Looks like I am getting a tank...

[Twisted]

So Saturday I put a new digital thermometer in the new tank, and put the halides on a timer. The Halides are set to turn on at 9am and turn off at 7pm, a 10 hour cycle.

I checked the temperature on Sunday afternoon and it read 85.6 degrees. First thing I checked was the pair of heater in the refugium since they were old heaters. One still had it's light on, so I knew it was stuck on, I messed with the setting on it a little and it clicked off.
Just to make sure I unplugged both heaters. This morning the tank was down to 78.8 so I figured it was no big deal. Go home from school just before the halides turned off and the tank was back up to 82.6.

I checked the two return pumps and I don't feel any heat, and I checked the three old Koralia power heads I put in there to make sure they are not causing any heat issues. None of them feel even the slightest bit hot.

I have never ran halides before so I am wondering if this is abnormal, or if it can be expected from two 250w metal halides.

The house tempature is about 71.

I think my best bet right now is to leave the halides off for a couple days, and with no heaters the tank should not be more than a couple degree warmer then the house I would guess?

Anyone have any other suggestions or guesses?

 

[scoly]

How bout running a fan by the lights?

 

[Twisted]

Which do you think would be more effective a fan on the top of the tank, or a fan on the refugium?

 

[ros_sco]

Since there is more surface area, the top would be more efficient, but I would try the sump first since it is out of sight.

 

[scoly]

I agree, try each and see what more affective

 

[Twisted]

Thanks guys. With no lights and no heaters all night my temp is back down to 78, so going to add a fan to the refugium first and see if that is enough, if not I will try it up top and see.

Either way I see myself going to LEDs soon than I expected.

 

[Twisted]

1pm ad tank with no heater, no lights is 77.9, so 78 seems to be about my leveled off temperature. Then the halides seem to add 6 to 8 degrees to it.

Not sure a fan will counter the halides, because 76 to 78 is about where I want to be right? Going to go find a fan to put on it this evening then I will run it without lights and heater and see how far it drops the temperature.

I always figured Halides would be a problem in m house, now I am thinking I was right.

 

[Twisted]

With the fan on the refugium and the halides running for about 6 hours my max temp hit 79.0 degrees yesterday. A second fan on the top of the tank should set me up to run, at least until summer hit. Hope to have my LEDs by then.

My Salinity needs to come down a tiny bit, so going to pull a few gallons out and replace it with fresh water today. Use it to do a water change on my 12 gallon tank I think.

Thanks for the advice Scott and Dwayne. Good luck at the frag swap Saturday!

 

[scoly]

Glad to here your making progress! Pretty excited about this weekend! Should b fun!

 

[Twisted]

Yup getting there. Have my skimmer running now too, just have to balance it a little.

I am excited to attend a frag swap soon, glad Chico and Redding both have some coming up to get me a jump start into the corals again. Hopefully there will be plenty of Zoanthids, and maybe a couple Chalice frags I can grab from those.

Do you know if Mars, or Bar is doing any....

 

[Twisted]

I know this forum is pretty close to dead, but have not figured out where everyone went to, so going to keep posting in here

So went to the store last week and had Mike double check my water for me, and it was clean, cleared the cycle stage.

So this weekend I went back with my daughter and we picked out some fish to add to it. I picked out half a dozen green chromis Mike had just got in, and she picked out a Royal Gramma, I wanted a pair of firefish but was torn between the red firefish with their awesome spiked dorsal fins, or the purple firefish which have some beautiful colors, so I let my daughter decide, she went with the purples...

Needless to say was a pretty spendy trip tot he store, but I only plan on adding a couple more fish and it doesn't have to be any time soon, need to save up for the switch to those LEDS right?

I also got in touch wit Andrew who brought me some really cool frags on the cheap budget I am on, which I really appreciate. It nice to see some color in my tank!

It is coming to life! The frag swap is coming in a couple weeks and I am going to have to pick up a couple cheap frags to take to it, and then I should have even more life in my tank.

See you all soon!

 

[ros_sco]

Glad to see it's coming along!

Bert is selling his whole 4 foot Sunbrite hood with 6 bulbsif you are interested.

 

[scoly]

Glad things are moving along for ya!