High temperatures

[plugpitch]

Hey guys,
I'm going through a trial and error time for my tank. So far, my tank is running good, but I have one question. My tank is running around 84 degrees when there is no lights on or the room temperature is cool. I have a mag pump that is running my skimmer. What do you guys think I should do? Should I take out my pump or should I run fans to cool the water? I do have a chiller, but I don't want to have it running the whole time. I figure to try and keep my tank at 79 degrees and my heater to turn on around 76.

 

[salt e]

i feel you...i had NO LIGHTS on for 2 days (thanks to a neglictfull room mate) and my tank is running at a hefty 82 degrees., whats going on here?

 

[july865]

the answer would come from, what you are trying to keep. fish and corals from the hawaiian region (as an example) can stand the 79-83 range while other reagions cant. research what you want to keep/have, and that will lead you to your safe temp range

 

[SBJim]

It's amazing what a couple of computer fans across the water surface can do. Don't worry about noise too much (to a degree, of course): get the ones with the highest cfm (cubic feet per minute) that will fit.

I've had great luck with Newegg. I installed 2 of these guys:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185026

Brought my temp down 5 degrees on the hot days. On regular days, I generally run only one of the two.

 

[bergzy]

what sze tank do you have AND what size mag are you running?

how 'cool' is your room?

my initial guess is that a lot of heat is coming off your mag pump.

running fans over your tank and sump helps a lot!

i have computer fans in my hood to move a little air across the tank and i have a large vornado fan blowing into a sump. this keeps temps at 80 or below. and i have a lot of seio's and ph's in the tank!!!

 

[july865]

all this can be a waist of time if all you do is find out a bit of what you have and where it came from. if your inhabitants are used to 82-84deg... who cares if the tank water hits 83deg. the link i provided is real sea temps for today at the honolulu noaa station. here
.
as you can see 84deg for a very beautiful reef is no big deal. as for my fellow reefers all their suggestions are very very good. but its rather unnesessary if you know what you have.
.
i do have to admit that when in doubt, play it safe with all those fans, frozen bags of ro water, chillers, and $$ spent on gizzmo's.
.
but you never know, you might have to turn the heater on to get it to 84 when the water temp reads 82.....lol

 

[plugpitch]

sweet, as of now, i haven't researched any of my inhabitants. but i do want to keep sps and a chevron for sure. i guess i'll have to see what else i would want.

 

[Charles99]

try running a reverse lighting cycle- main lamps on @ night.
also open a windo @ night (where your tank is located).

At the peak of the heat a few weeks ago, I ran a clip on fan on my sump. These are super cheap (under $10).

 

[bergzy]

here is a recommendation about reef parameters...

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

a positive note in the article is that it says the upper limit for a reef tank is 83 to 86!!!... :eek1:

though...

for my reef tank and my reef tank alone, i tend to not let temps get past 80 with 78 being the high limit (i have predominantly sps)...esp if you want to keep sps.

just my 5 cents.

 

[mikedege]

running fans over your tank and sump helps a lot!

Yeah, my clip-on fan seized up, and my temps went from 79-80 to 83-84. I replaced the fan, and im back down at 79-80. Its amazing how much of a difference a fan makes. btw, mines in my sump area.

good luck, Mike

 

[plugpitch]

so basically, everyone has their fans pointed down at the water. how's the evaporation rate?

 

[818]

drop some frozen 2 liter bottles of water into your sump...My cousin does that and has 2 more in the freezer waiting. He keeps it at a stable 78F.

 

[slavearm]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7981864#post7981864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by My F1sh R D34D!
drop some frozen 2 liter bottles of water into your sump...My cousin does that and has 2 more in the freezer waiting. He keeps it at a stable 78F.

Yah it is ghetto, but thats is also how I cool down my salt water barrel before doing a water change.

 

[SBJim]

Interesting NOAA site that July865 linked. I was surprised that it showed that 84 was "normal". I then expanded the time period to see what the data looks like since they started collecting it, and you get a pretty different pic. 84 is pretty much the annual max, and has only been so in the last couple of years. Global warming anyone?

Looks to me like 76 to 80 is the right range to mimic this piece of the ocean.

 

[ReefMeister2]

During last month's heat wave, my reef tank stayed at 86-87 degrees for the entire week! (I was on vacation so could only monitor it via my AquaController) but with no ill effects what-so-ever!

Even more amazing:
Last year when I came home from vacation (during another heat wave) I walked in the door to find my tank at 90 degrees :eek1: again with no ill effects.

 

[july865]

i bow to my fellow reefer SBJim. warming trend brought on by the natural wabble of the earth's axis?!?!?. earth has been experiencing these long before we were here. ice age, global warming. the sahara desert was once a jungle...lol. JMHO

 

[billyzbear]

My mag 12 on a closed loop added atleast 2 degree's. It's a mag 12 and it's out of water.

 

[Hurgoth]

I bought an 18" regular 3 speed fan for $20 at Ace Hardware. I took to fan off of the stand and rigged it into my sump. My tank was 85 degrees the day before I purchased the fan (which was a few weeks before that last heat wave we had) and since the day after it has stayed 77 degrees.

Buy a fan.

 

[plugpitch]

how big is your sump? I was thinking of adding one of those clip on fans.

 

[ReefMeister2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8011493#post8011493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plugpitch
how big is your sump? I was thinking of adding one of those clip on fans.

The clip-on fans are conveinient, and are better than nothing, but simply do not move much air. Best is to buy a turbo-type fan (largest that will fit) and lay it directly on top of the sump blowing downward onto the water surface. It's the evaporative-cooling effect that makes this work, so the more air volume movement the better.
Best option is to have two fans working in concert....one automated to come on at 80 degrees and a second/backup fan (perhaps even larger) coming on at 82 degrees. Then, If you have a chiller, have it come on at 84 degrees.
80 --> fan #1
82 --> fan #2
84 --> chiller

Reefmeisterology shall coin this...P.T.C:
"Progressive Temperature Control"

Hey now! If three decades of computer geeks can come up with a GAJILLION three-letter acronyms for the SAME DAMN FREAKIN' THING in computer/IT terminology, then I'm allowed my "one" claim to fame!