Hot Water! Please Help!

[Salt mom]

Hey everyone,

I have set up a new 150g (48") reef tank and my water is staying around 83F to 88F. I have two metal halides, 4 arctic blue T5 bulbs, and 6 LEDs. The tank has been up and running now for two weeks and has not cycled yet. I have read about chillers but have no clue on what to get or what I can do to bring the temp down. What are my options.

Thanks

Salt mom

[huma-huma]

what temp is your room usually around? try to get some circulation through the room

[Salt mom]

our house stays around 70 to 75F.

[alco1]

if your after a temporary fixup while organising a chiller you could freeze up some plastic bottles full of water and pop it into the tank... it does work temporarily but they do unfreeze quite quickly while in the DP. So if you get about 8-10 1.25l bottles and freeze 4-5 of them, pop them in the DP, once they've completely unfrozen just put them back in the freezer and swap it with the other 4-5 in the freezer. This method kept my tank at around 28oC for about a month or so before I got the chiller in the heat wave of 40oC

[BigRedsReefs10]

I would say chiller or raise the lights up a little higher off the water

[Salt mom]

I can't move the lights up due to the tank cover I think I am going to break down and buy a chiller. Any one got a chiller their not using they want to sale?

[BigRedsReefs10]

Until you get it just turn off the MHs that should drop the temp a little bit. Not positive but I don't think 88* will reall effect the cycle in anyway

[Salt mom]

What about a cooling fan has any one tried those?

[BigRedsReefs10]

Don't think it would help on a tank that big. Not sure if it would be cheaper than a chiller but you could look into doing a DIY led fixture and selling the MHs and t5's because I would guess this is where your heat is coming from

[manbeast]

I will start off saying this is simply my opinion but I believe most of your heat is coming from the metal halides and that heat being trapped by the canopy my suggestion is rather than buy a chiller that is expensive and has a fairly high level of power consumption you should look into replacing the MH lights with LEDs you would most likely cut your power usage for lighting by around 50-60% depending on the wattage of the MH lights cut the heat back eliminating the need for a chiller and cut out the cost of bulb replacement for the estimated 7-10 years that LEDs are expected to last

[Salt mom]

The way it is looking the LED are cheeper than buying a chiller. Thanks for all the help everyone.

[huma-huma]

I really don't think it could be said any better than what beast wrote. ultimately you would be better off going with leds. if your room stays between 70-75 and your tank is that high, either you've got a faulty heater (stuck on) or your metal halides are simply cooking the water.

[Airgoose2222]

What's the water temp with the halides off for a couple days? Since it's cycling, having the lights off won't hurt anything. Doing this will at least let you know for sure it's the lights and not a heater or pump running hot. Don't want you wasting money if you don't have to.

[Rich42082]

Unplug the heater for a day and check your temperature. If its a faulty heater then problem solved. If the heater is the problem get some LED'S anyway.

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[J8kpin]

Id try a cooling fan, those work miracles. I brought my 100 down from 84 to 80 in a day with 1 over my sump. The prob is that they evaporate water like crazy!