Overheated, please help - Aquarium Advice

Jimbo7 · 06-12-2008, 10:38 PM

Due to the warm weather lately my tank temperature today spiked to 87 or 88 degrees while i was at work. This includes my frag tank. Is there anything i can do besides cool the tank to help them? I dont have any water mixed though im going to now.

**Ziggy953** · 06-12-2008, 10:47 PM

Ok first you want to make sure that your heaters are not stuck on and heating the tank. You may want to put a fan near the tank and let it blow on it. If your lights are on timers I would suggest reducing the amount of time they are on during the hottest part of the day. If you see your tank temp going up like that the first thing to check is always the heater. Sometimes they just go nuts and stay on all the time. Second thing to look at is your lighting. Turn the lights off it the tank is too warm.

Doesn't your 90 have a canopy on it? Do you have fans in there to pull the heat from the lights out? IF you don't I would add some fans!

fijiwigi · 06-12-2008, 10:49 PM

An air conditioner pointed at the tank would help. leave the top off with a fan blowing on it? or Buy a chiller. Thats really it that I know of.

And how does your RO water get rained in don't you have a lid for it to prevent anything from contaminating it?

cmor1701d · 06-13-2008, 10:19 AM

I keep my tank at 88. A fan blowing across the top along with the house AC keeps it there. Anytime the outside temp goes above 78 I need to turn the AC on to keep the tank from overheating.

Kurt_Nelson · 06-13-2008, 10:39 AM

88 degrees? Was that a typo, or are you one of those that push that upper limit?

dskidmore · 06-13-2008, 11:24 AM

I have no A/C. With a 10" fan blowing directly on the water, a bubble wall in the back (yes, I know it looks tacky, but it's for the tank's health) and lights not coming on until the heat of the day is past, I can keep the tank 10 degrees cooler than ambient temperature through evaporative cooling. With a saltwater tank you'd want to rig up an auto-topoff to go with that so you don't have other side effects.

The bubble wall has a secondary effect of very quick gas exchange. Even though I'm not running a fast-growth tank, my plants sometimes pearl due to the super-saturation of gasses in the water from my bubble wall.

I currently have a Neptune Systems AquaController Jr on order to further control situation. I don't really trust my heater thermostat, and I'd like the fan and bubble curtian to automatically cycle on/off as needed.

dskidmore · 06-13-2008, 11:25 AM

Similar conversation: Help, ASAP High Water Temps.

**Ziggy953** · 06-13-2008, 11:28 AM

I thought that was a typo as well but I read the post again and I guess it is the upper limits being pushed....

**melosu58** · 06-13-2008, 11:41 AM

As stated above a fan will do the job. Might not look that great like Dskidmore said but it will get the job done.

ccCapt · 06-13-2008, 11:47 AM

Got to be a typo. I doubt Cmor would purposely keep his tank temp that high.

I have no problem keeping my tank at 80-81 with 3 175w mh's in my canopy, even without AC. I have 3 fans in my canopy and a clip-on fan blowing over my sump in the basement.
The only issue I came across was the unbearable humidity in the basement. I had to set up a dehumidifier. So now I evaporate about 3 gal/day from my tank, plus the dehumidifier in the basement pulls about 1.5-2 gals/day out of the air. The AC keeps the humidity down upstairs.

06-12-2008, 10:38 PM	#1
Jimbo7 Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicago, Il Posts: 80	Overheated, please help Due to the warm weather lately my tank temperature today spiked to 87 or 88 degrees while i was at work. This includes my frag tank. Is there anything i can do besides cool the tank to help them? I dont have any water mixed though im going to now. __________________ 90 Gallon Reef Tank 55 Gallon Seahorse Tank Frag_Tank Last edited by Jimbo7; 06-12-2008 at 10:47 PM. Reason: Just found some 20 gallons RO

06-12-2008, 10:47 PM	#2
Ziggy953 Aquarium Advice Addict Community Moderator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sumerduck, Virginia Posts: 3,938 Images: 5	Ok first you want to make sure that your heaters are not stuck on and heating the tank. You may want to put a fan near the tank and let it blow on it. If your lights are on timers I would suggest reducing the amount of time they are on during the hottest part of the day. If you see your tank temp going up like that the first thing to check is always the heater. Sometimes they just go nuts and stay on all the time. Second thing to look at is your lighting. Turn the lights off it the tank is too warm. Doesn't your 90 have a canopy on it? Do you have fans in there to pull the heat from the lights out? IF you don't I would add some fans! __________________ Happy Reefing! *120 Build in progress 6/18/08* Visit our Article section for answers on a variety of topics. LFS, PWC, PH RO/DI what in the world? Look here! Pods, algae and more!

