get your fans ready!

[reefD]

next week we will be in the upper 80F with humid conditions...SUMMER! in any case get those fans out! or get those a/c units out of the actic. with those temps our tanks will easily have fluxes in the upper 80F without some form of cooling this will create drops at night ...bad bad bad. ich ich ich. lol

 

[xian]

I've lost many corals to heat over the years. Beginners take note.

 

[Dave ESPI]

Heat is my biggest fear/ killer.

One way to actualy help ( with smaller tanks) is to save up 2 lite bottles with RODI in them in the freezer. They turn into super coolers and 3 of them can chill down my 37 gallon 6 degrees or so in an hour. Sometimes this is the difference in Life and Death.

 

[Ken668]

I think I've posted about this before, but if you can tap off of the air inlet of your protein skimmer this should work for you. Take a long coil of air line tubing (preferably larger diameter than your skimmer intake to reduce restriction) and coil it inside a thermos or insulated cooler. Connect one end to the inlet of the skimmer and leave the other end hanging out of the thermos/cooler. Fill the thermos/cooler with ice and then fill with water. If you can modify the top of the thermos/cooler to fit on while leaving the airlines hanging out, you will have better results.

Now, when the skimmer pulls air in, it will be super chilled and efficiently transfer the temperature difference to the water. This reduced my tank temp by 3-5 degrees and can last upwards of 3-4 days (remember the lid!). This way definately beats replacing frozen bottles every 6 or so hours.

 

[TA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7436091#post7436091 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ken668
...If you can modify the top of the thermos/cooler to fit on while leaving the airlines hanging out, you will have better results.

A styrofoam cooler would be perfect for this...just cut some holes. Get these of various sizes all the time in the lab.

 

[reefD]

luv the DIY ideas fellas! keep em comming cause we all know that in a week peoples who paid no attention to this thread will be crying:

 

[Lakeside518]

I have no worries. Tank is above the shortest duct run off the Furnace. Crank open the damper and blasts crisp cold A/c under my stand into my sump. Works like a charm!

 

[reefD]

ahh no no no its not just the location thats prime for ya lakeside....sounds like you have central air! the issue of temp shouldnt be a worry for ya regardless. you a/c keeps the air dry and less humid in the house as a whole. but those who have no central air have much to worry about. now window a/c are another solution but after that preperation is the key. the above info is great if you dont have central air or a window a/c in the tank room. in any case your right lakeside you have no worries! lucky!lol. just messin with ya.

 

[michaelg]

The heat got me today. Last night I went to bed thinking that I forgot to do something in the basement.
This morning, it looked like there was a mass spawning in my tank- though other than the cloudy water, all looked OK. Though there was definately a funk in the air.
Tonight when I got home, water was still cloudy and several corals melted down. Tank was hot. I forgot to put the fan back where it blows across the top of the tank. Frozen water bottles brought it down ( I keep a bunch in my freezer). Hammer coral and a couple acroporas all toast. My psachysaris might be toast as well. Will see tomorrow how it's doing. Lot's of water changes ahead..... I think that the spawn was an initial stressor, then the heat did them in.

 

[Krazy]

how hot is to hot, my tank is usually 79.8, and went up to 83 but no higher, I opened my glass tops for the day and it went back down to 81...

 

[Krazy]

how hot is to hot, my tank is usually 79.8, and went up to 83 but no higher, I opened my glass tops for the day and it went back down to 81...

 

[michaelg]

I think I hit 90. Usually I haven't had problems until temps went above 86. Keep your top open as much as you can, and get a small fan.

 

[Lakeside518]

I hit 85-86 deg one day last week. I have since removed my glass canopys. The wrasse has always seemed to be fine. I have the A/c on now. Was cheaping out last Sun & Mon nite. No idea why. Esp seeing how who can sleep in hot and clamy weather.

 

[michaelg]

I'm learning to live on minimal central A/C we have it for the upper part.... windows, doors, right times open and closed.....
Funny- on NPR today I heard a show about soooo many other ways of keeping houses comfortable, and how in this country we wayyyy overuse A/C. Heck- I was born in Jamaica, and A/C just didn't exist down there..... A sheet and little else other than a fan is all I've ever needed to sleep at night......

Tanks are another story- principle can be looked at in a similar fashion- to a certain extent, you can make it "sweat" with fans which produce evaporative cooling.... If that doesn;t cut it, then either chillers or A/C needs to come into place..... or whaky dorm room methods which by and large don't have the cooling capicity. Now if you want to go geothermal, the bring in the bobcat back how, and start running lines deep underground- works great if willing to take the investment. See Dr. Mac's site- he at one point had it all laid out what he did there..... Anyone hitting Ocean City MD needs to do 2 things on their way- stop and see Dr, Mac, and go see the wild horses on Asateque Island.

 

[Lakeside518]

I once had asked about geothermal. I use to often work on geothermal systems with another company i once worked for. Not exactly cost effective at first but in a differant area it sure could be. Not like you would need a large loop for an aquarium setup.

Evaporative cooling is generally the cheapest method. As for Wacky Dorm room methods. One could take a wet towel or sheet and hang in the window. Primitive A/C! But hey, it worked back then. Humidity will become a factor but its another form of evap. cooling.

 

[michaelg]

Yeah the NPR show mention egyptians 3K years ago using vines and having servants spray them with water through the day to create the evap cooling..... I don't know..... at times I really want to just suck it up and drop the bills on a chiller, and that is totally counter to my feeling I'm just getting robbed......Also, just so it is mentioned.... chillers in themselves make a lot of ambient heat- which is why many people locate them outside the fish room.....
Kris- you are hereby challenged to come up with a better way!!!!