Major problem

[Hinds04]

New thermometer is reading 88 and water feels slightly warm. I reached in a grabbed my heater and it was still hot. I turned the heater off and water is holding at 88. So... either thermometer is broken, heater is broken, or I am getting too much heat from my 4x54 T5HO lighting. I took the thermometer out and held it in my hand and it went to 92 which is roughly what our skin temp is. I am at work now and wont be home for about 10hrs. I am running the lights as follows, actinics 12hrs daylights 8hrs. Any thoughts?

 

[Gti_Leo]

how high off the water is your fixture?

mine is 5 inches above and the water stayed the same temp

 

[Hinds04]

I would say 4-5 inches. I'm using the legs that came with the current usa fixture.

 

[Gti_Leo]

check any power heads or pumps for excess heat, or go out an buy a new thermometer.

how long did you let the water sit when you took the heater out?

 

[Hinds04]

It is still sitting, I'm at work. Im calling my other half and having her moniter it. I just called about an hour ago and had her turn off the daylights early. So... heater off for 2 1/2 hours, daylights off for an hour and temp was just reported to me at 86. Should i leave the heater off all night or not? dont want it to get to low.

 

[Gti_Leo]

hmm well tell her to try the thermometer in a glass of water to see if the temp changes, if it does tell her to put a clean ziplock bag with ice into the water to get it down to the proper temp as to not stress out your fish to much and hopefully hold it there till you can troubleshoot the problem

PS: i highly doubt its your lights, even MH won't do that

 

[Hinds04]

I have a hetaer rated for a 75 gallon in a 90 gallon system (15 gallons full of a 20 gallon sump)

 

[bavass]

I had a similar problem with temps on my tank I added a clip on fan to my sump and have it blowing across and temp does not get above 81 on the hottest days