# DIY Aquarium Chiller for Closed Top?



## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Anyone know of a cheap or DIY method to chill an aquarium with a fully covered canopy?

Most of the tutorials I've seen use a fan to blow across the open top of the tank and allow for more evaporation, but my aquarium canopy doesn't really allow for this. Also would be nice to minimize evaporation, but I think that might be asking for too much.

Any ideas?


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

I think Joey did one where he bought a mini fridge and ran coils of garden hose inside to cool down the water


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Ahh yeah I saw that thanks for the suggestion. It's a bit too complicated of a build for me lol and I'd have no room for the fridge! 

It's only a little 10g tank so it's probably not worth the hassle for now. I might just leave the lid open over night to let the heat out. It'd be nice to be able to swing open the lid and not have to take the light off the top of the tank as well  suggestions?

I've seen the mod for versa tops where you take the hinged part off and use it as a sliding canopy, but I might not risk that until I actually break the hinge first.

Once again, I'm probably asking for too much without compromising lol

Thanks for the help!


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## Kimchi24 (Mar 22, 2013)

yeah, A DIY chiller isnt too smart for a 10g haha. Can you hang the light fixture? It could help with the flap of your cover.


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

I'm thinking about hanging it or mounting it some way. I think using a PVC mount might be too much for the 10g, but that might be the best way to go.

Ideally I'd want to have "legs" or something attach to the rim of the aquarium and hold the light a couple inches above the tank, but I can't quite work out how to do that 

Something like this would be cool, but obviously with DIY materials and on a smaller scale and I'm not too bothered with how it looks. Mostly interested in having "pegs" or "legs" for the light to mount onto the tank connected by the rims because it takes away the need to build a suspension system. Maybe there's an easier way to do this that I'm overlooking.










I dunno  I'm probably over complicating this for the sake of having a project to work on. I could probably make a stand that bridges the aquarium out of PVC, but I'm trying to minimize the amount of space it'd require.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*chiller*

when I had my bio cube tank in the summer time the temp would raise huge...
I use to freeze Chinese food containters the black round ones with lids ..
and I would pop one in the tank and it would slowly cool the tank down ...
that was my solution with out a chiller ...
good luck 
tom


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

I might have to end up doing that then tom. Simple and quick  Thanks for the suggestion!


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## kapelan (Apr 1, 2008)

That's 5g tank.
Glue 4 peaces of wood from Home Depot
light stays on the top 
and cooler on the side (better to use big one)
This summer was working well.


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Looks like a pretty cool idea kapelan!

Do you have anymore pics or details on it? 

Thanks!


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## kapelan (Apr 1, 2008)

wood+glue+paint about $20


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## Atom (Sep 17, 2014)

Thank you!


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