06-12-2008, 10:49 PM	#3
fijiwigi Aquarium Advice Addict Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Yakima, Washington Posts: 1,277 Images: 7	An air conditioner pointed at the tank would help. leave the top off with a fan blowing on it? or Buy a chiller. Thats really it that I know of. And how does your RO water get rained in don't you have a lid for it to prevent anything from contaminating it? __________________ The "experts" are many, but the truths are few. "When we have stopped learning, we have stopped listening"

06-13-2008, 10:19 AM	#4
cmor1701d Aquarium Advice Addict Community Mentor Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Belle Mead, NJ Posts: 3,894 Images: 43	I keep my tank at 88. A fan blowing across the top along with the house AC keeps it there. Anytime the outside temp goes above 78 I need to turn the AC on to keep the tank from overheating. __________________ Click here to Vote for Aquarium Advice on AquaRank . Vote EVERY day! Click Here for a list of commonly used acronyms and abbreviations. ____ Cmor

06-13-2008, 11:24 AM	#6
dskidmore Aquarium Advice Addict Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Genesee Valley Posts: 2,287 Images: 1	I have no A/C. With a 10" fan blowing directly on the water, a bubble wall in the back (yes, I know it looks tacky, but it's for the tank's health) and lights not coming on until the heat of the day is past, I can keep the tank 10 degrees cooler than ambient temperature through evaporative cooling. With a saltwater tank you'd want to rig up an auto-topoff to go with that so you don't have other side effects. The bubble wall has a secondary effect of very quick gas exchange. Even though I'm not running a fast-growth tank, my plants sometimes pearl due to the super-saturation of gasses in the water from my bubble wall. I currently have a Neptune Systems AquaController Jr on order to further control situation. I don't really trust my heater thermostat, and I'd like the fan and bubble curtian to automatically cycle on/off as needed. __________________ 75 gallon freshwater Baby shrimp sighted! 2.5 Gallon unpowered freshwater now with high light 0.25 gallon palmtop doomed to an unlit end?

06-13-2008, 10:39 AM	#5
Kurt_Nelson Aquarium Advice Addict Community Mentor Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: WA Posts: 2,449 Images: 28	88 degrees? Was that a typo, or are you one of those that push that upper limit?

06-13-2008, 11:25 AM	#7
dskidmore Aquarium Advice Addict Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Genesee Valley Posts: 2,287 Images: 1	Similar conversation: Help, ASAP High Water Temps. __________________ 75 gallon freshwater Baby shrimp sighted! 2.5 Gallon unpowered freshwater now with high light 0.25 gallon palmtop doomed to an unlit end?

06-13-2008, 11:28 AM	#8
Ziggy953 Aquarium Advice Addict Community Moderator Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Sumerduck, Virginia Posts: 3,938 Images: 5	I thought that was a typo as well but I read the post again and I guess it is the upper limits being pushed.... __________________ Happy Reefing! *120 Build in progress 6/18/08* Visit our Article section for answers on a variety of topics. LFS, PWC, PH RO/DI what in the world? Look here! Pods, algae and more!

06-13-2008, 11:41 AM	#9
melosu58 SW 10 yrs and over Community Moderator Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Richmond Va Posts: 12,756 Images: 80	As stated above a fan will do the job. Might not look that great like Dskidmore said but it will get the job done. __________________ View My Tanks http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...8/melosu58.jpg Click here to Visit FantasyReef

06-13-2008, 11:47 AM	#10
ccCapt SW 10 & Over Community Mentor Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Northeast PA Posts: 1,697 Images: 3	Got to be a typo. I doubt Cmor would purposely keep his tank temp that high. I have no problem keeping my tank at 80-81 with 3 175w mh's in my canopy, even without AC. I have 3 fans in my canopy and a clip-on fan blowing over my sump in the basement. The only issue I came across was the unbearable humidity in the basement. I had to set up a dehumidifier. So now I evaporate about 3 gal/day from my tank, plus the dehumidifier in the basement pulls about 1.5-2 gals/day out of the air. The AC keeps the humidity down upstairs. __________________ 125g reef See My Tank Info Check out The build project /Larry

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