Cooling planted aquariums

[Electrobes]

So it just occurred to me as I am setting up my aquarium that my lighting isn't nearly as powerful as what I had for my reef aquarium (halide with T5's). I am using 2 X 95 watt VHO's. I have this vent fan I used to use and began adding it as part of my set up (A bit complicated) but am wondering if I actually need it? I keep my home at about 76-77 degrees all day... do you guys (who have soething close to my lighting set up and have a typical wooden canopy) use anything to cool your tank?

 

[theotheragentm]

The general rule is to let a heater heat the tank and try not to let the lights heat it. So rather than cool the tank itself, try cooling the lights more. A fan is the simplest way to cool the lights. Then they don't add as much heat to the tank.

 

[jerman]

Colling a tank

for emergencies and very hot summer days, I allways have a few water bottles sitting in the freezer that I can drop into the tank, and then re-freese and re-use

 

[newfound77951]

I have 2x96 watt PCs over my 55, they are in an open-backed canopy, and the canopy is also open on the top (no glass, just the reflectors). The lights themselves are quite warm but I have not had problems with them heating the tank up much; the tank goes up about 1-2 degrees over the course of the day when the lights are on but that's it.

 

[imcgary]

Jerman i would be carefull dropping frozen bottels into the tank. That drastic of a temp change could stress out your fish really easily.

 

[MSU Fan]

I have a fan to pull heat out of my enclosed canopy, which has 4x65w PCs in it. Generally, the temp at night is ~79, and during the day it may get to 81-82. My fish have not shown any signs of stress from this. My fan is on a variable voltage AC to DC inverter, and it is on the lowest setting that gets the fan to turn (and it is loud!). When I turn that fan up, it is like a vacuum cleaner. No more lights heating the tank!