AC out Temp In tank is 84! HELP

[Pennies2Cents]

Okay, Our AC went out and now our tank is 84 close to 85. Its normally at 81 and everyone is okay. Right now everyone is okay or seems okay, But I am at a concern. Should I do Ice Bags to lower the temp in the sump where the return pumps are to lower the temp in the tank?

I turned off the 150watt MH and only the lunars are on..

The AC peeps are supposed to be here later on today say 6 oclock.. But you know how those people can be.. Should I leave the lights off until we get it back on.

Some advice would be nice.:whew:Temp here in house is 95 with no AC. I normally keep it on 70 and temp in tank is 81...

Its only 1pm its gonna get hotter in here.. WORRIED:eek:

[ErikH]

Turn all of the lights off and put some ice in. It will do the trick. Fans and powerheads!!!!

[technomex]

Blast the sump with as many fans as you can. Ice bags could work, as long as the water melting into your tank does not affect your salinity. Also, I have also shut off my main return pump before and left only my tunze's running in order to minimize additional heat. If you do that, make sure to put your fans on the tank rather than on the sump.

[des]

my chiller went out a few weeks ago and I got up to 84 before I realized it. However I was able to cool down the room with A/C, and by opening up the top, putting in ice bags(don't put ice in your seawater), and blowing a fan over the top of the water I quickly got it back down to it's nl temp 79. Evaporative cooling will be your best friend, but if the ambient temp is 95, you're probably gonna need some ice too.

[Pennies2Cents]

Thanks for all the replys. AC is fixed.. Everone is doing okay and survived the 85 degree temp in the tank. I did do Ice Packs and turned off the lights, but temp didnt go down until this morning..

Thanks again.

[ErikH]

Great to hear!!!!! At least the icepacks probably stopped that temp from rising... You two could buy a controller which will monitor your tanks temps and turn lights off in accordance and fans on as well. Profilux makes a SWEET controller and from the looks of it, it is worth every cent!

[Pennies2Cents]

Sounds interesting.. Thanks for the info..

[tate1]

I keep a small fan blowing across the underside of my lights. This keeps the aquarium at a perfect temp. It's a lot cheaper than a chiller.

[acropoorer]

Even if you can keep your temp low enough, a cheap used chiller would be a good investment for redundant backup. You still save the money on electricity by setting it slightly higher than normal running temp. Stuff happens.