Water temp

[Driftwood]

What does everyone here do to keep their reefs cool in the summer months? I have air conditioning but have had to pay attention to making sure they are running... What temps do you run your tanks at?

 

[Shiva1]

I use a simple table-fan. I have about 200 liters (what's that, 44 Gallons?) and the temperature stays below 28 oC (82F ).

 

[aquatic-A]

fans across water surfaces, frozen water bottles floated in sump or tank, run the lights at night instead of in the daytime....

 

[Reefrus2003]

2 fans on 6 foot tank water temps stays around 82 to 84 degrees, running 3 - 250w mh and 260 watts of actinic PC's,

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I used a chiller last summer, but traded it... this summer I will likely do the same as the above. My tank at this point still has not exceeded 80 F.


Laurie

 

[Driftwood]

It sounds like a fan is the way to go, I sort of didn't like the idea of increasing evap any more then the system has already. But I suppose I can't do much about it. I just find myself comfortable and having to kick on the A/C to keep the tank below 80.

 

[Driftwood]

Does anyone know of a product or DIY project that incorporates a thermostat with an outlet or two? It would be nice to put the fan on a thermostat that would kick it on if the tank water went above a certain temp. And another one for the heater incase that got stuck on...

 

[Ewan]

I use a chiller. When the humidity is high, fans do not work as well at providing evaporative cooling. And let's face it, the humidity has been high for a couple of weeks now here in Maine. for over 11 years, I would point every fan I could get my hands on toward the tank and turn off the halides on the warm days. There's a lot to be said for overall system volume too though...

I used fans for a long time, and I bit the bullet and ordered a chiller last year. I haven't lost a piece of livestock to temperature spikes ever since. My clams and SPS seemed to be especially susceptable to high temperatures, and it broke my heart to lose a clam to high temps.

I also use a large fan blowing across the top of my tank, but the chiller takes care of business on those unbearably humid days.

-Rob

 

[Driftwood]

I'll have to keep an eye on it this summer and decide if a chiller is needed. They are not cheap, that's for sure.

So you have a chiller on a 29? Is that because a smaller body of water takes less to heat up? I'm really going to have to watch the 20 long I just setup in my daughters room then.

 

[bunsenburner]

It is pretty simple to wire up a relay with a transformer. This can be hooked up to a house thermostat from home depot. You need to match transformer output to the relay volatage. The sort of tricky part is determining where the 2 wires from the transfer attach to the relay and where the 2 from the thermostat attach. All relays are differnt, but they normally have a wiring diagram etched on the respective relay.

Some guy did a calculation on efficiency of cooling (e.g. the BTU's) using a fan about a year ago in the DIY section. It was impressive. It can't get cooler that the outside room so both room temp and humidity play a big role.

highest temp thus far at my place 81