Temperature issues - need input

[XOrionFE]

I have been able to keep my 90 gallon right between 78 and 80 degrees with a 200 Watt heater and outside air temp in the room fluctuating between 65 (coolest at night) to 70 (daytime).

Now the room temp is swinging in the past week between probably 69 at night and 75 during the day.

Tank temperature has shot up to 83 degrees during the day.

Will the change in outside temp really effect like this normally or could I possible have something else going on such as a pump putting out too much heat suddenly?

I am starting to wonder if I need a chiller. Normally in the summer months (in Illinois) I usually aircondition to keep temp between 72 and 74. But in the interim, Spring and Fall transitions, I can see the room temp going up to 75 and even maybe up to 80 at times.

What are other midwesterners dealing with? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Scott

[Fast Fred]

Before investing in a chiller, you may want to try some fans. Fans aid in evaporation, and evaporation causes cooling. The fans can be small computer fans mounted in the hood and blowing across the water, or a larger fan, say 8-12" blowing across the sump. If you don't have a controller, you could use a time clock.

Fans are much cheaper to purchase and much, much cheaper to operate than a chiller.

[XOrionFE]

I did put a small computer fan in the hood (I made a custom hood with an IceCap VHO retro). The temp was 81.8 when I got up this morning so even with lights off all night and a drop in the house down to probably around 70, I still had high temp.

I probably could easily put a clip on fan in the cabinet point flow at the sump.

One thing I was thinking is that I have two Seio 1100s running in the tank, a Mag 12 return that is submerged in the sump,, and a ASM-G2 Skimmer with whatever type pump it came with also submerged in the middle of the sump.

I plan on checking to make sure they are not getting clogged up or something tommorrow but also was thinking that maybe the two in the sump are adding a ton of heat that could be removed but getting the skimmer moved outside the sump as well as the Mag12. I just hate to do that because I am afraid of the water leaks should something break.

The fan sounds better if you think that it would help blowing on the sump all day.

[Fast Fred]

I have 6 magdrives running in my system during the day, as well as 3 MH fixtures and 2 6'VHOs. I have 4 computer fans in the hood and one 8" fan on the sump. No need for a chiller.

[XOrionFE]

Thanks Fred. I will go out and get a small fan tommorrow for the sump and get another 5" computer fan going on the hood also.

I sure the heck dont want to deal with a chiller.

Out of curiousity, how often do you clean the impellers on your pumps?

[Fast Fred]

They have impellers??? What????


J/K I've had the Magdrives running for 18 months now and i haven't cleaned them yet. I didn't see a need to. Lazy too, i guess.

BTW, it stands to reason that if the temp in the room went up 5 degrees, it would be likely that you'd see a similar rise in temp in the tank. Also, if the humidity has risen in the house, it would also be likely that the tank temp could also go up. Higher humidity in the ambiant air would slow the evaporation from the tank and also slow the cooling effect of the evaporation.

[goda]

Try using a bioball chamber or somthing where water falls over baffles and aireates well.this will bring down your temp alot. ( somtimes 10 degrees cooler then outside airtemp)

anyways try the fans first

( i am ready for the no3 factory flames... bringemon ) :P

[Weller]

You could try making your own chiller. All you need is a bucket, a pump and some tubing. Put the pump in your tank. Take the tube from the pump, coil around the inside of the bucket 2 or 3 times, then back into the tank. Add water and ice to the bucket, and presto, your own chiller! You'll need to play with it to see what works best. You may need to coil the tube in the bucket more times to allow the ice to contact the water in the tube longer. Also, if you want to get fancy with it, you could use a cooler instead of a bucket.
Just a thought.

Note: It'd be best to use this through a sump, so you're not pouring 'cold' water directly back into the display.

[Bathel]

I live in the south and have all kinds of issues with heat. I spent one year cooling my house all day while no one was home to keep my tank at 82 to 83 ... to the tune of an extra 100 per month.

I took the jump into the chiller world just a month ago with a Prime 1/10hp in-line chiller with heater port.

I must say ... I am so happy that I did this. I have had no issues with keeping my tank 78-80 everyday all day. Cold nights ... no issue ... Hot days ... No issues.

The unit is quite and in my situation really can't be seen. You do have to keep it where it can get air flow, so I wouldn't recommend it to go in a cabinet.

for the 400 bucks I spent ... it was one of the best purchases so for for me.

[XOrionFE]

Well all....

I went to the hardware store and purchased a 6 inch clip on desk fan and put it in my cabinet pointed directly at the top of the open sump. I just leave it running.

Temp came down to 79 in about a half a day (that was with lights on mid-day). Room temp about 78.

Next I set my heater at 80.

Seems like I have been pretty stabilized between 79.5 to 80.5 now for 24 hours.

I guess the next thing to do would be to get a temp controller to put the fan on the chiller side and heater on the heat side to regulate them both so I dont have them fighting each other constantly. Anyone have a suggestion on this?

Thanks for all the help!
Scott