The Las Vegas heat

[Aynesa]

Hello all,

I live in Las Vegas, and though it's only early summer, in the middle of the day temperatures outside can get into the 100s, and in the middle of the summer, temps are ALWAYS 110-120 in the heat of the day. To keep electric bills reasonable, our house is typically around 80 degrees, plus or minus 2 degrees.

The heat of the day is about noon-5pm in my house, when it's hardest for the AC to drop the house temperature.

My aquarium is lit with 2x 250 watt metal halide lights, and 200 watts of T5 light. I have a 1/2 hp chiller, but the problem is that the chiller kicks out heat into my living room, the lights kick out heat into my living room, and throw it into my tank. I need to find a photoperiod where my lights are NOT on from about 12-5pm, but I also need them completely off by 11pm. I was thinking a split schedule, 9-12 am and then 5-8pm, would that be terrible for my corals? Any advice to keep the tank (And thus my house) cool, and the electric bill under control would be welcome!

 

[GSMguy]

how hot is the tank actually getting? the chiller may be doing more harm than good.

do you use any fans in vegas the air is so dry that a fan can do big things.

 

[Aynesa]

Because of the way the tank is arranged in the living room, fans wouldn't really work, but I have tried them, and no, they didn't work. Without the chiller but the lights on, my tank spikes up to 87-89 easily.

I have seahorses, so my tank stays between 72-74.

 

[sjm817]

Have you ever thought of changing the lighting setup? A 250W MH typically uses 300W or more, so you have 800W+ of lighting running. An 8 bulb T5 setup is 432W.

To change the schedule, you could alternate 1 MH at a time during the peak, or just run the T5s at that time.

 

[Aynesa]

I've considered it, but this is what I have, and I don't have the money for a new light fixture, sadly. Wish I did.

I was going to run T5s from 12-5, question is a good schedule that the corals would like around that.

 

[moondoggy4]

I would run your halides for two hours max. Maybe get a Air King fan that is mounted on the wall and aim across your tank. How close is your tank to the outside wall. Deltic has a good chiller that needs to be run outside and uses little electricity. H&S is selling a computer fan controller for under 70$ that runs up to 8 fans.

 

[Aynesa]

My tank sits right against an outside wall, and even has a window behind it, but buying another chiller is as out of the question as a new light fixture. I actually just bought a new chiller 2 months ago, so breaching that to my husband would result in immediate death in horrible ways. I'm really looking for suggestions on how to use what I've got to maximize keeping the area cool.

 

[inktomi]

I live in Henderson, so pretty nearby, and have my AC set at 78 degrees during the day. I have a 40g currently, with a 250W halide over it, and an Aquacontroller III that's set to keep the whole thing at 78 degrees.

With the light, a heater, plus a small desk fan the AC3 is able to keep the tank within a degree of 78 all day and night.

If you're already keeping the house at 80, then I don't see how a fan that runs from 3 to 6 or so couldn't cool the tank. Previous to my adding my fan, my tank was spiking around 84 or 85 - the (really cheap) addition of the fan was all I needed to do.

 

[BigJay]

Re: The Las Vegas heat

I'm in Texas, and in a similar situation. On top of that, I work all day and don't get home 6 days per week before 6. Why do you want them off by 11:00 PM? Late at night is the perfect time to run the lights.

My actinics come on at 4:00 for an hour. They don't generate enough heat by themselves to cause any alarm. The halides come on at 5, and turn off at eleven or midnight (I run them longer in the winter) the actinics stay on till midnight. Six hours is more than enough light for corals, but not enough light to fuel big algae outbreaks.

One other good schedule I've seen that's easy on the electric bill is to have the lights roll on/off across the tank with a total 6 hour photperiod for each halide, and ten hours for the whole tank. i.e. Rightmost halide on first for two hours, then the middle turns on, and two hours later the leftmost halide turns on. Two hours after that, the rightmost halide turns off, etc.

Good luck with Nevada Power, they're the absolute worst.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15068726#post15068726 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aynesa

My aquarium is lit with 2x 250 watt metal halide lights, and 200 watts of T5 light. I have a 1/2 hp chiller, but the problem is that the chiller kicks out heat into my living room, the lights kick out heat into my living room, and throw it into my tank. I need to find a photoperiod where my lights are NOT on from about 12-5pm, but I also need them completely off by 11pm. I was thinking a split schedule, 9-12 am and then 5-8pm, would that be terrible for my corals? Any advice to keep the tank (And thus my house) cool, and the electric bill under control would be welcome!

 

[Aynesa]

Thanks, NVpower is terrible. Hate doing business with them. Thanks Jay, that was the sort of suggestion I was looking for.

I need the lights off by 11 because of the location of the tank, it shines into my bedroom, and we're in bed by 11. WE can't close the door because we have a preschooler who sometimes runs in after a bad dream.

I was thinking of having the T5s on the bulk of the day (Like, 9am to 9pm), and having both halides on from 9-12, and then from 5-8, so there would be 6 hours total light, with a 5 hour break in the middle. Would that hurt the corals?

 

[jim.l]

+1 on lights. If your in a house and your tank is on an outside wall. couldn't you put your chiller outside in an vented enclosure? Running the plumbing through the wall is fairly easy and keeps the heat and humidity outside.

 

[Aynesa]

I don't know how to run the plumbing through the wall, how would that work?

 

[MSX-Jeff]

It's pretty easy. Just drill 2 holes in our wall and lengthen your chiller plumbing so that it goes outside. Then you just build a small little "shed" around your chiller to keep the rain off of it. The only other thing you'll want to do is run an electrical outlet out there with a GFCI. It's a pretty straight forward task...should be able to do it in a day.

 

[Toddrtrex]

Besides finding a way to exhaust the chiller outside.... I would advise against running two MH photo-periods in one day. Start up is very hard on the bulbs, so by having them come on twice a day will shorten their lifespan.

Having the MH bulbs coming on around 5 and off around 10:30 (( leaving a half hour for "dusk" )) will work just fine. Over my 58 I only run my MHs 6 hours a day --- been doing that for about 3 months now, and have noticed better growth and color from my SPS.

 

[saline solution]

You could always change your light for the 150watt version. Like...do you want to trade ME for the 150 Watt version. :> I will throw in a bunch of frags, like that blue acro you liked so much...I am AKA henderson shaun...

 

[Aynesa]

Heya Shaun

Worth considering....Especially if you threw in that shade you've got

I really don't keep SPS though. Only LPS. SPS needs too much flow. Bad for the seahorses.

 

[kmu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15070463#post15070463 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MSX-Jeff
It's pretty easy. Just drill 2 holes in our wall and lengthen your chiller plumbing so that it goes outside. Then you just build a small little "shed" around your chiller to keep the rain off of it. The only other thing you'll want to do is run an electrical outlet out there with a GFCI. It's a pretty straight forward task...should be able to do it in a day.

A friend of mine did the same thing, worked great

 

[saline solution]

If you are serious, I will make it worth your while. frags, cash, equipment. You name it. I have been wanting to upgrade for the SPS for a while. Mine will grow LPS in the sand no problem. If you are serious I will make you a sweet deal. Shade included...lol. LMK.

 

[Fish4Me2]

I don't think putting the chiller outside would be a good solution in this situation. I asked the folks at JBJ about doing just that, in similar temperatures (an enclosed room in the 120+ range). They advised against it, as I'd have to upsize the chiller drastically in order to get enough of a temperature drop to chill the tank.