Recent excessive water temp?

H

Hellion179

New member
I'm having a real issue with tank temp. I replaced my thermometer recently and my temp was a shocking 86. I changed my lights to LEDs and placed a large fan that runs on high on the sump. The temp is staying right at 83-84.

It's a 150g tank with about a 40g sump. I am running a hydor 4 with 2 of the biggest pumps and 2 of the 2nd level ones. I have two external return pumps and a in sump skimmer(I've turned it off too and no temp change).

I can't figure this out and I'm surprised nothing is dead. I've had the tank setup for 6 years now and temps have always been 80-82 depending on season, with only running a fan while the lights were on. I have tested my heaters and that is not the problem. I've verified the thermometer is reading correctly. I noticed no temp changes when I got rid of the halides...I feel like something has to be wrong somewhere. I've turned off my skimmer and slowed the powerheads and it's still around 84 in there.

Any advice? I'm about ready to order a chiller but in the 8 years I've been doing this, I've never had this problem. :headwally:
 
Last edited:
Why two return pumps on a 150g tank? The return pump should just be enough to handle, in my case I run about 1200 gph through my 180. More water movement should come from the powerheads themselves.

Also which kind of returns? I had a water mixing pump that heated my water to 86F and ran super hot. Swapped it for an eheim 1262 and now I need to use a heater.
 
Brando457 said:
Why two return pumps on a 150g tank? The return pump should just be enough to handle, in my case I run about 1200 gph through my 180. More water movement should come from the powerheads themselves.

Also which kind of returns? I had a water mixing pump that heated my water to 86F and ran super hot. Swapped it for an eheim 1262 and now I need to use a heater.
Click to expand...

They are coralife turbo sea 1090s. I'm honestly not sure why there are two, this is how the tank was setup when I received it. I thought it was unusual to have the two pumps but my previous tanks didn't have sumps so I didn't really know what to expect.
 
Each of your pumps uses 80 watts and does 1090 gph for a total of 2080.

You can pick up a Jebao DCT-8000 that runs at 68 watts for a total of 2113 GPH.

You can also pick up an Eheim 1262 that does around 900 gph, which is more than sufficient.

I would recommend posting pictures of your setup and then we can give some advice on tweaking it. I think for a 150g tank 1000 gph is more than enough personally.
 
Thank you for the help and info. What would you like to see pictures of specifically? I can load those up if I can figure out how to do it.
 
What is the temp of the room the tank is in?

Have you unplugged the heater just to make sure its not part of the culprit?
 
Got busy and lights are out : / I'll post pictures up tomorrow.

Room temp is 78 and I did unplug the heaters and skimmer to see if either of them could be doing it. Temp didn't change.

Prior to this I had a cebu sun with around 1400 watts, 750 from MH and I could maintain an 80-82 temp with running a fan while the lights were on. Now the fan is on 24/7 and it's just sitting at 84. It's weird. Could my powerheads be getting old? The 4 of them combined should only use 13-55 watts...
 
My guess is one of the return pumps is going bad. Without seeing the setup I am a bit in the dark, but you should be able to turn one of them off to see if it helps. If the returns are below water it might create a suction drain, but I have seen plenty of setups with two pumps (for redundancy in most cases). One thing you can do temporarily to help a bit is go to the store and buy a bunch of 1 gallon DI water jugs. Let a bit out of each and throw them in the freezer. Once you have them frozen, cycle them into your sump and replace them as they melt. A pain in the butt, but it helps in a pinch.
 
Bent said:
Two words son.

Ran-co
Click to expand...

That is interesting, but the source of the heat is unaffected by turning anything off. Doing everything I potentially can aside from what Entropy suggested I am only able to reach temps of 84 degrees.

Entropy and Brando: There are two exits out of the side of the sump that each go to a pump. The return goes up and into a Y on each side. One returns to a small refugium(5g), and the other used to run to a UV filter, it now runs as an extra into the fuge for symmetry. The other part of the Y returns to the tank. Both ends have ball valves to adjust rate of flow.

I'll try closing off the refugium and shutting down one of the pumps to see if that changes it and first chance I get tomorrow I'll update this with pictures.

Thank you guys for the help.
 
I remember now why I didn't try to run just one pump. It doesn't produce enough flow to keep the tank filled. It raised my sump level by about an inch or two, which is past my skimmers adjustable level(I run it as deep as I can so I can skim wet). So I had to unplug it too. It should still help me ID something though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

O
Coming back after 20 years
Replies
10
Views
310
SantaMonica
S
E
Which heater
Replies
13
Views
602
griss
griss
griss
Mystery Solved
Replies
12
Views
560
Sugar Magnolia
Sugar Magnolia
A
Please help reef tank
Replies
9
Views
877
wvned
wvned
Z
Plumbing to shower head question
Replies
2
Views
145
zeebies
Z
Back
Top