HEAT---how to cope with your tank in no ac

[Sk8r]

1. watch your thermometers. 2. You can float a ziploc bag of ice. 3. Turn a fan on the sump or water surface---that's good for quite a few degrees. 4. turn off your lights if you're using heat-producing lights: your tank can go days with no damage from that. You can also reverse your day/night cycle: fish and corals know THEIR world: they don't care it's topsy turvy. MOSTLY: watch your thermometer. Bleaching can occur after you pass 85 if your lights are on, and you're best about 78-81.

 

[Daddyrawg]

Yup

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[ThRoewer]

Fans worked well for me so far, though they are far better in keeping the temperature from rising than actually lowering it when too high. So the trick is to set the threshold low enough so they start cooling well before critical temperatures can be reached.

Ice for cooling is something you need to prepare well in advance and in sufficient quantities. BTW, I found plastic soda or sparkling water bottles to be much better (=less prone to leakage) than ziplock bags.

The real problem is that extreme heat often goes hand in hand with power-outages because everyone has the AC running on high. So a backup generator is something that should be on the list as well.

 

[Oldreeferman]

In addition to the fans, ziplock bags & ice ideas, I also have 3 battery operated bubblers sitting ready with new batterys beside them. And im living in mortal fear of a power outage, have a generator but i have to be here to start & fuel it, wife has no clue how to use it. gulp.......im 1 disaster away from dead reef tanks, like an Asteroid its not if ....just when..... I do have her instructed to do the ice & bubblers tho then call me at work. If i had a well verses city water id make up a loop to run cold water to cool my tanks but my water bill is rediculess so that option is out. Just hope I can make it home in time to babysit is all.

 

[Sk8r]

Penn Plax makes a bubbler that cuts on when the power goes out. This can be had at the typical big box stores, and it is a real good backup for when you're at work and there's a blackout at home.


Understand that the oxygen-carrying capacity of water diminishes with heat, so if you're too warm AND lose circulation, it's worse than if this happens in winter.

Ordinarily we don't like bubblers in our tanks, but when it's providing oxygenation---you betcha. It's life and death.

For future reference water temperature lethality from cold starts at 62 degrees downward; and lethality from heat---that usually happens from OXYGEN starvation as well as temperature in excess of 85.

 

[ThRoewer]

For future reference water temperature lethality from cold starts at 62 degrees downward; and lethality from heat---that usually happens from OXYGEN starvation as well as temperature in excess of 85.

The temperature range might be much smaller. Time of exposure to cold/heat and duration of power outages play a large role as well.
I had small fish die from longer cold exposure (~24h) already at 18°C (64°F) and larger fish in more crowded and algae infested tanks suffocate at 25°C (77°F) during longer (~7h) power outages.
It also makes a difference if the tank gets enough ambient daylight for algae to continue/start photosynthesis or not. During darkness they actually also consume oxygen and therefore accelerate the oxygen depletion.

 

[Oldreeferman]

One plus i can say is if power does fail the heat that is produced by my internal tank pumps & my in tank skimmer will stop, ( great during Winter tho). I did a quick experiment & turned off my T5 lighting that is 6" from my tank top & all pumps & anything producing heat, it fell almost 6 degrees in around 30 min and held at 74. I was spot feeding so seemed a good time to check this out. Ambient room temps is then what i have to cool to below with ice till generator gets going this will give me more emergency time. Other then a chiller for a overheating tank that does still have power i think you guys have the min covered without throwing more money at an already expensive labor intensive hobby.

 

[Daddi0]

I have often wondered if I got a long hose and ran my skimmer air intake through a bucket of ice water if it would have any effect in stabilizing/cooling?
Cheers! Mark

 

[monkeysee1]

.....and of course, if you don't have ac and/or central air - keep your windows shut, your shades and curtains drawn to keep your house (somewhat) cooler until the heat wave passes!
Just saying

 

[Sk8r]

IF you ran a closed loop hose through an ice bucket it sure would but might chill it far too much.

 

[Sk8r]

Re the heat range: we had an 8 day winter blackout, in which I was able to keep the temperature dancing just about 62. Oxygenation was my worst problem: I did the dip and pour thing from a height every 4 hours, total tank volume. And we got fish through it. Not the worms and such, though. The heat problem can be far worse, because the difference between where we usually ride (around 80) and the disaster limit is so small, and worst of all, oxygen goes shorter the hotter the water gets. Given my choice, I'd far rather deal with a winter blackout than a summer one...especially as I now have a generator.

 

[rocklobster1]

lots of frozen coolers will work. I've done it for hurricanes for days.

 

[jd371]

We had a heatwave over the weekend here in the Northeast, during the hottest point of the day my anemone tank that's in my workshop reached 85 degrees even with a fan on top. I used bags of ice in the sump to keep it from going higher. The pair of clowns, the anemones and coral weren't phased at all.
We only get a few days of heat like this at a time, I don't know how you guys in the South deal with it on a constant basis...brutal.

 

[rocklobster1]

We had a heatwave over the weekend here in the Northeast, during the hottest point of the day my anemone tank that's in my workshop reached 85 degrees even with a fan on top. I used bags of ice in the sump to keep it from going higher. The pair of clowns, the anemones and coral weren't phased at all.
We only get a few days of heat like this at a time, I don't know how you guys in the South deal with it on a constant basis...brutal.

Have to have the central AC running constantly. I keep my place at 74 degrees year round.

 

[saphosbro]

Here in Texas were summers break 100 degrees even with an AC i need a chiller on some of my tanks.

 

[jimjam35]

Currently have a RSM 130 and night and morning temps are great with the hood fan but during day on these heat wave days we have I have been cracking open the front lid and have my Dyson fan oscillating across the front of it which helps keep the temps from spanning to high.... and that’s from across the room amazing what a little air movement does