what temp do you have?

[tebstan]

I'm trying to find a reliable answer for an acceptable temperature. It ranges from 75 to 85, depending on who you ask and where they live, and what kind of fish they keep. The biggest factor seems to be location. The sources I've read are either in the snow or in the desert. So around here, what's acceptable, and what justifies a chiller? And, has anyone had luck with fans?

[RICKY81]

well personally here my tank runs in the 78F, i run 2 - 400w metal halides, and have two large fans that i bought at target, one on the sump and the other inside the canopy blowing towards the lights, and seems to keep my temp. in place, really don't see any fluctuation, but i do keep the A/C of the house on at about 78 when im here and when im gone keep it a 80, don't know if does anything but the water temperature has maintained.

i have heard that it is best to use a chiller if u will be having SPS, and delicate coral, and if u will be using metal halides, because it will warm up your water..... i still keep a heater in my sump just in case i need it i just flip the switch on...

[recoiljpr]

I have 2 175w halides and my temps stay around 79 with only a 4" computer fan in the hood. The higher the temps, the faster the inhabitants metabolism runs. What that equates to in the end is shorter lifespan and more stress on the fish. Since fish are cold blooded, thier bodies react to temperature much more then ours do.

Also in an aquarium the best you need to keep the temps stable. It's better to have temps of say 82 all of the time, then it is to swing between 78 at night and 80 during the day. If you keep the temp stable, your livestock will adjust to a higher temperature.

Each person is different at what temperature they like to keep their reef. You are probably going to get as many answers as people reply. :-)

My personal preference is to keep it no higher then 80.

[Mr Cob]

I run T5, 5 x 48" bulbs. My tank is 77-78f.

I have a mixed reef.

My old 120 ran 2x250w MH and would swing from 78-82 at the peak of the lighting. I would get a chiller at 83 (peak).

A 2-3 degree swing was not a problem for me in 2 years with that tank and everything thrived. It's a problem when the swing is immediate, a small climb or decline is not going to be a big problem.

[tebstan]

You have 78 with halides?! How the heck..?
I have T5s and am at 85-86. No livestock, it's a new tank, so I'm trying to get things in order. I'll get a chiller if I have to, but I'm concerned about noise, and space.
The house AC is a constant 79, night and day. I'm planning on running an additional AC duct to the tank's room, and blocking off the next room, which is never used. I've tried putting a fan behind the tank, it only dropped one degree to 85. I have some extra whisper fans, from computers. I'll try installing those in the canopy. I'm afraid the canopy is mostly the problem, trapping the heat. But it's so darn pretty. The other problem is the quantity of bulbs and location. I've got 6 48" on a 90g... in a closet. It looks awesome... but the heat is trapped. There's 12" on either side, and 10" behind. It's a good two feet to the ceiling, but the wall drops to only 18" above the tank, blocking in that space. Since the three ballasts are back there, the heat is building up.

[Pennies2Cents]

We currently have T-5 Retro 12 bulbs in all. We have small fans built in the canopy that cool the temperature to a good 79-80 even during the peak of the day. Our tank is a 240 mixed reef. We do not use a chiller. Our AC is set on 70 which keeps the house at 75. Hope this helps. When our AC went out a few months ago the temp in the house was a good 90 degrees. (HOT) tank temp measured 84-85. We were worried sick but everyone pulled through. We used the fans to cool the tank temp down. Our canopy is approx 8 inches from the ceiling. The height of the entire setup stand, canopy & tank is approx 7 ft and some inches. Hope this helps.

[tebstan]

Pennies2Cents, you have 12 on a 200+ and I have 6 on a 90... I have too much, maybe? My entire setup is less than 6 feet with the canopy. I'll reset my timers to leave off one ballast, see if two less bulbs make a difference. Thanks for the input.

[recoiljpr]

You have 78 with halides?! How the heck..?
I have T5s and am at 85-86. No livestock, it's a new tank, so I'm trying to get things in order. I'll get a chiller if I have to, but I'm concerned about noise, and space.

My two cents, you may have something else wrong tebstan. If you keep your house at 79, your tank should not be that hot. You may have a malfunctioning heater or pump partially blocked, etc and that is transferring heat.

