Please help

wigo

Premium Member
I am having some issues with temperature in my 90 gallon tank. The temp is up to 83.4. Yes I have a canopy, no I do not have glass tops. I am wondering if fans in the canopy will help. I have the 48" 2-white 2-blue complact florescents. I really don't want want to spend 600$ on a chiller, any suggestions?
 
i've never had the need for it, but i know there are a lot of people that hook up fans to blow across the surface of the tank. Its worth a shot in my opinion. Good luck with that.
 
Agree with creep. The canopy can hold in the heat. A fan blowing in and another blowing out might help. But the air blowing across the top of the tank does help.
 
yeah, i have a 20G and i have a little clip on fan blowing across the top of my water with 2 powerheads pointing toward the surface creating a lot of agitation and i have to replace about a gallon of water every 2 or 3 days. it helps keep my temperature down around 79 whereas without it it's around 82. hope this helps you! good luck!
 
I added a fan and I can drop my tank 3 degrees in a day with it on. The last shrimp I had that continually molted kept getting smaller until it died. I hope yours does better :)
 
Don't have the fan blowing directly on your lights. Lights have an opperating temperature that they're designed to work at. If you cool them, you can really mess them up. Blowing on the tank is fine, but try not to artificially cool your lights. Many people put the fan over their sump rather than in their hood. Some lights require fans, and they come with them, or instructions to use a fan. But don't add a fan to lights that aren't made to use one.
 
I have a 55 with a closed canopy and fans have been essential to keep my temp down.

I have multi-speed fans with temp probes on them. The fans are plugged in to the same timer as my lights so they don't even come on until the lights come on. One blows into the canopy and the other side blows out.

They start on low (so they're quiet) and the temp probes kick them on to high if the temperature rises too much within the canopy.

It works really well and is all automatic so I don't have to even think about it and only have the extra noise of the fans on high when I really need it. Evaporation and top off needs will increase with the air moving across the top, though.

Good Luck!
Cathy
 
Drillstar:
I don't even have a heater on the tank. I live in SC and the house stays around 78 so heat is not an issue but that may arise during the winter.

crpeck
good info. What kind of fans are you using and where did you get the temp probes and all. I would love to see the design of that if you did it yourself.

I did buy a 400 gph powerhead and it is moving water on the top like crazy and the temp has dropped. I went to a ton of stores today and no one has any fans. I could not believe it. Target was one of the stores. I guess I am just going to have to go to wally world but it is on the other side of the earth.

rkelman
Is molting really a bad thing? He seems to be doing OK but I can tell he is not as happy as he was when the tank stayed at 82 or lower.
 
Fan on the sump or on the tank itself is good for 3-4 degrees. I use a riser but not a canopy: a raised border of 9 inches with the light set atop on the braces.
 
The fans I use are made by Ice Cap .... sometimes I see them shown as "smart fans". I bought them online from Premium Aquatics, but I know many places sell them.

The 3" fans are around $40, but it has been well worth it because they are such time savers and have lasted really well. I had to replace one fairly quickly because the probe mafuntioned, but have not replaced the two I have for easily 2 years.

I'm not real creative with the DIY when it comes to stuff like this, but I have seen people rigging up computer fans to work in their canopies. You might do a search on RC for that. I just wonder how the temp probes designed for a computer last in a corrosive saltwater environment, but maybe they do fine.
 
I just checked out the "Smart Fan" the 4" is 43$. ouch.

I know I have already forked out so much now what is 45$ but...

Anyway I will look more at that. The power head I added is really churning up the water and bringing the temp back down gradually. I really like it, but I know I need a fan too.

The other thing is the amount of water in the wet/dry. I really notice a huge change when it is low. I guess 2 pumps in the small wet/dry really cause issues.
 
I'm on the board of an organization that takes used and surplus medical equipment and redistributes it to developing world hospitals along with full engineering support.

Additionally, we have a student program operated through Duke University where students live in homestays and work at a hospital delivering and maintaining hospital equipment. This summer we had students in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Tanzania.

Click my red house web link on the top of one of my posts to learn more about Engineering World Health.
 
Ahh for some reason (Being a programmer) I thought it had to do with the "Developing" world.

Very interesting.
 
Too funny!

Well the term "Third World" isn't PC (and I don't mean computers) anymore.

"Developing World" at least acknowledges hope and progress, but it's all the same communities that we're talking about.

If you find yourself in a hospital without basics like x-ray machines, bedside monitors, and incubators for babies then you're in the kind of hospital we work in.
 
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