aquarium cooling

[chad590]

Hey guys, I am new to the reef keeping hobby and want to know whats the best way to keep an aquarium at the correct temperature. My tank currently gets up to 83º sometimes. I have a 12 gallon aquapod. Stock. I want to get this problem solved before I add any livestock.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreaciated.

 

[Dono]

Im pretty sure that tank has a lid on it correct?

The best way to lower temperature is to get that lid open and have a fan blowing over the surface of the water to create evaporation. 83 isnt the worst, but I think you'd feel a lot more comfortable in the high 70s. Are you seeing excessive algae growth? Also, I think there are some mods for that tank you can do to the hood to create some additional air flow.

 

[Proteinshake]

iceprobe chillers

 

[InLimbo87]

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about 83 degrees. If you are using the stock pump, replace it with a Maxi-jet 900.

 

[Proteinshake]

i would

 

[Dono]

83 is definitely something to worry about. Especially if you some reason the room he is in gets hotter, or during the hotter days next summer etc. Also his tank will probably produce a lot more algae than normal. Not fun to deal with.

I would go ahead and post here and ask if there is anyone you can modify on your specific model to reduce the temperature.

Also! If your tank is near a window or wall that isnt insulated well consider moving it to a cooler part of your house or bedroom.

 

[lifesworksataol]

ok I actually have alot of experience with these tanks. I will start a diy led thread soon. if you are going to have clowns only in there and want to raise babies then 83 is awesome! just feed your clowns as often as possible and they will spurt out babies all the time. but for everything else a lower temp would be better. so the first thing i would do was swap out your lights for led's. it lowers the water temp big time! you can cut some of the vents out of the lid but i dont like the look of it and it lets more light out of the hood. you can put bigger fans but they wont mount to the old spot and can get in the way. they sell deeper 50mm fans at newegg and other computer places that push more air but its hard to find screws because you need longer ones (my acehardware didnt have them). you can do that probe chiller but its cheaper to do the led's. the more fan contact you have the more you will have to add fresh water. let me know if you need any future help.

 

[MrHarvard]

I had a small cube that stayed warm as well. 83 can be an issue but really consistancy is the most important thing when dealing with temps also what you have in your tank will determine how big of a deal 83 really is. There are a few different things you can do. The best is buy a probe chiller or change out the stock lighting for a small DIY LED set up. You can build a small LED light that will fit perfect inside your hood for pretty cheap. If you dont have the funds right now another thing that I did in the past was get 3 of those really small water bottles and fill them up with RO water and freeze them. Every morning you can put 1 of those in 1 of your back chambers and then switch it out around 5pm and then right again before bed. If you have 6 bottle it makes it alot easier to keep up with. This should be enough to keep 12 gallons down an extra couple of degress each day. But I would really look into changing out the stock hood lights and putting in LEDs. If you are interested in that let me know I can send you the links for DIY LEDs for your exact tank. Hope this helps!

 

[InLimbo87]

Have you tried replacing with the MJ900 yet? The stock pumps on these are extremely inefficient, you'll probably lose 2 degrees with that alone.