Heat issues are back

[yellowtruck75]

Well its begining to get warm out in central PA so now the heat problems are back in my tank. I changed my Aqua Controller Jr this morning so that the cooling fan comes on at 81 degrees and from there up my MHs start turning off. So its the late afternoon and there are no lights on in my tank. Any suggestions on how to maintain the temp better in my tank before the AC is turned on in the the houe and without the assistance of a chiller?


Tank is 125 SPS dominated with three 250W MHs.

[SDguy]

Do you have fans venting/blowing on the pumps and sump too? That helped my temp out a lot.

[yellowtruck75]

So far I just have the fan blowing across the length of the tank. I also have my sump in the basement where it should be cooler.

[Reefbox]

Point the fan facing directly down into the water. Evaporative cooling is great but the only draw back is you have alot of evaporation. That's how I cool my tanks.

[Radiography14]

FOR THE SUMMER I HAVE THE TANK COME ON FOR SUMMER HOURS I HAVE MY TANK MH LIGHTS ON AT 3PM-10PM AND ATINTICS ON 12-12 ..THIS KEEPS IT COLLER WHEN THE SUN ABOUT TO GO DOWN. I LOWER THE TEMP ON MY HEATER TO 72 DEGREES. BECAUSE WHEN THE WATER GETS REAL WARM IT TAKES SO MUCH MORE TIME TO GET AROUND 80-82 SO THIS KEEPS IT LIKE AROUND 78. AND OF COURSE FANS HELP..

[NaCl lady]

I'm having a temp problem too for the first time. I wanted to know if having the lights on for only 7 hours is enough for everything. I have the compacts on my 45 gallon tank, fish and soft corals, a few lps. The room gets sunlight but the tank is tucked in a corner where it does not receive any direct light.

[mr pink floyd]

my solution for my heat issue on my 29 is leave the canopy door open, adn i have a 9" vornado fan sittign on he end of my bed angled up into the canopy, its set on the halides timer and keeps the tank at 79 right now

[rickh]

Soon or later you will get tired on messing with all that crap and get a chiller.
This time of year it can be 45 degrees outside when I leave for work and 70 when I return. If it a sunny day the south facing room with the tank might be 85 degrees. Unless you want to run the AC year round or quit your job and stay home to open and close the house windows--get a chiller. R

[SDguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9929475#post9929475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rickh
Soon or later you will get tired on messing with all that crap and get a chiller.
This time of year it can be 45 degrees outside when I leave for work and 70 when I return. If it a sunny day the south facing room with the tank might be 85 degrees. Unless you want to run the AC year round or quit your job and stay home to open and close the house windows--get a chiller. R

I'd have to agree, especially with a 125g SPS dominated tank (I'm assuming you've put some money into it ;) )

[hatfielj]

I just bought a used chiller to help with my temp swings that I was seeing for basically the same reason and I can testify that it was worth the money. I don't have to worry about the temps soaring up and down all day anymore.

[cainchristy]

Not to be jerk but isn't a chiller using about as much electric as AC? I have no idea, so I am asking this as a honest question. Personally I work until 3 pm that is when the sun starts to hit the west side of my house and it gets hot, so I watch the temp. if it gets above 81 I turn a fan on, in addition to the 4" temp. controlled fan I have, my tank has never gotten above 82. I have acro, monti, other SPS and have not had an issue. Just trying to keep it cheap :D

[tankguy001]

Out here in Vegas I have to run all tanks with no lids. AC is on at 78 and tanks seem to run at 80.Tanks range from soft to sps. This is my 3rd year doing this and all is well.

[davidryder]

Get a window ac... increase comfort for you AND the tank. I can't justify buying a chiller for my tank when regular AC will do.

[Wrench]

I just lost a few corals on Thursday from the temp rise. Thermometer in the tank was stuck at 78* and I didn't know it. I tried another thermometer and it read 92* :0 I'm off to get some fans now to try and keep it cool.

[Wrench]

I just lost a few corals on Thursday from the temp rise. Thermometer in the tank was stuck at 78* and I didn't know it. I tried another thermometer and it read 92* :0 I'm off to get some fans now to try and keep it cool.


BTW, how much cooler would T5's be over a set of MH's? I'm thinking about switching to T5 to avoid buying a chiller.

[seansod]

I can tell you I was not impressed with the "Cooler" temps of T5's. I have a 75 gallon frag with 2 400W MH's a 90 gallon display with 2 250 W MH's (both have chillers). We recently setup a 120 for the wife and decided to go with T5's so that I would not have to buy a chiller and guess what it now has a chiller. We keep the house at 70 and have fans in the sump and a 4" fan in the canopy to keep the bulbs cool.

I have done some research and belive that the reason for the heat is my T5 setup. 2 icecap 660's running 3 48" bulbs each, so believe that the heat is due to the overdriving of the bulbs. A friend of mine is also using T5's and does not have the heat issues but he is using the IC 430's and is not overdriving the bulbs.

So in short T5's don't always mean no Chiller.

Good luck
Tony

[Zarn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9929475#post9929475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rickh
Soon or later you will get tired on messing with all that crap and get a chiller.
This time of year it can be 45 degrees outside when I leave for work and 70 when I return. If it a sunny day the south facing room with the tank might be 85 degrees. Unless you want to run the AC year round or quit your job and stay home to open and close the house windows--get a chiller. R

I have to agree with rickh about the chiller. That is the next thing on my list to get so I dont have to worry anymore about my tank temps.

[Wrench]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9932527#post9932527 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by seansod
I can tell you I was not impressed with the "Cooler" temps of T5's. I have a 75 gallon frag with 2 400W MH's a 90 gallon display with 2 250 W MH's (both have chillers). We recently setup a 120 for the wife and decided to go with T5's so that I would not have to buy a chiller and guess what it now has a chiller. We keep the house at 70 and have fans in the sump and a 4" fan in the canopy to keep the bulbs cool.

I have done some research and belive that the reason for the heat is my T5 setup. 2 icecap 660's running 3 48" bulbs each, so believe that the heat is due to the overdriving of the bulbs. A friend of mine is also using T5's and does not have the heat issues but he is using the IC 430's and is not overdriving the bulbs.

So in short T5's don't always mean no Chiller.

Good luck
Tony

Thanks. I've got 2 175w on my 45g now and I'm upgrading to a 120 in the next month or so. Based on your experience I may just keep the MH's. I'm working on the canopy now to allow for a litle more air circulation and I'm also trying to figure out a way to rig up a fan behind it to move some air between the lights and the water surface. I would put a fan over the sump but the water flow through there is very slow so I don't think it would be much benefit to do it that way.

[seansod]

Depending on what you want to keep in the 120 the 2 175's won't be enough. I will probably put 2 400s over the 120.

[Wrench]

That's the plan :)