Money does make some things easier, I won’t deny it. But the truth is, Eric and I both have learned even more how to creatively solve problems because of our shortage of cash. Things we might have thrown away and replaced before we are now repairing and reusing. Eric has gotten very good with glue. So far the mending of the 3 foot tear in the mattress pad is holding.
I’ve acquired new skills. I taught myself how to cut Johann’s hair from a book. I’ve been cutting his hair for over a year now and no one can tell. I learned how to bake bread. Now that is the only bread we regularly eat. Eric has gotten very creative using his knowledge in woodworking and home repairs. He also made a CO2 system for the fish tanks, which saved us hundreds of dollars.
Our latest problem to solve was how to cool the fish tanks for the summer. With the temperature rising, we had to figure out how to maintain our tanks between 76 and 80 degrees. The easy way is to keep the air conditioner on higher, but that obviously comes at quite an expense. The other obvious option is to buy one of the cooling systems we’d seen advertised, but that would cost us at least $200. plus the cost of the electricity to run the coolers.
Eric wanted to add filtered water ice cubes to the tank. That was a good idea, but I had reservations. We needed to reduce the temperature at least 3 degrees, ideally more, to keep the temperature within our ideal range. A 20% water change with cooler water will do that for a short time, but not a couple of ice cubes. I was also worried about diluting the salts and disturbing the chemical balance of the water. And at some point too many melted ice cubes could cause an overflow.
I asked Eric about cooling the air around the tank. Eric said the water absorbs the heat from the outer air temperature, but will hold it longer. How was I planning to do it? Cooling the air would work, but he was worried I was going to turn up the AC. I was thinking about the ice packs in the freezer and all the extra ones we had in the attic. Eric was very skeptical. I said that you don’t know until you try.
I could hear his eyes rolling in his head as I put the first batch of ice packs touching the back of each fish tank. I waited about an hour and then took the water temperature. One ice pack reduced the temperature 2 degrees! Eric took the temperature himself, but then had to admit that it worked. Two ice packs on each tank did the trick. We were even able to set the thermostat a few degrees warmer.
So now we are changing the ice packs when we turn the lights on in the morning and again at night when the lights go off. But I like how we saved that $200. and were able to keep the fish from cooking in their tanks from the summer heat.
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