Lighting Causing Temperature Rise

[tjw]

Hi all

I have a tropiquairum 55 which now the warmer weather has arrived is going over my temperature of choice. This seems to be down to the lighting - the temperature climbs from 77 to 80 or thereabouts during the day. Switch off the light at night, and if its a cool evening the temperature soon begins to gradually drop.

The problem is I have a Rubbernose Plec in there who likes it fairly cool - therefore I want to get round this.

I have live plants so switching the light off when I'm not in the room isn't really an option, also given that the plec seems fairly disinterested in anything but Algae, switching the light on for say four hour periods isn't an option either as this would kill off his food supply.

The hood of the case is simply not a great design when it comes to letting the light's heat out, plus there is very little air space between the tube and the water surface. It is plastic so I don't think I can easily cut / drill holes in it, and the only other thing I can think of is getting an external canister filter that would sit out in the cooler air (don't think that would make hardly any difference though)

Any ideas are greatly appreciated as I can only see this getting worse as the weather gets hotter.

 

[roka64]

Can you prop up the lid a little and maybe put a fan near it to controll the temp, even put the fan on the same time that lights are on?

 

[Marc118]

What type of lights...and HOW close to the water are we talking?

Cutting the hood and adding fans is one solution, but I think that getting the lamps away fromthe water is the first step in a better direction.

 

[wilshire]

COOLING FANS REALLY HELPS!!!

I had EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM. I couldn't afford to buy a Chiller.... the cheapest was over $200. So, I bought a cooling fan from www.aquatek-california.com. REALLY REALLY WORKS!! Even though i have a canope, the air flow from the fan drives out the hot air accumulated inside. The little clips on the fan snaps onto the aquarium wall very easily.

You can buy the same cooling fan on eBay for a few bucks cheaper than the website...

on ebay, just search for "Salt water & Reef aquarium tank cooling fan (2 fans)"

Check out the seller's feedback (seller ID: aqua_eworld). You'll see that EVERYONE loves this fan... myself included. It dropped the temperature of my tank in hours and saved me $200!!! (and energy efficient, too!)

Good luck!!

 

[roka64]

You might want to check your placement of the tank. I have a 20 Gallon in a cubbyhole, that was made for a 27 inch TV and that area holds the temp, plus the plug from the lights and the lights, I just prop open the hood and it helps....

 

[Hara]

moved from saltwater to freshwater for appropriate coverage.