sneaky heating source---hot nights

[Sk8r]

I live in the Pacific NW, where 50 degree nights are still largely in force. But we have had a couple of warm nights, followed by very cool days.

And what happens? My tank goes from a steady, predictible 80.4 to a scary 83.7 in one day. Not happy, here!

So what was it? The warm nights not giving us the usual cooldown, and the day being so cool I neglected to turn on the a/c. The heat gets into rock and sand, it builds, and it doesn't get the cool nights to knock the average down. Result: near catastrophic heating. I could easily have had reef soup.

Well, yrs. truly has turned on the fan under the tank, and resolved never to leave the a/c off until September.

We were extremely lucky that I do check the temp more than once a day.

[xtrstangx]

3.3º isn't too bad, but good thing you caught it before it went to high.

Why not invest in a RK2: http://digitalaquatics.com ?

The temperature control is very useful.. I never have to worry about my tanks temperature, whether my heater is cooking the tank or the MH are boiling the tank.

$270 isn't too bad for the piece of mind it provides ;) Plus it'll save you a good amount of money (in the long run) compared to running the AC every day until September.

[Sk8r]

It's a good suggestion----it's a controller, right? So it would control the on/off of the fan?

A 52 is kind of an inbetween nano and tank-tank: too small for a reactor and such, except by complete overkill, too big for an Ice Probe chiller. But something to help temperature stability would be a Good Thing.

[aquaman3680]

I also have a RK2 they do provide alot of good for the price very good and cheap for all the services it provides

[techreef]

sk8r, i've learned a lot from reading your threads. happy to return the favor re: the RK2.

the RK2 is a controller that comes in 2 pieces; the readout display and an 8-outlet power strip. a nice thing about the RK2 is that any of the 8 outlets can be assigned to do any of the RK2's functions, ie there's not just 1 "heater" outlet or 2 "lighting" outlets on the strip, so you can plug whatever device into whichever RK2 outlet. I'm a newbie, but I think my stand is really clean due to the organization that the RK2 provides in the stand. 2 of the 8 outlets are spaced further apart for wall wart power plugs.

Besides a temp controller, you can also buy an optional pH probe which allows the RK2 to display your tank's pH. I have Salifert test kits to double check with, but the convenience of instant pH readouts is nice.

I won't bore everyone w/ a rundown of all the RK2's features, but definitely give their website a look. Not sure what it's worth or how often they update the firmware, but it even ships w/ a computer cable which they say allows you to update the RK2's firmware periodically via the internet.

http://www.digitalaquatics.com/reefkeeper2.html

[Sk8r]

Neat! This is going on my shopping list. And thank you for the advice and the kind words...