My house heats up like an oven. I had to get airconditioners for where my tanks are. It would get the water into the 90's if I didn't. I wasn't going to waste my money on a chiller, when I could be comfortable as well.
But for those who cant or dont want to use an airconditioner, or chiller, Arcab might be onto what you have to do. At my job, we call them cooling wands. We make a dense product or a pudding or whatever we place these in them and they cool it down quickly. It should work fine with a soda bottle.
3 liter on the real hot days!!
It even gets in the high 80's , 90's at night here sometimes, so Even the soda bottle wouldn't work for me.Unless I did it every few hours.
Here are some things that I could think of if they help if any.
-Place styrophome or an insulater under the glass if you have access to keep out the heat, keep in the cool.
- lights will add extra heat as you know, maybe leave them off during the day turn them on starting when the sun starts to set.
-raise the lights a few centimeters on legs or stands to allow the heat to escape.
-install a small fan to cool your lighting down, and cut down on the heat generated.
-provide more floating plants, wheather plastic or real for more shade from your lighting.
-aerate your water more with an airstone or with a filter on the surface to allow heat exchange(this wont help too much if the air is hot above the water)
-provide an ice bath drip, where it drips cold water into the aquarium to replace evaporated water
(icecubes in a soda bottle that when they melt they drip)-read about this one.
I cant think of anything else right now. Just keep your room fully screened off from sun with a shade, or a fan pointing out to draw out the heat; in when it gets cooler at night.
HTH
