help tank is at 83+
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Category: Help
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Topic: help tank is at 83+
Posted By: justchillinuno
Subject: help tank is at 83+
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 8:56pm
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Came home and found my thermostat in house at 85! My tank is reading 83.2 and is normally 76.1. I put gallon ziplocks of ice floating in the top, 2 of them in my 55g. Best way to keep a tank cool suggestions? Thanks in advance! Justin ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Replies:
Posted By: Ann_A
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:03pm
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Lower the temperature in the house back to normal and the tank will cool off. I wouldn't do much more than that because you could cause more damage by lowering the temperature too fast. Just my thought on this... ------------- http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=53856&title=annes-65g-rsm-reef" rel="nofollow - RSM 250 Reef |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:04pm
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Open a window and turn on a fan blowing at the tank. Keep floating the ice bags but cool it slowly. Only about 1 degree per hour so you don't shock them with the quick drop. 83 is still bearable even though it's on the high side. Take it slow and don't try and take it to fast. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:10pm
| A fan pointed at the surface of the water agitating the water will drop it |
Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:29pm
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Thanks for the tips on not cooling to fast.. house is down to 75 and tank 80.2. It's got a hang on back refugium and water agitates well, and I'm putting fans on it. Does anyone have suggestions on chillers... They worth it? ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: DMower
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:33pm
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80 is fine. I would really stop trying to cool the tank and let it return to whatever is "normal" for it slowly on it's own. Chillers are expensive and they work. Are they usually necessary, no. Can they be necessary, yes.
------------- 150 gal reef with 50 gal sump. Reef Octopus DCS-200 Skimmer. AI Sol Blues. |
Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:39pm
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Agreed. Stop forcing the cool down and just let it cool down on it's own. I wouldn't run a chiller if you normally have your ac on and this was simply because the thermostat was messed up then just use the house ac to keep you in the happy range. ------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread: |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: May 14 2013 at 9:40pm
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Agree with all of the above. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 7:46am
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Thanks for the advice let it cool on it's own... Down to 79.2 hopefully when I get home from work they are cooler ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: fishyman19
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 2:05pm
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One thing you may want to consider down the road is some type of control system. I was running into the same problems last year during the summer and I had to run a fan all through the day. I picked up an Apex Jr. and it has a setting where you can use a chiller, but since I didn't have one I just switched it out with my fan and set the fan to kick on at 81 degrees and turn off at 79. It's a little bit more cost effective then a chiller and it can control your whole tank. Might be worth a look.
------------- 90 Gallon mixed reef. Wife's 12 gallon nano cube mixed reef! |
Posted By: Ann_A
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 2:27pm
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If I could afford one I'd definitely get an apex as well. They add a lot of redundancy and control that you can't get otherwise. I believe you can also set emergency shut offs of pumps and lights if the temperature gets too high. ------------- http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=53856&title=annes-65g-rsm-reef" rel="nofollow - RSM 250 Reef |
Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 2:28pm
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Will look into that, Today when i ran home to pull the sick coral from my tank it was at 80.1 so i turned off my Coralife HO Lunar t5. that thing pumps out some heat... so today the fishies get some extra downtime..... ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: fishyman19
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 3:00pm
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Yeah I have mine all programmed with the lights as well. I set their temps a little higher before they shut off though, because it stays off for about 30 minutes and most of my fish go to sleep when my blues go off so if it goes off before hand it screws with them lol. But yeah I have both my lights heater and fan programmed in. The next thing I want to get it my pumps, but I needed a few other things to get that going. It all programs into an app on my phone so when I'm on vacation I don't worry so much. So nice.
