don't seem to care much either

Right. I have two sponge filters that bubble like crazy, and the HOB I mentioned above - mine never had an issue. In fact she used to hang out wedged underneath one of the sponge filters, as though she liked it. I'm sure she liked the oxygen!

But back to the chiller. What model @RogerWilco37 of chiller? I suppose they differ in vibration and noise. I read a ton of reviews and got the quietest one. Now, another thing is the flow - like I wrote, my hose really blows! It's quite a stream, and I thought of finding a way to reduce the power - it's not needed inside the tank. Blows the sand around. But I have wondered if that flow was too intense for the axolotl?

Point is, maybe the vibration, maybe the flow. I don't have the answer, but am looking for an answer. Thanks for this topic!

 

[RogerWilco37]

Sorry for taking a while to reply.
The chiller is a Halea 130A. If we touch the tubes, the vibrations are quite strong. Re the flow, we have a Fluval 307 filter that's turned down a fair way and we got the Fluval spray bar for the outlet, so it's really not much flow at all, it is above the min flow rate for the chiller though. I picked the filter because I knew that axies didn't like much water movement.
Partly as a test and partly because we figure 20 degrees C is better than the stress, last night we set the chiller up higher so it barely turns on, and today she was out of her hide for almost the whole day, first time since we go the chiller.

Re the air pumps, I have a feeling the tubes are silicone rubber, quite flexible, so I don't think it carries the vibrations as well as the vinyl tubes that we got for the filter / chiller. I'm thinking as a possible solution to this that I get some silicone tubing that's the right size for the chiller and add that somehow, but finding the right size food safe silicone tubing is difficult, then there's the issue it may kink because it's so flexible. Very much worth a try though I think.

 

[wolfen]

extend the outlet pipe and use a weight so the pipe rests on the floor (may need piece of matting under it if wooden floor, this will act as a damper and reduce vibrations.

 

[RogerWilco37]

Hey @wolfen, that's an awesome idea, thank you. It reminds me of something i've wondered since looking at canister filters and pumps. When a company says the max height (or "Max Water Column Height" in Fluval's case) that a pump will operate, are they talking about the lowest point of the water travel (so in your suggestion, the floor) to the highest point of the tube, or in most cases the point where the tube goes over the wall of the tank? I guess in most cases it's only a 20 or 30 cm or so difference, but I'm really curious about it.

 

[wolfen]

it would probably be height from pump outlet as even if the pipe goes lower it is then assisted by gravity, there is normally some leeway so the actual height is higher but if the flow is too low can risk over heating the pumps winding's causing it to cut out also premature wear to the impeller shaft.

 

[Kc0olm]

I'm pretty sure my Baoshishan chiller has food-safe silicon, because they are very flexible, and can easily kink. That said, the flow is way to strong for the 20 long tank. I'm actually thinking of kinking the outflow tube intentionally, to reduce the flow.

There is NO vibration on the loutflow tube - only on the pump tube, assuming the vibration comes from the pump itself.

As @RogerWilco37 said, I think finding longer tubing will be difficult,if not impossible. And I'm not sure it's the vibrations. But I'm not sure it's not either. As I've written elsewhere, the axolotol started to hide several days after we got the chiller, and her hiding coincided with my moving the HOB filter over closer to her favorite cave. When I made a baffle for the HOB, she came out for a couple of days, so I thought I had nailed it. Never be sure of anything with axolotls, though, because now she's back in her cave.

It doesn't make sense to adjust the temperature so that the chiller doesn't turn on, I don't think. Defeats the purpose.

I did bring my temperature setting up to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, thinking that maybe it was too cold for this specific axolotl. You know, when you read books about axolotls, they might get their numbers from older data, from "the wild." In my case, the water was always between 67 - 69 Farenhiet, so, when I changed it to 60 degrees, don't you think that might not be comfortable for a creature that has lived in 68?

I got the chiller because she was swimming around a lot, all of a sudden, when summer temps reared the ugly heads, so I'm pretty sure she want the water cold.

She is eating find. Just stays in the hide all the time.