tank getting too hot...what to do

[piscivorous]

All summer my tank has been getting too hot...even when I have the AC on in the room. It is a 55 gal with a 15 gal sump. I have MH lights about 8" off of the water...two large fans blowing in and an open back to the canopy. I have a fan blowing across the sump as well. Still...none of this helps too much when the house gets into the 80's even with the AC. I can't see spending $400 or something like that for a water cooling unit. Is there any cheaper options for water cooling that I might be missing that would work well on a system of this size?

[julie180]

Turn the lights off during the hottest part of the day. You can probably move then a little higher also.

[airplanes1016]

cheap fix (but watch temp swings) frozen water bottles in the sump will help out

[Bohler]

ice cubes?:thumbsup:

[Bohler]

you could look for a used chiller but be aware i heard they throw off a ton of heat

[Percula9]

Put an ice pak in the sump. This works well. What is the actual temp reading? When I used to have a canister filter, I would place the canister in a bucket and then load the bucket with ice, just like an old fashion ice cream maker. This worked well.

[pnavarro170]

cheapest without much work is a small fan and extra water turbulence towards the top.

[tvotaw]

yea all i have heard is fill a waterbottle with ro/di water freeze it and throw it in the sump. you can do this with as many bottles as you need. hope it works out

[steelhead77]

yea all i have heard is fill a waterbottle with ro/di water freeze it and throw it in the sump. you can do this with as many bottles as you need. hope it works out

You can actually fill the bottles with pond water if you want. RO/DI is not necessary because the bottles should be sealed.

[tvotaw]

Ah i guess i was just thinking worst case sernario*. this hobby tends to make me do that :lmao:

[Tank14]

I was able to cool my tank by using a small fan blowing across the surface of the water. You will get more evaporation but the temperature should lower a bit

[zachfishman]

Adding a decent fan blowing across the water surface of the DT could help a lot. I cool my 29 with a small model (6", $8 from Target) that turns on/off with my lights.

ADD: I turn my A/C off during the day, and the apt can get to 87 (and so did the tank initially). Now the fan caps the tank temp at 82 max. Just have to keep up with my topoff.

[Vin7250]

take the canopy off

[DustinB]

What temp are we talking here? I run dual 250w MH in a canopy with fans and I never break 82, that's when the room is 82.