Tank too hot
- Thread starter tom peet
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
My tank runs about 25-26 also this summer. I've removed the heaters (They were acting up). I ran a small clip on fan across the top of the tank until I had time to install smaller quiet computer fans in my hood. My powerheads (4x1200 Gen-X) seem to heat the water quite a bit as well as the lighting. Try fans aimed at the surface. It seems to drop the temp up to 2 degrees C.
iamjosh
Well-known member
Welcome to RF Tom Peet!
Cooling tips.
*Fan Blowing Acrossed top of tank
*Fan Blowing Acrossed top of sump/ref
*Change your lighting times (make them come on early 3am so they can be turning off by the time the hottest part of the day)
*Buy a Chiller
Knowing more about your setup (Size of tank, Lighting, Livestock, Equipment..etc...) we can help more.
Good Luck
I ended up spending $2100 for a 3Ton A/C Unit for my house to keep my tank cool this summer.
-j
Cooling tips.
*Fan Blowing Acrossed top of tank
*Fan Blowing Acrossed top of sump/ref
*Change your lighting times (make them come on early 3am so they can be turning off by the time the hottest part of the day)
*Buy a Chiller
Knowing more about your setup (Size of tank, Lighting, Livestock, Equipment..etc...) we can help more.
Good Luck
I ended up spending $2100 for a 3Ton A/C Unit for my house to keep my tank cool this summer.
-j
my tank is only 26 gallon. It has some live rock in (slowly building it up). I'm hoping to put corals in later on.
The fish in there are:
Royal Gramma
Firefish
Maroon Clownfish
Cleaner Wrasse
Fire shrimp
I cannot affored a cooler, is there any cheap ones on the market.
Cheers
The fish in there are:
Royal Gramma
Firefish
Maroon Clownfish
Cleaner Wrasse
Fire shrimp
I cannot affored a cooler, is there any cheap ones on the market.
Cheers
NaH2O
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2004
- Messages
- 8,568
tom peet - Welcome to Reef Frontiers! I have found for my own tank, on days that the air conditioning isn't running as much, I need to turn on an extra fan in the sump. I have a 6" fan blowing on my sump and a 9" fan blowing behind the stand in order to move any stagnant air. Also, turning the ceiling fan on seems to help. Is the room with the tank air conditioned? Here are a couple of threads that you may find helpful.
Cheapskate Chilling Techniques
Temp Help
Cheapskate Chilling Techniques
Temp Help
iamjosh
Well-known member
The upside is you have a Fish Only with Live Rock (FOWLR) tank right now, Fish will handle the temp changes a lot better then the corals you'll be putting in in the future so its much better to figure out the problem now.
What causing the heat? Lighting? Warm Room? Heater? Other?
There was a link on RC i saw the other day that was a DIY Chiller for about $250
http://saltyzoo.com/PhotoAlbum/page.php?urlStr=/saltyzoo/frag-tanks/equipment/chiller
I know some other people on the board have plumbing running under their house where its cool.
How much water do you need to add? do you add it daily, weekly? One thing with a big fan blowing acrossed the top of the tank is you will evap more water and your tank being 26 gallons might have large salinity swings those would not be good for the fire shrimp.
What causing the heat? Lighting? Warm Room? Heater? Other?
There was a link on RC i saw the other day that was a DIY Chiller for about $250
http://saltyzoo.com/PhotoAlbum/page.php?urlStr=/saltyzoo/frag-tanks/equipment/chiller
I know some other people on the board have plumbing running under their house where its cool.
How much water do you need to add? do you add it daily, weekly? One thing with a big fan blowing acrossed the top of the tank is you will evap more water and your tank being 26 gallons might have large salinity swings those would not be good for the fire shrimp.
Angelscrx
Import Fish
Is the tank near a window? How close are the lights to the top of the water? What size heater do you have? I used to have a 10g and heat from my lights was my biggest problem. I turned a small fan towards the top and the problem was solved. It did however cause a lot of evap.
achu
Well-known member
Icebergs
I think my clown is going to start to notice that every summer, there is this weird phenomenon or iceberg appearing in the tank. So far, he has curiously approched them and even tried to "nip" at them (thank the clown gods that lips don't freeze on ice when underwater
I was having the same problems late into the afternoon/evenings of the last hot days we've had out here. I took Shelly's advice (at Coral Beauty). I always have some zip-loc bags of frozen purified water in the fridge. I'm generally home in the evenings, so I'll either poke a hole in the bottom of the ice bag and let it slowly drip into the tank if I am in need of makeup water in the tank, or I'll just throw the entire bag into the tank (icebergs).
Of course, this works for me because I only have a 20 gallon nano. So, Angelscrx, it should work for you too, you just have to be careful how quickly the temperature drops... I can only imagine how you folks with the 55 or 100+ gallon tanks would use icebergs...a little zip-loc bag wouldn't do the trick.
achu
I think my clown is going to start to notice that every summer, there is this weird phenomenon or iceberg appearing in the tank. So far, he has curiously approched them and even tried to "nip" at them (thank the clown gods that lips don't freeze on ice when underwater
I was having the same problems late into the afternoon/evenings of the last hot days we've had out here. I took Shelly's advice (at Coral Beauty). I always have some zip-loc bags of frozen purified water in the fridge. I'm generally home in the evenings, so I'll either poke a hole in the bottom of the ice bag and let it slowly drip into the tank if I am in need of makeup water in the tank, or I'll just throw the entire bag into the tank (icebergs).
Of course, this works for me because I only have a 20 gallon nano. So, Angelscrx, it should work for you too, you just have to be careful how quickly the temperature drops... I can only imagine how you folks with the 55 or 100+ gallon tanks would use icebergs...a little zip-loc bag wouldn't do the trick.
achu
DonW
R.I.P.
Fans and more fans. What you dont want is to cause the tank to cycle again or cause a huge algae bloom. It sound like you are planning a reef, so experiment with fans and timers until you can keep it perfect.
Don
Don
Angelscrx
Import Fish
I like the iceberg idea but it wouldn't work for me since my fishies have moved into a 55g condo
iamjosh
Well-known member
Good luck becareful with your salinty swings!
Angelscrx
Import Fish
Goodluck just watch that salt!
iamjosh
Well-known member
Glad that worked for you make sure you salinty isn't swinging all over the place with the water evaporating...
-j
-j
Ritsuko Nashida
Well-known member
Yeah got the giant ice berg thing going in my sump too on the few days when the temp gets up there. I keep a few of them on hand so I can always rotate one in as needed. Running the lights at night has really helped the most as its kinda cool here at night time. You also can just put one of the frozen chemical ice packs againts the tank and place a couple of towels over it too to cool things off if you cant drop one in the water. Just an idea if a chiller is out of the question.....
