Pics of my weird plumbing

Your heater isn't even on yet and the tank is over 80 degrees.. thats crazy dude.... Mags are notorious for making alot of heat... Especially if their is any restriction... IF your heater is on unplug it and throw a fan over the sump for 30 minutes and check the temp again... Try to get the temp down to about where you want it.. IF the temp doesn't drop you might want to try a different return pump.. If the temp drops readjust your heater a little lower... Let the tank stabillize again and see where the temp ends up.. How warm is your apartment?
 
How can you tell if the mag is putting out heat? I touched and it doesn't feel warm at all. The heater hasn't been on since yesterday unless it's a crapped out one, but I doubt it. It's a brand new jager.

My apartment is warmer than most places in SF because I live downtown and high up in an apartment building. I don't have a thermostat so I don't know exactly how warm it is, but it's definately not cold in here.
 
something doesn't sound right. Mag pump does release some heat but not that much unless everything is enclosed. Are you sure your heater is not on? What do you use to measure temp?
 
I moved my digital thermometer from my 50 gallon over to the new tank. Honestly I thought things didn't seem right as well when I set up my 50, but that tank's heater rarely ever comes on as well. And temp gets to about 81 with my t5HO's on and when I turn my clip on fan on it bring it down to about 78. That tank is open top as well, where as my 75 has a canopy.

I'll unplug the heater and see if anything changes. Is it really that bad if a tank is in the low 80's? Say 81?
 
80 degrees isn't a problem. YOur lights aren't even on yet though.. As soon as those are on I have a feeling you are going to end up in teh mid eighties range or higher....
 
I don't worry until it gets to 84 or 85.

You are in SF and your light is not on. It's really hard for the tank to get to 80 degree with a return pump and couple powerheads unless one of those device is defective.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10235070#post10235070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elite
I don't worry until it gets to 84 or 85.

You are in SF and your light is not on. It's really hard for the tank to get to 80 degree with a return pump and couple powerheads unless one of those device is defective.
Click to expand...

I would honestly agree with you. Living in SF and the thought of having to buy a chiller makes my stomach churn. But this is now the 2nd time I've seen it with my own eyes. The insulation in my building is superb I guess, and my apartment isn't very large with no cross ventilation unless I open my front door. When it's freezing outside, it's still very comfortable in my place. Amazing how I wish it wasn't like that.
 
Even if the ambient room temp was 70 degrees in your apt your tank shouldn't be 10 degrees over that.. Unplug the heater and put a clip on fan over the sump for a little while.. See if the temp comes down at all.. If it does come down leave the heater unplugged and stop the fan.. See if the water heats back up again... IF it doesn't then you know your heater is too blame. If it does heat up then you will have to look else where for heat soak..

Kudos to you for trouble shooting everything before adding any livestock.. I know its hard with a new tank.. Good to work out all the kinks before you actually put anything in it :)

Ian was having similar problems with his return pump raising the temp 4-5 degrees.. He was running a fan on his tank 24/7 until he changed his return pump..
 
Yeah it's tough. Luckily I found a spot in my place to put my new tank where I didn't have to tear down my 50 at the same time. So my 50 is still satisfying my itch for now. Altho it is getting very very close to way over stocked.

I unplugged my heater and waiting to see what happens. Although it might not be very accurate because it is getting cooler outisde and my window is open now when it wasn't when I first posted. Also my stand doors are open. Maybe I should close those.

Btw, what return pump did IAN have? And what did he get to replace it?
 
The thermometer is pretty accurate. I just took it off my 50 which also has one of those stick ons and they were reading the same last night. So I don't think that's the problem. I will however be buying another stick on today to put on my new tank to double check.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10236799#post10236799 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elite
The thing that you stick on outside of the tank?? You trust that thing?? :D
Click to expand...

What do you use? I figured having hte digital as a main and the stick ons as a back up/second opinion that it would be good enough.

update on temperature- just got home, it's almost 5am and the temp is 80.6 with no lights on and heater unplugged for 12 hours or so.
 
The only thing you can test now is the return pump. If it is the pump that causes that much heat, something is wrong with your pump. I have a mag 12 for my return and it doesn't cause that much heat. I use mag 9 to mix salt. Unless I close the lid of the container, there is no way it can heat up the 25G of water to 70 degree. When I close the lid, the temp gets up to 90.

Turn off the return pump and check the temp.
 
WOW thtas amazing... You won't need a heater ever :) I'm just won dering now what the water temp would be now with the return pump off and nothing running.. Just what water wuold be at room temp in your apt....
 
yeah I guess I could turn everything off and see what happens.

As weird as this all sounds, I think it has to do with being on the 11th floor of an apartment building. Heat rises right? Altho if I leave a small bucket of water on the floor overnight it gets rather cold to the touch. Not sure why the same isn't true for the water in my tank.
 
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I agree it shouldn't be that warm.

I was running a mag 9.5 on a 58g with no lights and the skimmer running and it was at 74 to 76 (granted my tank is sitting in my garage area). With lights (MH and T-5's) it never got to be more than 80 unless it 75 degrees or more outside.
 
well the return pump has been turned off for 6-7 hours now. The temperature did drop to 79.2 around 4:30 pm today, and now it is at 78.2 at 8:40 pm.

Not sure if this is due to the return pump being off, the canopy top now being open, or the weather cooling down outside significantly. Might take another day to really know.

Also added a hydor 4 just now and man does that thing circulate water. Might even be too strong.
 
Did you try to throw a fan over the sump? I'd like to see the fan bring the temp down 6-7 degrees then shut the fan off to see if the temp climbs back up on its own..

A combination of your apt. being unusually warm with minimal air turnover, minimal gas exchange through your sump and your return pump adding a little bit of heat may all add up to your tank temp not dropping very fast.. 100g of water that you have is not a huge amount of water.. If I shut down my heaters in my 125g fw predator tank it takes approx 10 hours for the temp to go from 86 to 72 or so.. As long as I keep the door closed on the fish room... Your tank temp is dropping way slower than that...
 
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