Jelle
New member
Hello,
I recently got my very first axolotl when it was still a baby and it is growing fast!
I came up with an idea to lower the temperature of the tank for a few degrees. It can be done VERY cheap (under $10,-). Do not expect miracles but it lowered the temp in mine for about 1,5/2 degrees which means it now is at 22 C instead of 23 or 24! It's still quite high but in this temperature region it makes a huge difference for the axolotl.
I went to Deal Extreme which is a Chinese webshop shipping most of their items for free, and bought a USB powered laptop/notepad cooling station for about $5,-.
This USB adapter costed me about $3,- but you get them with most smartphones to charge your phone using your USB cable.
Find out which side the 'blowing' side is and face the air stream towards the water surface. The unfolded 'legs' were just large enough to span my tank (30 cm in depth). As the air flow can't go anywhere but sidewards as soon as it hits the water surface you get a gentle constant airflow over the surface, directly cooling it and increasing the vaporization rate which also lowers the temp.
Make sure that:
-The voltage output of the USB adapter matches the required voltage of the fans to optimize its effectiveness without burning your house down;
-The USB adapter has the right A/C plug for the type used in your country (dealextreme sells all versions) ;
-There's a power output close to the tank, as the USB cable provided with most of these cooling stations is quite short (mine is about 25 cm) ;
-The fans cannot come in contact with the water (quite obvious). Though they run on a quite low voltage so they won't elektrocute your axolotl but just avoid it. ;
-There's enough distance between the fans and the water surface, to avoid a decapitated axolotl because of a happy dolphin jump
(okay they won't be powerful enough to do that as it is not painful to stick your finger in it, but they sure can cause some damage to the axolotl).
Apart from DealExtreme these laptop cooling stations can be bought everywhere but here they were the cheapest.
Thanks for watching and I hope it's helpful in any way for the last weeks of summer.
Greets Jelle
I recently got my very first axolotl when it was still a baby and it is growing fast!
I came up with an idea to lower the temperature of the tank for a few degrees. It can be done VERY cheap (under $10,-). Do not expect miracles but it lowered the temp in mine for about 1,5/2 degrees which means it now is at 22 C instead of 23 or 24! It's still quite high but in this temperature region it makes a huge difference for the axolotl.
I went to Deal Extreme which is a Chinese webshop shipping most of their items for free, and bought a USB powered laptop/notepad cooling station for about $5,-.
This USB adapter costed me about $3,- but you get them with most smartphones to charge your phone using your USB cable.
Find out which side the 'blowing' side is and face the air stream towards the water surface. The unfolded 'legs' were just large enough to span my tank (30 cm in depth). As the air flow can't go anywhere but sidewards as soon as it hits the water surface you get a gentle constant airflow over the surface, directly cooling it and increasing the vaporization rate which also lowers the temp.
Make sure that:
-The voltage output of the USB adapter matches the required voltage of the fans to optimize its effectiveness without burning your house down;
-The USB adapter has the right A/C plug for the type used in your country (dealextreme sells all versions) ;
-There's a power output close to the tank, as the USB cable provided with most of these cooling stations is quite short (mine is about 25 cm) ;
-The fans cannot come in contact with the water (quite obvious). Though they run on a quite low voltage so they won't elektrocute your axolotl but just avoid it. ;
-There's enough distance between the fans and the water surface, to avoid a decapitated axolotl because of a happy dolphin jump
(okay they won't be powerful enough to do that as it is not painful to stick your finger in it, but they sure can cause some damage to the axolotl).Apart from DealExtreme these laptop cooling stations can be bought everywhere but here they were the cheapest.
Thanks for watching and I hope it's helpful in any way for the last weeks of summer.
Greets Jelle