problems with overheating tank

M

mke6103

New member
Hey all
I have a question maybe someone can answer! Yesterday afternoon when it had gotten real muggy and hot my tank temp starting climbing and didnt stop until it got to 83.5-84degrees from about77.5-80. I unplugged my heater, nothing happened. So i unplugged my mag5 return that is in my sump,still nothing. So i turned on my fan in my hood to run until my lights turn off,still no change in heat. So this morning i did a quick 5gallon water change the temp dropped about 2.5 degrees. Im stumped, luckily there are no fish in my 90 gallon just live rock and 15 hermit crabs. Im just getting my tank up and running. I have 4-48in vhos, a mag5 for the return from 30 gallon sump/fuge, a asm g-2 skimmer w/ a sedra3500, a maxi jet 1200, moon lights at night, and a serio800 in a 90 gallon megaflow tank with a 30 gallon sump/fuge. Does anyone see any problems hopefully a sollution to the heating problems Comments, questions, etc. greatly appreciated!

thanks mike
 
That time of year again.... a 90 gallon once it heats up takes awhile to cool because of the amount of water. I have a 120 with a 50 gallon sump and if the temp rises even 1 degree it usually takes over night for it to drop back down. To keep the temp constant I run a temp controller on my heater in my sump and I run two canopy fans from Salty Critter when my lights are on. I also have a ceiling fan that I run constantly over my tank to keep the air circulated. On top of all that I have my AC running right now around the clock on an electronic controller that is set for 72 degrees year round... with all that and my Metal Halide lights I can keep my tank at a pretty consistent 80 degrees...

Only other surefire way is to invest in a chiller but they are expensive and cost more than running my ac on the controller.

I would mount two canopy fans and run a fan over your sump as well, keep the canopy top open if possible and turn your ac on...
 
Thanx for the tips lawdog. I think my wife would totally flip out if i turn the a/c on right now plus the ribing ill take from the neighbors it will never stop. I have a small fan i put in my hood that an hour ago i changed the timer to make it come on more often and longer. Im gonna try the fan over my sump. You dont happen to know where they sell those fans that clip on to things do you? Also my ceiling fan is running all the time to. I was on the salty critter web site a little while ago and i seen a chiller for 169.99 but it says for smaller setups. Have you seen it and do you think it would be practicle for my setup? Thanks again for the tips, always willing to learn new things!

thanx mike
 
Fans will be your best friend as the temp rises. Maybe just put the fans on a timer that runs your lights or another for the same duration. The Iceprobe chillers are suited for small setups like 10-20 gallons.
 
I have all my lights set to shut off when my tank gets above 83 degrees... that to me is as hot as I am comfortable with it getting for me
 
The small clip on fans don't work too well... I would get some of the nice canopy fans from SC and mount one to blow over your sump and put at least two in your canopy to keep the heat from the lights off the water.

How high above the water are your lights set? If you have a short canopy you may want to raise your lights up a bit to help with the heat.

The iceprobe chiller like shawn said will not work for your setup, a good chiller for a 90 gallon tank will run you about $400 bucks or more. Sometimes you can find used ones on here for less, just keep your eyes open.

I run my lights and fans on the same timer setup so they are always on with my lights, I would definately get another fan in your canopy.

Only other thing you could do to help without the AC turned on would be to keep your canopy and lower cabinet doors wide open to allow the heat to escape easier, it will help a little bit.

But AC will be your best friend if you don't have a chiller. Is your tank in a seperate room where you could hook up a room ac unit in the window? Watch that temp though cause like shawn said over 83 degrees and you are asking for a tank crash.
 
Hi,

A low tech way of doing it is to prop open your canopy at night after the lights goes out. I did this all last Summer/Fall and it would drop the temp by about 2-3 degrees overnight. No stress to the fish,corals, or inverts and I have a pretty high bio load.
Fans would also work but in my case would be very ackward to mount on either my sump or tank.

Dave
 
A stubby pillar fan has a very small footprint and still fits under the tank: high output and quiet. Also, if you have any lids still on, in the sump or elsewhere, get them off.

As a last resort during hottest days, reverse your day/night periods so the highest output of lights falls during the coolest part of the day.

Outside of that, a/c is your friend, and evaporation is a Good Thing, because it cools the tank.

Never let your tank temp get above 84 degrees max if you have any corals.

[Crazy scheme of the week: I have wondered if maybe one could set up a poor man's swamp cooler in the sump by erecting a pillar of, say poly-filter amid the sump and putting a minipump to carry water to the top of it, for a fan to blow on as it runs back down.]
 
ive got a wacky idea to make a cooler, but i need some Thermal Electric Coolers, Stainless steel pipes (that wont hurt the water will it?) Pumps and a heatercore form a car

As McGuyver as that sounds, it works...worked on my COMPUTER! and that stupid thing went from 60C to 42C

If anybody can help me get supplies..id be happy to make a diagram how it works
 
Car heater likely has copper.

Couple things I do:
1) slowly raise tank temp to 80-81 over a week or 2. This will help lessen the temp. fluctuations.
2) open the covers and use desk fans to allow for air circulation and evaporative cooling.
3) When desperate, I add reusable ice blocks that you can get at most drug stores for a couple bucks each. Make sure they don't leak. You can use super glue to around the seams.

I did this last year and rarely used my AC, only if it got above 90.
 
I put RO/DI water in 2 2liter bottles and freez them and put one at a time in my sump on the real bad days in the summer
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7427577#post7427577 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sagi
Car heater likely has copper.
Click to expand...

I would think so too but I believe he was talking about using the stainless pipe inside the saltwater and running another type of coolant /water through it and the heater core with a fan there to help blow the heat out from the fins as a heat exchanger of sorts.

I would be afraid the stainless would deteriorate and someday your coolant/water would end up leaking into the tanks water. I have thought about doing this with plastic tubing and using the RO/DI input to run through the sump since the RO/DI units are more efficient at 78 degrees and we are trying to transfer heat out of the water anyway we might as well put that heat to good use saving RO membrane.

-- Kevin
 
exactly what kevin said.

I talked to a buddy of mine from case western reserve...we havhe a design in mind, however its going to take some time to do.

We have designed a Chiller/heater (well i did that part) hes designing a controller programmed in ASM ..basically it will display the current temp, and you will be able to program what temp you want the tank to hit

The only thing he cant figure out right now is how to turn the temperature reading from a probe into a voltage (thats what ASM understands)

Im going to render out some 3D modells of it, and over the next few months we will begin on it
 
I got a great idea from Bill Wann, you take about 200 feet of the 1/4" RO/DI tubing and coil it up. Then place in the sump and run cold water through it. I am in the process of getting mine setup but he said on his 2500 gallon system he barley had a slow trickle. I would keep a very close eye on it so that the tank won't get too cold. It apparently works very well. But as I said make sure you watch it so that the tank will not get too cold. I would hate for that to happen to somebody b/c I gave them the advice! HTH, Tim





PS make sure your tank doesn't get too cold!!!
 
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