Temp swings

[Shultz]

I'm getting temp swings of 2-4F in any given 24hr period, jsut wondered if this is going to be acceptable when I start keeping corals?

If its not any advice on how I could (cheaply) temp control the fans I have so that they come on if the tank goes up by say 1F? & then turn off again once its back down?

Cheers Shelton.

 

[Atari]

You still need fans? It's cooled down here quite a bit so I had to switch mine off.

Is the room quite hot? What kind of temps are you getting?

 

[phases99]

I would say 2F daily swing is the max fluctuation acceptable. You may want to raise your heater temp to compensate unless you are over 84f.

 

[Shultz]

Atari & Phases99:

I have an enclosed lid with 4xT5's in it, gets surprisingly warm....

Its normally that during the day when the lights are on I have 2x92mm PC fans blowing air in through the back @ 7.5v which keeps the temps stable'ish around the 81-82 mark (quite loud though), now after 7pm its just the moonlights on, but I've found if I don't have the fans on at all it has crept up to nearly 84f! but with the fans on all the time it drops as low as 79.4f, atm I have them on a timer to come on & go off for an hour at a time in the evening/early morning.

The trouble is during the day if I switch the fans to a lower volts it doesn't keep the high end temp stable, but of course it doesn't drop as low at night.

I don't wanna have to crawl under the tank twice a day to alter the voltage on the fans, thus I wondered if I could somehow monitor the temp which would then turn the fans on if the temps gets high enough & off again once it lowers?

The only thing I've seen to do this is an IKS & it looks to me as if I'd have to spend around £250 to get the unit & the 4 way gang lead for it I suppose if I add a PH probe for another £60 atleast it would be doing 2 things?

Cheers Shelton.

 

[Atari]

What is your heater set to?

 

[Shultz]

79.5 iirc

cheers Shelton.

 

[Atari]

If you set it to 81 then you should be fine to just leave the fans running without getting much of a drop.

 

[phases99]

Temp is one of the biggest challenges for smaller tanks. I don't know how the nano guys do it. As Atari said, raising your heater to about 81F or so should stabilize you enough.

 

[Shultz]

thanks guys

Cheers Shelton.