Have you also put a thermometer right by the tank to double check the ambient air temperature around the tank?

[allan]

Concur with Recoil. You should be spilling more heat off your system then what you are actually retaining. One degree with a fan implies, IME, that perhaps your air flow isn't maximized.

I have a 190 that I am still trying to steady the temp as it were. I am running eight T5 48" and two T5 36" and my temp rests at 77-79 although it has been to 80 and one night when I forgot to turn on my sump light it dropped to 75.8 by the time I woke. Now I've got my fan and the fuge light on a timer to lesson my own responsibility. My fuge light is a 90 watt HD jobby for macro only. I have a fan in the canopy that flows between the bulbs and the surface of the water. I had labored under the decision to place it there, or higher so that the cooling air would flow over the reflectors.

I made the decision by blocking off the back of the canopy, mounting the fan below the lights, so that I push air into the canopy thus forcing the warm air up (natural direction anyway) through the vented stop of the conopy. Seems efficient so far. I've got a HD fan for the fuge that I've not been able to use becuase my temps aren't soaring.

Since your animals are coldblooded, the only heat sources are your pumps, power heads, and lights. Isolating each would show you who your biggest contributer is, and narrow your plan of attack. Oh, and your ballasts. Try fanning them and see if you are somehow transfering that heat into your tank.

[ballardjr2000]

im running 8 t-5's on my 90g and my peak temp hits 80 right before lights out after them being on for 10 hrs a day. i run 2 3" ac fans from radio shack mounted in my canopy one blowing from front to back and one blowing back to front (like a vortex/whirlpool) and helps with keeping my heat down.

[Mr Cob]

All my pumps were kept clean and were purchased new so they did not leak unwanted heat...heater was on a controller too. Also, my house AC stays at 74. My hailides ran for 6 hours and my actinic was an overlapping 14 hours.

If you are running 85-86 with T5, there's something else wrong. Maybe you are running the bulbs too long...? Maybe you need a fan on them...? I always keep a fan on the same timer as my lights. I have never needed a chiller on any of my tanks and all of my tanks have had canopies too. Fans can do amazing things.

[txav8r]

I totally agree with Recoil and Allan. I have a 75 gal. with 6 48" T5's running 10 hours and the house gets up to 80 on really hot days. The tank never gets over 79.
You have something adding excessive heat to the tank. A heater is sticking or a pump is making all that extra heat. I'd unplug the heaters for now to eliminate them. I doubt you need them in this heat!

[Gseclipse02]

it sounds like the problem is not your lights ... i know g-ray runs 6 t-5s on his 75 and doesn't have any heat issues ...

i run 6 on my tank and have no real issues .... i stay about 78-81 depending how hot it gets out side .... i do have a chiller but that only comes on at 82 or 83 i forget....

just recently i put a fan in the sump and its on the same timer as my lights and it seems to keep my tank at 78-79 all day but the water evaporation is getting to be annoying

[roscozman]

Pennies2Cents, you have 12 on a 200+ and I have 6 on a 90... I have too much, maybe? My entire setup is less than 6 feet with the canopy. I'll reset my timers to leave off one ballast, see if two less bulbs make a difference. Thanks for the input.

I believe the number of bulbs depends on width of your tank. Our tank in 96x24x24. From front to back it is 24". I believe they recommend 8 (16 for us) bulbs for a 24" tank. We checked out a guy named GrimReefer on Reef Central. He gave us some good advice on T5s.

BTW I am Pennies2Cents husband.

[cbianco]

You would be surprised at how much heat even small pumps put out.

I have a 30 gallon with 6 T5 bulbs over it. I had three pumps: a return and two Koralia Nanos. I keep my AC a bit warmer than most households at 78-79 degrees and the room that the tank is in gets sun exposure all day long. My tank would range from 82-84 degrees. I was OK with this, natural reefs hover around these temperatures and I had no adverse side effects. I placed a small house fan (12") next to the tank and I was able to lower the temperature ~2 degrees. Unfortunately, the fan created a bunch of evaporation.

I removed the Koralia Nanos and installed a Vortech MP20. This meant two less motors in my tank. My temperature has dropped to 78-80 range. I was astounded that two small pumps were able to increase the temperature by ~4 degrees. Best thing about this was I was able to remove my house fan thus lowering evaporation on the tank.

