too much heat = dead stuff

[darklcd]

hey all

well I got my light and aftera few minor adjustments from being shipped its going.... a little too well. I started the light thinking that it would be ok and threw my powerheads into my tank ( its a 25 gal tall nano) and everything was great. I left it for a while and the temp went up a bit so I thought that maybe having the power heads in the tank were a bad idea as they are ca2200s and I thought that the heat from them would be bad becuase they are doing 850 gph each so I took them out and left the tank for the day. when I came back later on that night to check on everything my tank temp was over 30 degrees C!!!!!!!!! I shut the light off and prayed for the best. Well praying didn't work all 10 of my snails are now dead.

I have discovered that it was not the power heads but the light that was heating up the tank. As of right now I am just running the 2 t5 on it with the power heads in there for flow to keep my alga down. I have 2 questions

1. how much of a die off cycle can I expect with the snails and the live rock
2. what can I do about the water temp. a chiller is too much for me right now and I am not sure if fans either on the fixture (a couple blowing down on the water and one over top of the MH lighting space to suck hot air out) or a clamp on style on the side of the tank.

Needless to say my wife is pissed lol I mean I know that mistakes happen but I didn't think that a 150 watt MH light would be this big of a problem and losing all the snails was 30 bucks that I didn't have not to mention what is going to happen to the live rock

can someone help me out?

 

[mmkeeper]

I would think that your live rock should be ok. Maybe a little die off. As to heat evaporation is your best way if you don't have a chiller. Maybe if you have room and money, add a sump for more water to volume.
Use a fan to blow the heat away and air across the water. Keep your room temp lower also.

 

[morgan]

i had snails live through temp spikes over 33c in sunlight tanks i thought snails were bullet proof in heat

 

[burning2nd]

get a fan man....

 

[darklcd]

thats what I am thinking I was thinking of getting a set of 3 and having 2 of them blow down on to the water and have one on top of the fixture and have it either blow cool air into the MH lighting area or suck it out what do ya think?

I never thought that a 150 mh bulb would heat my tank up like that its crazy. The light i 6" off the water and only thing I could see is that because of the tank not haveing a much surface area as a normal 25 gal that there might not be enough area for heat exhange

 

[burning2nd]

a fan blowing on the water... ither in a sump or on the main hooked up to a controller will set u up nice....

i wouldnt blow it directly at the bulb tho.... Mh are designed to run at a certin temp and runing the bulb cooler will alter the apperence..


a fan sucking outta the top will help

 

[darklcd]

the problem is I don't have a sump so I think that I will end up wtih 2 fans retro fitted on to the bottom of my fixture and one on the top sucking the hot air out of the bulb should help I hope.

I was also thinking of getting a clamp on style or the back or the side of the tank

would that work the same better or worse?

 

[morgan]

thats what i have a clamp double fan blowing acroos the top of my tank havent ad the temp go over 26 and my mh is a 400watt

 

[burning2nd]

2 fans.... eazy enough


one pulling out on the side...

and one pushing out the top.

 

[darklcd]

the only reason i was thinking about the 3 is that I found a set on ebay and each fan has a built in theromo sensor in it and i thought that 3 would work great but if I can get away just a clip on that would make things a lot easier.

Any idea why a 150 would heat my tank up like that?

 

[mmkeeper]

Metal Halide run very hot. I have 2 175s over my 75 gallon/30 sump and if I don't use a fan spring summer and fall it will run very hot.

 

[darklcd]

yeah I can understand in teh summer but right no outside my house its like 15 F so I don;t know what to do

 

[mmkeeper]

how warm is your house inside where the tank is?

 

[tarax]

I've had heat issues before in the winter when the downstairs resident decides its to cold out and cranks his heat. Normally this is only on the weekends when I'm around so... But anyway I keep 4 1 liter old pop bottles filled with water (most of the way) in my freezer. If I come back from shopping or something and see that my water it hitting the high 82's I put those into my sump as an emergency temp reducer and then open my patio door to let the cold air into the place to offset his temp increase.

I personally plan on investing in a chiller when I get the cash, but for right now thats what I have done, it works and I haven't lost anything yet.. (Knock on Wood).

 

[darklcd]

yeah i want a chiller but this is just a temp tank that will prob end up in my daughters room so i am not that comncerned that i have to spend that kind of cash

the temp in the house is around 72 F and its on an outside wall

i don't et it but i am going to have to pick up some fans i don't see anything else i can do