New C.O setup

[john]

Oh yeah, most definitely better than nothing. You'll probably find you can get better than 1-2° during certain times of year and even certain times of day. But you may also find that during the worst times of day you get practically nothing. A fairly simple solution to help you get more out of this cooling method would be to duct air to the fan and use a desiccant in the duct to dry the air out before you blow it over your tank. You can either purchase silica gel desiccant or you can just salvage a bunch from those little packets they put in almost anything you buy these days. You can recharge the desiccant by heating it slightly to drive off the moisture. Here are some examples: http://www.desiccantcity.com/desProducts.htm

 

[connie]

John,

I don't really understand what you mean *confused*. I know what the desiccant is but i'm not sure what I'm suppose to do with it...

 

[john]

Well, I'll try to explain what I mean with some more detail. Bear in mind that if you are using a fairly large fan, this is probably not worthwhile. In rereading your previous post, I take it that your airflow does not directly pass over the water surface correct? That's key in this cooling method, the air must flow over the surface of the water as much as possible. If you can manage to do that, then you place a tray of the desiccant in the air flow before it hits the water surface to dry it out so it can take up more of the warm water molecules from the tank. Since it sounds like you've not gotten direct air flow yet, try to rig that up before using desiccants with it. That way you can see if you really need to go to the extra trouble of drying the air. I'm still not sure i've explained this very well, tell me if i've not.

 

[connie]

Thank you everyone for all the advice and all the support. Unfortunately, my newt has passed this morning.

Thanks again and hope that all of you will have more luck with newts than I have.

 

[khanh]

connie, im so sorry. whats best is that he had a owner that strived and took hard effort into his responsibilty for trying to care for it. connie id have to say,your a great owner, you did everything for your newt to stay alive, just know that you worked hard and that you knew that your newt knows that. and what youve said quote "Thanks again and hope that all of you will have more luck with newts than I have." that means nothing. yeah maybe ONE bad experience with newts. it wasnt bad luck, now you know what to do on your next newt. i just want to say you did a damn hell of a job taking a newt into your hands and doing what you could for that newt. i bet that if someone else bought the newt, that owner wouldnt even know what to do or even look up to how to take of a newt. Just know that youve done a great job and i think me and the whole caudata family is proud of you doing so.

 

[terry]

Dear Connie,
Ouch, so sorry to hear you lost your newt

khanh has already said most of the things i would have posted.

Do not let this make you feel bad. I've lost my share of fire belly newts before: From large paddle tail's to small chinese ones.

I was thinking a little. The desperate attempt to cool down your newt in a hurry could have contributed to its stress. Newts, like fish when transported home has to slowly get used to its new environment.

If you decide to get another newt, at least you now know that you can provide it with a proper setup. I wish you all the best.

Regards Terry