Halide lights and hight water temp

[Ron Sarquiz]

Hi All,
I just upgrade to Metal Halide lights and my water temp is now moving up to 83 degrees and down to 79 respectivly when lights are on and off. Is their any way to manage this without investing in a chiller.
Thanks,
Ron

 

[lakeRat]

Do you have an enclosed hood that the lights are in? Or, is it a pendant/fixture only? I have 2 175 MH's in an enclosed hood. I plugged a small (cheap) little fan into the MH timer so it runs when the lights are on. It keeps my tank at 80 pretty easy. A fan blowing across the water will, (Pro1) Cool the tank (Pro2) Help with gas exchange, and (con) Require more topping off due to evaporation.

Just an idea, and if you have a small fan laying around, a cheap test just to see if it works.

Another way to possibly equalize the temps are to 1.) Lower the room temp, and 2.) Raise the tank temp. You may end up running at 82 (if your livestock is comfortable there) but it will be a steady 82, instead of the swings above and below.

 

[aclos3]

Here are a few things you can do to lower the temp.

-Ventilate the hood! Like lakeRat said, fans in the canopy can help as well. I run my canopy with an open back and a fan blowing cooler air in across the top glass.

-Take the cover off if you have one. Unless you have fish that jump, remove the cover to increase evaporation

-Vent your sump (if you are running one). A lot of people ignore this area, but most of the time our sumps are open and in an enclosed wood box (the cabinent). Cutting a hole in the back and adding a fan will drastically lower the humidity and thus increase evaporation.

-Move the halide further from the surface of the water. (I am not sure how close your bulbs are now, but if you back them off a few inches that should help. I understand this may not be possible if you already have a canopy in place.

-Lower your lighting period. This may not be possible with the lighting requirements of your animals, but it probably takes your tank hours to heat up to its peak and lowering the lighting time could drop the peak temp.

 

[jag1979]

I have a canopy w/ 3 250 watt mh's. I put a 4.5" and 6" fan in the canopy and a 6" fan in the sump. W/ the lights and fans on the temp drops...I stay in the 76-78 range in the winter and 79-81 range in the summer.

My mh bulbs sit 8-9" above the water and i loose 4 gallons of water a day in evap