I would consider changing/reducing pumps if that is an option. Also, you could add a house fan blowing over your tank for evaporative cooling. A chiller is an option but initially costly. Lastly, you could lower your AC temperature and keep the house cooler overall.

No matter how you cut it, we live in south Texas. Temperatures have been at or above 100 degrees all summer long. Your tank is bound to run hotter.

HTH.

Christopher :)

[Gseclipse02]

now i really want a mp40 ... lol

[cbianco]

In my self proclaimed, semi-professional opinion, everyone should have a Vortech. As a matter of fact, you should be taxed at a higher tax bracket if you don't have one.

Just my $0.02.

:p

Christopher

P.S. If I haven't mentioned it yet, which I have, they're great!


now i really want a mp40 ... lol

[Gseclipse02]

i just dont know if one is going to be enough flow.... i would love to have a wave in my tank :)

[JoshOdphi]

my tank runs between 79-81

[Paul28]

Mine 79-81 with 2x175wMH 1x250HQIMH and 4x t-5 atiinics

[tebstan]

I don't even have a heater plugged in. I left 4 out of 6 bulbs off today, the temp dropped from 86.4 to 81.8. The lighting has got to be the culprit.
I've got two Koralias running, so they may contribute to heat. All pumps are new and in good order. The room is 79.
The canopy isn't open on the top, like most of them. The only opening is along the back, the length of the tank and about 4" high.
I'm going to try adding two little fans. Considering the opening is on the back, I'll mount them on the front of the canopy instead of the sides.

[Gseclipse02]

put holes on the top back half of the canopy

[CoryDude]

Did I read correctly that your tank is in a closet?

If that's the case, I'll almost guarantee your problem is the tank's location. Sounds like you've got a un-ending cycle where heat energy is leaving your tank and is then re-introduced back into the tank, along with any new heat energy that has been created.

Redirect your ductwork or add a window unit to the room. I'd also add a fan to help vent the hot air out of the closet.

[JoshOdphi]

ask ballard how hes controlling his temp.....his canopy is only open in tha back

[ballardjr2000]

Yeah if you have it in the closest which it looks that you do that is defently the problem.

[JoshOdphi]

man jus read u have it in the closet....thas wuts causin your problem....

[tebstan]

Location is definitely a factor, I knew that going in. But I don't think it's a fatal flaw, there's ways around it. It's not squeezed in there, there's room to move around on both sides and the same amount behind it as if it wasn't in there. If the fans don't work, I'll move the AC vent in there.

[ballardjr2000]

Yeah i would get a least a fan to pull heat out of the closest one box fan blowing in or out should work. if you want you can pm you email and i can send you some pics of my canopy with my ac fans installed blowing the heat out the back it just took some L brackets and i mounted them in the middle of the canopy with one blowing to the front and one blowing to the back and it creates a vortex of air moving in fresh and blowing out hot air out the back. then the box fan and pull the air out the closet. just my .02

[tebstan]

2 four inch whisper fans (from altex) mounted into the canopy reduced the temp from 86 to 81. It gets to 82 or 83 at the height of the day, when the ambient room temperature is highest and all the lights are on. When the extra AC vent is installed it may lower it some more, but considering it's the hottest part of the year, I'm happy with 82. It's a big improvement. I'll have evaporation of course, but that's manageable. It gives me something to do, since I can't seem to keep my hands out of the tank.

[CoryDude]

Could you add a fan to at least blow cooler air into the closet? You could angle the fan towards the upper part of the closet, since that's where all the heat is rising anyways. That coupled with your existing fans could keep the tank a little cooler in the hottest parts of the day.

A simple box fan or occillating fan would work.

[tebstan]

I've got a four foot vertical fan in the closet, going at the back of the tank. (There's a few feet on either side of the tank) It's lifted on a shelf so that the cool(er) air is covering the height of the tank and canopy. The air is actually cooler back there now than it is in the room, since all that heat is being pushed out here.
The tank is 80 right now. I'll be picking up another vertical fan to oscillate around the room and into the tank's area. I just hate going to wal-mart. It may take a while to get around to adding the extra AC vent, but I'm hoping that will drop it another few degrees.