Cooling a viv

[ominously]

Any good ways to cool down your viv a few degrees? I'm not really having any problems currently, but I'm just thinking towards the summer when the temps go up. I figure with the AC set for around 75 it should be alright, but I was wondering if there were some "fast fixes" available to drop the ambient by around 5 degrees, should the need arise. Any help would be great - thanks in advance.

[Dragonflames81]

other then ac, you could also have a fan going in the room to help spread the cool. I don't know if you could do it or not, but if you have a basement you could move your collection down there for the summer and move them back to where they are now for the cooler months.

[ominously]

That was my thinking initially too, but then I started renovating and right now there isn't much more than broken cement and dirt down there, so the environment is, let's say, a bit unstable for the time being.

[mike]

if you have the AC set at 75 you should be fine, the only other option would be to keep the blinds closed so you keep a majority of the sunlight out, you can run a fan to circulate air through the room. I think with them AC on though you should be just fine.

[XtremeGecko]

I hade to cool my viv one day as it reached 90. It's a 180 gallon all glass aquarium (dimension = 6' long x 2' deep x 2' high). I opened the end lids put a box fan on one end and left the other end open for more ventilation, turned it on medium, and stood there and watched if and it only took about 5 minutes to cool it back down to 75. I understand that most setups arnt this size, but im sure you could figure something out to the same effect for the size of your setup.

[Darkice]

You can go to any hardware store and buy a thermostat and hook it up to a small computer fan and controll the temp of your cage. Just make sure you get the right kind of dc power supply to feed the fan. The setup i have costed 26 bucks and regulates my 3 mian tanks.

[ominously]

How do you get this to actually cool the viv? If ambient temps get too high it will just be blowing the warm air around won't it?

[Chicubswally]

On the more technical side, the use of a fan, mister would be one option.
Another option if you are only trying to drop the temp a few degrees, and maybe a lot easier one, would be to move the enclosure lower in the room. You will be suprised at the difference in temperatures 6 ft from the floor and at floor level. Of course, keep the enclosure away from any sunlight, heating vents, lights.
Finally, if you have a basement, this could be an easy, quick solution as well. I have my animals in a converted workroom in my basement and I can control the temperatures in the room to what I need.

[Darkice]

Originally Posted by ominously

How do you get this to actually cool the viv? If ambient temps get too high it will just be blowing the warm air around won't it?

The ambient air temp in my basement is 70 degrees minus a few during the night. It blows the colder fresher air from outside the tank if it gets too hot inside.