------------- 90 Gallon mixed reef. Wife's 12 gallon nano cube mixed reef! |
Posted By: laynframe
Date Posted: May 15 2013 at 6:10pm
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You can use a ranco controller for fan control, they are all over eBay. A dual control from Ranco will control both heaters and fans/chillers ------------- The time we enjoy wasting isn't wasted time!!!! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 7:38am
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Aloha, Or more simply, just plug the fan(s) in with the lights, then find what angle to position the fan(s) so the tank doesn't overcool. Overcool? Yes, fans pointing straight down at the water with ample room for hot humid air to escape, can drop tank temperature more than 10 degrees. This can cause the heater to keep turning on. The angle of the fan on the water controls the degree of cooling. That brings up another point. It works very well when heaters are set for 75 degrees. This gives room for a rise in temp without getting too hot. That said, I actually unplug heaters from now until October. Mahalo, Mark  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 9:16am
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temp in tank this morning is at 77.9. Decided to leave the lights off again today to let it get a lil lower! will return to normal lighting tomorrow as i can monitor over the weekend! ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 10:39am
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Aloha Justin, Sounds like either the heater has too high of a set point or the pumps are heating up the water.  'sHave you unplugged the heater? What is the temperature of the room? Does this room receive any direct sunlight? Is there room for a clip-on fan in the hood or the sump? Mahalo for answering my questions. Mark ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Bryce
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 1:03pm
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+1 to what Mark has said. Also how long is it/ was it at 83? if its just peaking at 83 at a point in the day it seems like fans could cool this down via evaporation as others have suggested. If you start at 78 with lights off I would try fans and see if it can keep it at least to 82-83 but if your house gets much hotter you might run into problems if your tank gets up to 85-86 from a morning start of 78 (high fluctuation). Can you set any pumps to only run at night on reactors, skimmers, etc assuming your house and tank are cooler at night?
Also what are you using to get the reading? I have found that thermometers can give different readings even across the same brand, I dont have fancy probes but I have 3 floating ones and 2 stick on ones and they all give slighly different readings and I kinda figure the true temp is kinda in the middle. ------------- 65g Reef |
Posted By: ajsahm
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 2:59pm
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this is a good single controller set the temp for it to come on and done. :) Would be a good controller for a little fan. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1" rel="nofollow - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NZZG3S/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ------------- 75g - In the process of building |
Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 16 2013 at 3:34pm
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My house was 85 for the day as in this awesome change from snow to warm we didnt flip the switch... my tanks usually are at 76.1 steady as thats where the heater heats too... today when i woke up it was 77.9 so i left the lights off to help keep it cool, house AC is set to 75 at the warmest throughout the day... The tank is in the livingroom which has a window that faces north... it is also about 3 feet away from my thermostat... Will keep updates coming... and thank you for the info! ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: May 17 2013 at 3:51am
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Aloha, Still at ~78? By morning the tank should have been much closer to room temperature. One night is all it takes for a tank to cool down to it's lowest temperature which will be room temperature or maybe 1 degree above due to heat from pumps. Something with this doesn't feel right to me. The tank should be cooler than that. The heater set point may have migrated up (it happens), or the warmth of summer will require that the heater be set lower. Yes, summer warmth tends to warm our tanks above where they were comfortably running through the winter. Some hobbyists are a little hesitant to unplug the heater. They needn't be. It won't hurt anything. I don't worry about it getting too cold at this time of year. I've had many reef aquariums temporarily down to my personal minimum temp of 65 with absolutely no ill effects on coral or fish. (In fact, the cool temperature makes the water physically hold more dissolved Oxygen which actually prolongs the time that coral and fish can survive a power outage/cold temps.) I set up a tank once where the tank, livestock and all 150 gals of replacement/fill water had been moved from SLC to St. George during the winter. By the time it arrived, everything was just below 60 degrees. We heated it slowly and to our amazement the next day everything was happy. I maintained that tank for a year afterwards. There were no losses associated with the cool move. Okay, with the heater unplugged, if the morning temperature is between 70-75, that's it. No other action is required. Yes, really. The risks associated with overheating are just too great and a base temperature at 75 or lower will help prevent overheating later in the day. In the fall when you plug the heater back in, adjust the set point back down to 75. On the other hand... with the heater unplugged, if the morning temp is still over 75 that means a fan is needed to prevent overheating later in the day. The simplest way to begin is to place a small clip-on fan pointed at a 45 degree angle to the water. Plug the fan into the same timer as the lights(use a three-way outlet splitter or power strip plugged into the timer). Then check the temperature and adjust the angle of the fan to make sure the afternoon/evening temperature is around 78. Of course you could use a temperature sensor and automatic switch as suggested above, but a fan that comes on with the lights, angled at the water is fail proof.  Mahalo, Mark ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: justchillinuno
Date Posted: May 18 2013 at 6:35pm
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This morning... all was back to 76.1. And ac is keeping everything cool. ------------- 55g - RIP - Moved to 90g 36g Bow holding tank 90g Reef Tank Dreams of many more! |