Question: Help. hot water :(

cool :) cheers Mac. 19 it is then. Id better clear a shelf in the fridge for em, they already got a shelf in the freezer now, frozen bottles and frozen bloodworm lol.
Im sure this week will drag, I just want it to be sunday now so I can go get them. piccies to follow :)
 
Mac has been giving you great advice but I'm curious about a couple of things. One is, how do you have the fan pointed? It has to be positioned so that it blows across the surface of the water - actually disturbing the surface as it blows. Blowing the air above won't do any good nor will having the fan pointed directly down on the water. Just a thought.

Also, what kind of thermometer do you have? Is it an internal type? Can you attach it or does it just float around? Internal will give you a better reading and if you can actually attach it, I think it's even better because a floating type will only give you a surface reading and is still being affected by air temp like the type you stick on the outside of the tank.

Be careful with the ice, because you don't want the temp to go back up during rotation. This is stressful to the axolotls too.

Personally, I will be very happy to see the end to this HOT summer! :D ...And of course, like Mac, would love to see some pics!!
 
Hi :)
at the mo ive got the fan tilted over the tank so its blowing across, theres a few ripples but not loads, im hoping when I pick the aquarium fan up it might work better. thermometer wise its one of those with the suckers on stuck to the front of the tank (inside). thankfully its reading 19 still but i am worried about the temp fluctuating inbetween, esp while im out of the house and cant keep topping them up.
I love the heat but id rather sit with a jumper on and make sure the little guys are ok :) mmm... what id give for aircon!
 
It's interesting that to me you don't have A/C. Here in Florida in the USA it's about 36° right now with a "feels like" of 42°. For us.. that's HOT.
My A/C is struggling to keep it at 25°.

As Far as Thermometers go.. I like these:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12091

They are Usually pretty cheap... especially if you get them off of Ebay. But you can still typically find them in stores for 6-10 dollars US.
 
Oooh I like that.... digital :) I have just got the normal type, think I might invest in one of those though.
36?! its no where near that hot here, my rooms got up to about 30 but its staying around 27 for the last week. Yes aircons are a luxury item in the UK rather than a necessity, well, apart from in the car :)
 
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Just done another water test and all is still looking good :) I have only got the strips but I have ordered the mini master kit just to be double sure :)
The temperature is staying at 20 without the ice blocks now.
Getting there slowly :)
 
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That's sounding pretty good! I'm glad to hear you have a master kit on order because the test strips tend to be inaccurate.

Ooooh, air conditioners are not a necessity? hmmmm..note to self - don't plan a trip to UK in Summer! lol ;)
 
ha ha!! very true, the weather is rubbish most of the time, londons not as bad as scotland to be fair but we normally only get a few days of summer lol! this years been pretty good, not for little axies tho :(
 
hi guys!!
ok, so I picked the aquarium fan up today, says on the box its suppose to be 10times the strength of a regular fan, mmmm..... yeah if the regular fan isnt plugged in, up to just im not seing a difference. the overall temp is 22.4 (got my digital thermometer :) ) fans rubbish! :(
also my water master kit came today and I must say im a little baffeled to what the results mean
ph now is testing at about 8 where as before it was around 7
the nitrate colour was inbetween the 5 and 10 box ( kinda darker pink than the 5 but lighter than the 10)
ammonia was 0 looked like normal water, no colour in it, so thats good and then the nitrite was inbetween the0.1 and 0.3 kinda pinky/ light purple.
are these readings sounding about normal??
only 3days till I get them :) whoooo!!!
 
What kind of fan did you get and how much? I have been using a regular fan propped up on a stand. A real aquarium fan would make my set up look a lot less harsh.
 
hiya
I got a twin cooling fan from the fish shop. its a little black rectangle thing that clips to the top of the tank but to be honest im not impressed, my temps reading 21.5 now and the box says it should decrease the temp by 3-4 degrees. :(
Iah... finally managed to figure out adding pics. ive put the tank below.
oh... it cost me £25 so whats that about $45?
 
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Vampybabe,

It's good to know that those fans aren't really worth the money. I was considering purchasing one, but now I don't think I will. Perhaps I will have to get a big ugly fan. Heh :) I don't have air conditioning either at the moment. I'm going to be dealing with this issue soon as well!
 
Hi, thanks for posting your water readings. Nothing seems to be too much out of line.
The bacteria that deal with the water chemistry haven't had time to establish fully, so your Nitrite reading is a little high, although the NitrAte level will go down with a 20% water change (treated water, of course)......

If you could post your results daily then the reading will hopefully show a healthy pattern in their subtle changes.

Your pH is nothing to worry about unless it goes above 8, (but any big changes in pH would indicate a potential problem.) It can be gently lowered naturally if need be.

Is there anything 'living' in the tank, at the moment? ie. to provide an Ammonia source? And any live plants, also?

In addition, have you checked the readings for normal tap water, and (day old) tap water (at correct temp) after its been treated with de-chlorinator but before going into the tank?
You'll only have to do this once, but its worth making a note of.

I can't advise on fans, but just remember that electricity and water don't mix, so make sure that any fan you use can't accidentally be knocked .......

PS. This is a great article about cycling the tank http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml
 
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hiya Ken
I will do another water reading tonight when i get back from work, didnt think about testing just the tap water, ive put some in a large jug to leave so I can test tomorrow :)
Ive not got anything living in the tank at the moment, I have been thinking about plants but I read on here that they can sometimes eat them so only certain plants are safe, so a little nervous over which types to get. I had a look at the link, thanks. ive got some frozen blood worm so could pop a tiny bit of that in the tank to speed it up.
Ive left the fan on all night, temps dropped to 20 but that could be purely because the outside temp has dropped. Ill keep monitoring it, hopefully it will stay there and not creep up again.
 
It's disappointing that the fan you got doesn't work. Maybe you can return it? Small fans like that usually need to be close to the water. How much air does it "feel" like it pushes?
Your tank, as Ken pointed out, is cycling but hasn't finished. Daily water changes will help keep thinks safe for the animals until it finishes. The link Ken posted on cycling is an excellent resource. :happy:
 
ah... the fan was ordered in special for me, so dont think they would take it back tanks now staying at a steady 20.4 today was down to 18 earlier but that was with the aid of ice blocks again, dont really want to use them when the little guys are in there unless im in all day to keep changing them over. I personally dont think the fans that strong even though it says it is on the box, my desk fan feels more powerfull.
Ive just done a ph test of straight tap water which came out just over 7 and also the jug of water I left this morning and thats more like 8.
also just done a nitrates test, one on the jug of water and one of my tank again and they are reading the same, inbetween 5 and 10.
daft question but how do I know when its finished cycling? oooh and is using bottled water a bad idea. Ive got a 5lt bottle in the cupboard that i forgot i had and was thinking i could use that for the changes?
cheers you guys, you are awesome :)
 
I have seen fans like that on ebay. I thought about getting one that has 6 fans linked together. My tank is 55 gallons (about 208 litres), so it would have the best impact in theory.

Do you think that a few more fans would have dropped a couple degrees? And what size is your tank by the way?
 
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