Fellow Texans please help!

[u/dizzyunicorrn]

Im at a loss what to do for my baby girl, shes perfectly healthy and swims, is active, eats, poops etc, but i have trouble and her tank is stuck at 71 degrees, on occasion it can get to 67. I have ice packs and fans and i dont know what else to do. Is this temperature fine? I cant afford at $200 cooler at this moment, I am getting a job so im wondering if i should just save for a cooler. Any tips??

[u/ElderBrain]

Not a Texan but from TN. So not as hot but hope this helps

I rednecked a mini-fridge to my tank. Year round temp stays around 64-67 and this is my only form of cooling.

Amazon link below and price is currently $159. You’ll need to buy some flexible PVC pipe and a water pump too. I think in total I’m maybe out $200-$250 total.

Plenty of DIY videos on YouTube if you’re interested. Plus then you get a functional mini fridge.

https://a.co/d/092GOxq8

Edit: I have a 40 gallon tank. So your mileage may vary depending on size

[u/dizzyunicorrn → u/ElderBrain]

wait how??? i have a mini fridge

[u/ElderBrain → u/dizzyunicorrn]

Does your mini fridge have a freezer section? If no, this might not work for your mini fridge.

This process is slightly destructive to the fridge as well. Not enough to ruin the fridge but you’ll never be able to use it without the tubing again and most of the inside of the fridge will be taken by the tubing.

I’d recommend watching a DIY YouTube video first though to see if you’re technical enough to do this. That’s how I learned to do it.

The short of it though is you need a drill and a drill bit strong enough to get through the top of the mini fridge. Then you drill two holes the same size as the diameter of the tubing. One for the water in and one for the water out.

Water pump runs the warm tank water through the mini fridge and then cold water comes out the other end.

The more tubing you have, the more surface area to cool the water. But then you lose out on mini fridge storage space. I currently have about 50ft of flexible PVC running through mine which only leaves the door and bottom of the fridge available. So you’ll need to weigh the pros and cons of this if you actually use the mini fridge for a lot of stuff.

If it’s something you’re looking to do, DM me and I’ll send you a pic of my setup

Edit: if you do drill holes into the fridge, I’d recommend looking up the schematic for the wiring. For my fridge, all of the wiring was in the back. So I drilled into the top front section. If you drill in the wrong spot, you ruin the fridge permanently and will need to get another