Hot water

[Reeffanman]

I'm pretty sure I need a chiller I'm losing a battle trying to keep my water cool. The temp is bouncing from around 87 early morning to as much as 95 late afternoon so far I've just had coral loss frogspawn and hammer.

Is there any suggestions that might help .

I try to top up with ice late afternoon and I cut the lights back an hour. And keep the hood open.
Since that it peaks at about 92 late afternoon but I can't seem to make ice fast enough if it stays hot out

 

[Crystal A]

Wow that's hot! What hood do you have and what type of lights? This might help with an answer.

 

[Mrc8858]

I know this isn't what you wanna hear but with that high of a temp you've got two options. Cool down your home with ac or just the tank with a chiller.. sorry to hear about your troubles though that was my biggest fear leading up to the summer as I don't own a chiller either

 

[Reeffanman]

They are 4' pc lights over a 90g



Maybe The ac will be the best option. Then at least I can also reap the benefits of it

 

[Mrc8858]

To help out have you considered cutting vents into the canopy and adding pc fans

 

[Schism]

They are 4' pc lights over a 90g

Maybe The ac will be the best option. Then at least I can also reap the benefits of it

Yeah if your room temp is hotter than you want the tank then it will always be hotter unless you have a chiller. Try lowering your room temp to 70-74F

 

[lovefishys]

A few options: my first recommendation is keep the blinds in your house closed. I noticed a huge temperature drop in our tank when we started to do this. Second: purchase PC fans and place them by your lights to lower the temp. Third: lower your A/C to keep the heat down. Of none of these options work. You should purchase a chiller. Try craiglslist first or another used store before buying new. Good luck!

 

[angelvelez87]

I had the same problem but then i bought from jebostore.com i think im right on the adress, a cooling fan with 4 fans in it and from temps around +90 its now to 82 or even 80 sometimes!! So i putted directly in top of the lid that has a little opening so it blows air to the water!! It does evaporate water faster creating a cool water temp!! That is on my 36gal tank!!!

 

[54seaweed]

freeze a few 20 oz water bottles add 1 as needed
I do that in my 37 gal
our temps are high this year in 100-102 range
my water peaked 89 once but I cought it in time thank god
with the frozen water bottle stays at 80

 

[TheTodd]

I'm guessing a chiller might be in order. I could not keep my 75 cool enough, even with the AC set at 78. Got one on Craigslist for a decent price.

It is not good to have more than a 2degree fluctuation in a day. The frozen water bottles will bring temps down, but will also bring wild temp swings. I am no expert, but that has gotta stress the fish to some degree.

Got my chiller and no more worries. Can keep the AC up a little higher while at work and the savings will eventually pay for the chiller.

 

[christine2012]

I'm guessing a chiller might be in order. I could not keep my 75 cool enough, even with the AC set at 78. Got one on Craigslist for a decent price.

It is not good to have more than a 2degree fluctuation in a day. The frozen water bottles will bring temps down, but will also bring wild temp swings. I am no expert, but that has gotta stress the fish to some degree.

Got my chiller and no more worries. Can keep the AC up a little higher while at work and the savings will eventually pay for the chiller.

I had to float ice bags in my FW tanks today due to a busted AC unit. I could definitely tell that my fish were stressed as they all lost color and pretty much stayed at the bottom. The temps were swinging anywhere between 83 and 88. But had I not done that, my tanks would've been about 95 degrees. It was THAT hot in my house!

 

[paytertot]

Good thing I keep discus! But if the power goes out in my house during the summer, I float bags of ice water. This may not be a good idea but what if you froze some tank water and threw a few cubes in your filters? Just spitballing.

 

[Dary421]

I got tired of screwing with the rising temperatures in my tank also ,so. I invested in a cooler a couple of weeks ago ., it was perfect timing also because the outside temps were pushing triple digits...Wow ,..wonderful to have the peace of mind knowing that everything's ok ,Even if you're not there... A great investment IMO .

 

[TheTodd]

Getting a chiller is worth the price just for the peace of mind (in my opinion too). Some areas probably can get away without them, but to me, running your AC really low is costly. The frozen bottle thing will bring down temps, but odds are its gonna be more than a couple degrees and it's gonna take several bottles. Works well in emergency situations, but probably not a great day to day practice. Fans should help too.

 

[Araess]

I keep my home around 70 at all time of the day. I found it very helpfully keeping a stable temp in your tank. My SW tank is always 80 degrees .

 

[Flreefer]

Chillers are a great way to go, to lower tank temp., if you can afford the initial cost of the chiller. Larger tank, larger chiller, more expensive. I've always wanted one, but could never find one cheap enough used, or afford a new one.
After giving it quite a bit of thought though, I don't believe there would be too much difference in energy consumption between, running your AC lower ( I keep mine at 75, tank runs at 78-80) and paying to run a chiller. Chillers use a lot of power. They are basically, like running a window AC unit, for your tank.
Of course there are a few factors involved as well, like how insulated your home is, and how efficient the chiller is. I'm sure newer chillers are becoming more and more efficient.
In my situation too, I have many other pets to consider (cats, birds, dog), and I'm sure they appreciate the cooler house...people too!, other than just keeping my corals and fish cool.
If I could get one, I probably would because they are a great piece of equipment, but I don't feel I spend much more money on power, than somebody with one, to keep my tank cool...JMO.

 

[biss444]

i have been ok, with my temp, my sump is in cellar witch is nice and cool down there gives water a chance to cool down a bit

 

[Sniperhank]

i have been ok, with my temp, my sump is in cellar witch is nice and cool down there gives water a chance to cool down a bit

That is actually a good, valid point. When the day comes that I take over my parent's home I will have to look into this...They have a double basement with an old bomb shelter we use for storage. Can either be a place to pipe my sumps to or hide incase of a zombie apocalypse...

 

[TheTodd]

A lot of the costs can be calculated. If someone wanted a comparison of cost to run a chiller versus a single room unit versus a full home AC, they just need to do the math and calculate the daily cost. My chiller is in the ballpark of 7 cents per day to operate. The big AC unit to cool my entire house has gotta be way more than that and running it less (while still keeping the house cool) has gotta save more than ten cents a day. My math works for me...probably different than others out there...

Reefs.org has an article on calculating costs to run an aquarium:
www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1096/1096_7.html

 

[Flreefer]

A lot of the costs can be calculated. If someone wanted a comparison of cost to run a chiller versus a single room unit versus a full home AC, they just need to do the math and calculate the daily cost. My chiller is in the ballpark of 7 cents per day to operate. The big AC unit to cool my entire house has gotta be way more than that and running it less (while still keeping the house cool) has gotta save more than ten cents a day. My math works for me...probably different than others out there...

Reefs.org has an article on calculating costs to run an aquarium:
www.reefs.org/library/aquarium_net/1096/1096_7.html

To think that your chiller is costing you .07 per day to run, is false. You could barely run a 60 watt light bulb all day for .07. The link you provided, with the conversion of horsepower times .75, is giving you Kw per hour, not per day. So it is actually $1.68 per day, and monthly would be $50.40, assuming that your .07 per kwh math was correct.
This number seems much closer, if not more, than what it costs me to have my AC a few degrees cooler.
Before making snipey statements like your math works for you...probably different than others out there, you might want to make sure that it works.
$2.10 to run a chiller for a month, is ridiculous!!