High Temperature issues

[Anjos]

I've been having temperature issues that I'm having a hard time trying to correct.
I have a 90 gallon saltwater DT with a 30 gallon sump. I recently purchased two eheim 200 watt heaters that i put on my sump to replace the 250 W i had on my DT since it was acting up and temperatures were fluctuating a lot.
Now I'm at the point where after recalibrating both heaters and reducing the heat in my apartment I still have a temperature of 82.2F in my DT (mid day all lights on) and i just unplugged both heaters from the sump to see what happens. All that's heating the water are the metal halides, T5's and a 6500K 25W lightbulb on my refugium.
Temperature 6 hours after lights off is 80 to 81
Temperature in my apartment is 75F and humidity is 49.
I turned off the heat in the apartment on my wall thermostat but it seems there is still heat coming through thus the room temp.
I'm in Canada just in case people ask why are my temperatures high.
Not sure what to do to have my temperature go down to 75 or 77.
Any ideas will be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[willbratz]

I've been having temperature issues that I'm having a hard time trying to correct.
I have a 90 gallon saltwater DT with a 30 gallon sump. I recently purchased two eheim 200 watt heaters that i put on my sump to replace the 250 W i had on my DT since it was acting up and temperatures were fluctuating a lot.
Now I'm at the point where after recalibrating both heaters and reducing the heat in my apartment I still have a temperature of 82.2F in my DT (mid day all lights on) and i just unplugged both heaters from the sump to see what happens. All that's heating the water are the metal halides, T5's and a 6500K 25W lightbulb on my refugium.
Temperature 6 hours after lights off is 80 to 81
Temperature in my apartment is 75F and humidity is 49.
I turned off the heat in the apartment on my wall thermostat but it seems there is still heat coming through thus the room temp.
I'm in Canada just in case people ask why are my temperatures high.
Not sure what to do to have my temperature go down to 75 or 77.
Any ideas will be much appreciated.
Thanks

Try this... Leave the apartment thermostat at your temp. Turn the heaters off and in 24 hours see what the temp is...

 

[Dav3]

Having a fan blowing on the surface of the water will help. Do you have a timer for your lights? Can you decrease the time the lights are on. I believe the lights are going to be your main source of heat. The metal halides in particular.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Since your room temp is already 75 it would be hard to control the heat from Metal Halides to your DT during the day. A fan directed to the sides of DT during the day may help. You need only 1 heater at the sump and may be set 1 degree lower than your desired temp to compensate for its defferential charaterestic.

 

[willbratz]

I have a PC fan blowing across my MH that's on the same timer as my MH works out pretty well.

 

[Anjos]

Thanks guys,

24 hours later after unplugging both 200 watt heaters from my sump DT temperature is still at 82.7 2 hours after metal halides went out.
i have metal halides for 6 hours a day.
Going to invest on two PC fans on both ends of the MH stand facing each other. I think that will help

 

[jeffaquarius]

Are you using a digital thermometer? Have you checked if it is calibrated?

 

[Holygral]

get a Ranco 2 stage temp controller ($100-125), heaters in one end, fan in the other, set it and forget it. It works by turning the power on and off as needed. Plus if you have a heater go bad and get stuck on it will turn the power off to it. Havent had to mess with heaters for 4 years since installing one

 

[jeffaquarius]

Thanks guys,

24 hours later after unplugging both 200 watt heaters from my sump DT temperature is still at 82.7 2 hours after metal halides went out.
i have metal halides for 6 hours a day.
Going to invest on two PC fans on both ends of the MH stand facing each other. I think that will help

Make sure your thermometer is not directly under your MH. Otherwise you will be getting a false reading. I have one thermometer in sump and another in DT.

 

[Dav3]

Also, if you are using a digital thermometer then I suggest getting a glass aquarium thermometer. The common digital ones are inaccurate. The glass thermometers are very reliable.

 

[shady3210]

That really isn't all that high. Fish and coral are more affected by huge swings or constant changes. Your MHs are like giant heaters so they are what is raising the temp. You can add a fan to blow across your dt or sump and should drop it by about 2 degrees. Your evaporation will go up though. If you can get it stable around 80 I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Anjos]

i have both digital and glass thermometer. each on each end of the DT. they both show pretty much the same reading. I will try the fan idea. Day 5 and no heaters on in my sump or DT and temp is 82.2 during day and 80 during late night early morning

 

[jeffaquarius]

Your sump pump might also be contributing the heat or power heads. I know my power head heats up my QT

 

[jeffaquarius]

Anything that consumes power will dissipate heat for that matter specially motors or pumps.

 

[Anjos]

I have installed one fan on the metal halide stand blowing horizontally towards them. The fan is super loud. Annoying. it's been keeping temperature around the 80 mark but I have also noticed that my T5 actinic light stand is super hot. Both internal fans are working and clean but they're still hot.
I'm at a point I'm willing to buy a whole new light system that will do the job in my 90 gallon reef tank. I got polyps, mushrooms, anemone, clam, devil hands, kenya trees. what type of all in one lighting system would you recommend.

 

[jeffaquarius]

You said even MH is off overnight and all heaters off you still get 80 deg temp in the morning. Replacing light will not solve your problem. It must be something else that is heating up your water. Do a process of elimination by switching off each circulation pump and power heads one at a time each night. You might also have a heater placed at the wrong spot where temp fluctuates a lot.

 

[Anjos]

can i turn off my return pump for 6 hours overnight to see if it's causing the high temperature? will it cause any distress to my DT and livestock?
I will also turn off each fan and power head, one each night of the week to see if it's any of them>

 

[jeffaquarius]

Turning off the sump pump overnight should have a minimal effect on water parameter as long as you still have good water circulation in DT. The only problem is some corals like anemone are sensitive to sudden changes of parameter. It's hard to tell what might be causing the problem if one doesn't see the whole set up. A grounded pump can heat up without you knowing it. While a grounding probe prevents the bad effects on fish and corals it does not stop heating up the pumps. To be safe not to have temp go down too much, move 1 heater to DT mounted vertically with 75 setting and point one power head to the middle portion of heater.