Ok guy's before i get to the problem, here are the guts of what I have running. 29 gal biocube, 2-nano korla's for flow, 2-36 watt power compact's one actinic,1- 10,000K, 11/2" Live sand and roughly 40 lbs Live rock Fiji cultured. Corals are 1 large rock with Zoo's all over 1 galaxia and a couple of green mushrooms. Fish One Coral beauty and one pigmy angel ( they get along great). I turn on the Actinic first for about an hour then turn on 10K 8-9 hours then Actinic for another hour alone then off. while lights are on I leave both lids open for circulation temp gets about 79. when i go to bed and lights are out with lid's shut the temp climbs to 80-81 in the morning. If I leave the lid up temp gets down to 76. I keep my A/c on all the time and keep it cold 70 night-75 day. My theory is the Live rock is acting as a heat sink absorbing the heat from the lights and then with the lids closed temp rises. Options are figure out away to stabalize temp, Ive been told to big a swing in temp is bad for the fish, so i nneed to address this asap, do i ad a chiller? do i get up at three am and close the lids after the LR has disapated its heat? I have ordered the Nano Tuner light upgrade kit with 2 more 36 watt lamps which will double the lighting. there a couple of pic's in my gallery of the tank, any sugestions would greatly be appretiated.
Tempiture problem
- Thread starter hunkafish
- Start date
I doubt the rock is absorbing any heat, for that to happen, the water surrounding it has to get hot, and that's not happening. I think the lights and ballast are still warm when you close the hood, causing a trapped heat effect. What I did to my nano was to drill about a dozen holes right above the ballast, and put a small computer fan blowing across the holes. This caused a sort of venturi effect and drew the heat out of the hood to a small extent. I noticed about a 1 degree drop in water temp doing this. You could also keep an ice tray with RO water inside, freeze it, and as you turn off the lights drop in maybe 4 cubes. I did this during the hurricane, and it worked great.
45commando
New member
When the lid is open,you get a cooling effect due to evaporation.When the lid is closed,the air layer will become saturated with moisture,so no more evaporation.This means no real way to loose heat.The pumps will add some heat.I'm sure if you were to leave the lids closed while the lights were on,you would definately see a heat issue.Also I would be concerned with a lack of fresh air with the lid closed at night,this may be causing your pH to drop.HTH.
I suggest running a fan or two inside your canopy. Then you can close the lid. You can just get a cheapo clip-on model or drill some holes and mount some computer-type fans.
hexedagain
New member
Try opening just one of the lids at night, instead of opening both of them. See if it equals out the temp some. It can't hurt can it?
Ok last night I truned off lights except the 3 moon lights they stay on 24/7 left the back lid up above the sump area. this morning temp was 81 When I went to bed it was 78 the temp in my condo 72. where is this heat coming from? Tonight I will close back lid and leave the front one open. im looking at adding two fans in the back lid above the sump, one in /one out, that can run idependent of the lighting fans, that only run while the 10,000k bulb is on. I guess my question is are other people with Bio cube 29's having this issue? and what temp change is acceptable in a Mini reef with fish set up?
By chance, do you have a heater? If so, what is the heater set at?
Also, does the wall behind the tank get direct sun light? If so, the heat in the wall may be heating the area around the tank? This may not be the case since its been cool and cold these past few days around here...
Good Luck and Have Fun!!!;
:thumbsup:
Also, does the wall behind the tank get direct sun light? If so, the heat in the wall may be heating the area around the tank? This may not be the case since its been cool and cold these past few days around here...
Good Luck and Have Fun!!!;
:thumbsup:
It was the Hydor Nano's
It was the Hydor Nano's
Three things contributed to the heat build up, after turning off the Hydor Nano pump's the temp dropped almost two degrees over 5 hours to 78.7 degrees corals look happier but Coral beauty is in a cave just hovering, I hope he/she is ok. I turned on the pumps again and temp started to rise, so the culprit has been identified. Tomorrow I'll clean them and run them in a bucket of water with temp probe and see if its one or both pumps. In addition I p/u a new sump pump Maxi-Jet 1200, a couple of people have told me it runs cooler than the stock Bio-cube pump. Now I will feel better ordering the light upgrade with higher capacity fans. The positive thing I learned from this is that with the lights on and the hood fans running the tank is cooler than with them off. Just goes to show how important air flow across the water surface dissipates the heat not just from the lights but also the tank itself. Bio Cube (oceanic ) should wire the fans on a temp sensor and or separate switch so you can run them all the time instead of only when both bulbs are on.
It was the Hydor Nano's
Three things contributed to the heat build up, after turning off the Hydor Nano pump's the temp dropped almost two degrees over 5 hours to 78.7 degrees corals look happier but Coral beauty is in a cave just hovering, I hope he/she is ok. I turned on the pumps again and temp started to rise, so the culprit has been identified. Tomorrow I'll clean them and run them in a bucket of water with temp probe and see if its one or both pumps. In addition I p/u a new sump pump Maxi-Jet 1200, a couple of people have told me it runs cooler than the stock Bio-cube pump. Now I will feel better ordering the light upgrade with higher capacity fans. The positive thing I learned from this is that with the lights on and the hood fans running the tank is cooler than with them off. Just goes to show how important air flow across the water surface dissipates the heat not just from the lights but also the tank itself. Bio Cube (oceanic ) should wire the fans on a temp sensor and or separate switch so you can run them all the time instead of only when both bulbs are on.
