Help with cooling?

[shmifty5]

hey, i have a 20 gallon tank, with a 5 gallon under-gravel filter, a cascade 400 (20 gallon) internal filter, i currently house 1 c.orientalis, no i do not have the resources to have the tank planted as of right now, anyways, i try and keep the water frigid but everytime i add frigid water (tank water that's been put in the freezer) the water always goes back to being slighty colder within a couple minutes.

i think the cascade 400 is giving off heat and warming the water, is there anyway i can reduce this heat gain? should i just remove it and do more water changes? is the newt fine with water being only slighty colder than room temp (about 71 on normal days)? what if i leave it in for normal days and remove it on the really hot days so that i can keep the water colder?

im still vary new to this whole newt thing, i hear things from instant death at 75 celsius to that72 for prolonged times can be fatal, i try and keep his tank far colder than the ambient room temp just to be sure.

any help with this heat thingy would be excellent, and don't even mention DIY coolers, id prolly accidentally make a heater instead (my DIY skills suck).

P.S. he is still not going into the water, he just sits out on his mask all day long, and when he does go into the water he just frantically swims to the back wall and then behind the under-gravel filter outtake and then back against the back wall (like a fly against a window), i have to takehim back to the mask because im scared he will exhaust himself and drown (if thats even possible!), he also won't eat the frozen bloodworms that i offer him, i know im prolly worried about nothing but he looks oh so tiny and i worry he might be a land-loving juvie still. plz help!

 

[shmifty5]

i can remove the water if he is still a juvie, but if he is an adult and he is just scared of the water because he is new i don't want to stress him out by putting him in a much too shallow tank, also he isn't scared of the water as he will float in it if he has something to hold on to, like when i go to move him back to the mask i just stop him with a finger and grabs onto it and floats as i move him back (btw, major cuteness when he holds onto my finger, i know you can't hold newts but i sometimes just want to snuggle him, ya know?).

 

[shmifty5]

he grabs on to my finger, i just wanted to clarify that, i don't manhandle him at all, he will grasp my finger with his cute little hands and sometimes he will wrap his tail around another finger.

 

[Azhael]

If the newt refuses to go into the water it´s because it´s not in good enough conditions. They can sense, chemically, if the water is suitable or not. This includes not just temperature, but also levels of ammonia, nitrites, even pressence of fish.
If you want it to go aquatic, you need to provide him with excelent water conditions. If you do, he´ll dive in and never go back!

As i told you in your other thread, you don´t need two filters, and specially you don´t need the undergravel one. It´s giving off heat and warming the water.

Temps, ideally, should always be under 20ºC. This is of particular importance with newly acquired animals, specially if they are WC, because temps over 22ºC or so compromise their inmune system, leaving them defenseless to fight off infections. A healthy, properly housed newt can tolerate higher temps than that for short periods of time. If terrestrial they can tolerate temps as high as 28-30ºC given the necessary conditions.
You can find cooling methods in here, i hope it helps:

Caudata Culture Articles - Cooling

 

[shmifty5]

thanks azhael, i keep the water in excellent conditions (daily 20% water changes, removal of old food, etc), as i said, he doesn't mind the water if he has something to hold onto (like a kid riding a new bike) but if he finds himself floating he freaks out and books it for land.

im pretty sure the undergravel filter can't give off heat, its driven by an airstone, it's the internal filter (which i have removed until i can find a way to insulate it or something) which creates the heat.

u use lots of ice, and since removing the cascade 400 (internal filter) i hav ebeen able to keep the water so that it is finger chilling (like ice-water now that i think of it), can he suffer if the water accidentally does get too cold? or will he just hibernate?

 

[Jennewt]

If the newt refuses to go into the water it´s because it´s not in good enough conditions.

Besides poor water conditions, there are a number of reasons why newts (especially recently-acquired ones) may refuse to go in the water. Some other ones are listed on this page:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/FAQhea.shtml

One newt generally does not produce enough waste to need a serious filter like that. In addition to the heat problem, it probably produces too much current for a pond-type newt. I would vote to unplug the filter, but be sure that the water is sufficiently aerated. I have several newt tanks without any filter at all, just live plants and a screen lid.

 

[shmifty5]

thanks for the reply jenn, i have unplugged the cascade 400, the under-gravel however provides plenty of aeration and i have decided to leave it running.