How Hot is to hot ?

[Stat]

Hi guys I recently purchased a new lighting system for my 90 gallon Metal Halide Lighting: Marineland Marine Series Pro Lighting at Foster & Smith Aquatics now I am seeing a rise in my water temp at what temp should I be concerned. I had my temp at the 78-79 range now its up to 83... where should I be.

Are there any other options for lowering my temp besides a chiller?

[AMDPhenomX4]

Its not so much the temperature, as it is the stability of it. Aslong as the temperature stays around 83, you should be fine.

[Stat]

Well I have only had the light a couple of days I would like to know what an upperlimit that I should be to be concerned with I am thinking 85 but that sounds too hot ?? Its not even summer yet so I want to be sure that it doesnt get to hot...

[Zer0]

You could always put a small fan blowing across the top of the tank to cool it down a bit. A small fan never hurt anyone. Just make sure it doesn't fall in.. O_O

[Innovator]

I would get the temp down to 78-80F since that gives you a better cushion. Try some fans as another posted or invest in a chiller.

[Krypt]

+1 for the fan idea. You don't need to go superfan on it, but a small fan or two will help you out. One thing to remember though is that with that increased air flow, your going to get alot more evaporation so you'll have to top off more often.

[skae310]

I had a heat problem in the summer and even just turning on my ceiling fan helped a degree or two. A small fan directly on it would work perfect. I did however have to top of about 4 times as often.

[Zer0]

I agree with skae. My room gets particularly hot during the summer, and i have on of those window A/C machines that works fantastically. Get's my room to a nice cold temperature when it's really hot outside, and it used to drop my tank temp down a degree or two as well.

However, you need to watch out because you can't have the temperature drop drastically otherwise you could stress out your livestock. It needs to be a slow drop in temperature in order for your animals to stay comfortable.

[melosu58]

I also agree with the fan idea. Have it blowing across the surface and it will lower it two or three degrees.

[Stat]

I use glass tops like the manufacture of the light suggests will the fan help with that even though I am not flowing directly over the water just cooling the tops off ?


I have a canopy with a fan on it i just need to get it on need to modify the brackets to get the light in I am gonna watch the temp closely and aim for around an 80 degree mark.

[Zer0]

Well.. if you have a fan blowing at the canopy.. it's not really blowing across the surface of the water so no, i doubt that will help. If you can't have a fan blowing directly across the surface of the water, and you have no other means of cooling the tank down even a few degrees less, than i'd say it's time to invest in a chiller. Unless you can modify the canopy to have an intake and an exhaust with fans attached to both. Intake fan to suck in cool air, and the exhaust to expel the air inside the canopy. Doing something like that would probably be cheaper then a chiller, and may drop the temperature of the tank down a few degrees.