It's Getting Hot In Here..

[SaltyWenStirred]

Day 19 of cycle. 38G tank with Skkye LED 92W tablet

LIGHT CYCLE DAYLIGHT DAWN/DUSK MOONLIGHT
LED WATTS 28 x 3 Watt 2 x 3 Watt 2 x 1 Watt
COLOR 10K 466 nm 456nm
CURRENT 700 mA 700 mA 350 mA

I have a digital thermometer and a glass. The plug on the end of the cord for the digital is within 1/2" of the glass thermometer. My goal is to eventually have corals, which like temps closer to 72, correct?

I was running my lights like the sun/moon, but now I'm running the daylight light about 4 hours a day, longer periods of dawn/dusk, then moonlight and totally off for about 4 hours in the middle of the night. I'm worried that the temps are too high.

I can't tell what the deal is with my water. Which is more reliable, the digital or the glass? Would it help to take the glass top off? Is it high enough to buy a fan to cool it off? If the heater is set at 74 and the house temp is set at 74, and I have LED lights, plus am keeping them off some of the time... what is causing the temp to stay over 80?

So here are all the readings that I got this morning (within 2 mins. of each other), hopefully to give enough info so I can get some opinions..

House temp at 7:00am:

Heater setting:

Digital Thermometer reading in saltwater tank:

Glass reading in saltwater tank:

Strip reading on my freshwater tank in the same room:

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Ideal temp for a reef tank is in the 76-82 degree range. Most keep their tank temp around 78-80.

 

[Bender19]

ideal temp for a reef tank is in the 76-82 degree range. Most keep their tank temp around 78-80.

+1

 

[Dr. Reef]

yup yup i keep mine at 79 and swings to 80 during lights on.

 

[chrisfont23]

I tend to run mine at 82-83... I don't necessarily recommend that though, unless you feel comfortable you can act quickly if you tank peaks above 85 degrees. The two to three degree variance may not be enough wiggle room in the event of a problem.

 

[Blayz77]

this seems standard to me, same thing happens in my house. we have the ac set to 72-73 degrees constantly and my 50g hovers around 79 when lights are out and 81-82 when lights on. Recently I personally dont like my tank in the 80's so while at home depot not to long ago i saw a fan though id give it a try. this things brings the temp down in short order, hooked it up to my reefkeeper light so that i dont have to monitor it or incase i forget to turn it off and end up freezing the tank lol, my tank stays at a cool 76.5 - 77.5 now.

http://honeywellstore.com/store/products/honeywell-turboforce-air-circulator-fan-ht-900.htm this is the fan im talking about, you can probably pick it up in a variety of places. i got mine from home depot, i saw someone buying a couple at target the other day as well.

 

[SaltyWenStirred]

Thanks all. I was wondering about whether or not to use a fan. I may pick up a small one and try it out.

I don't know how reliable the digital thermometer is. My freshwater tank has LED lights too (thought not nearly as bright). That tank strip reads about 78. The glass thermometer in the SW tank reads just under 78. It's only the digital display that reads over 80.

I don't think I'll have much of a problem as we head into winter, and we don't keep our house at 74 in the winter, usually a little cooler. Right now, I guess my heater is useless.

 

[firstlight10]

You should be fine, during the heat wave I had to work to get the tank down to 83 (lost the house AC compressor), my livestock was fine, these days I keep the tank around 81-82.

 

[Lig]

I don't know how reliable the digital thermometer is.

That model, not very.

 

[Dr. Reef]

yup those thermometers are not very reliable.

 

[Portsie]

Taking the glass top off is probably a good idea. Most people don't use them with a marine setup. More of a freshwater thing.