my temp is at 89.5 and every thing is starting to die,
aside from a chiller what can i do.
it was like that for 3 days now its at 84.5 to 85.5 i dont want to leave the ac on 24/7.
what temp do you guys keep your tanks at?
I usually keep my tank between 79-82 degrees. A few things you can do is to float 2L bottles about 3/4 full of frozen water in the tank, or what many of us do have a small fan or 2 blowing across the top of the tank, computer fans work great if you have any wiring skills or one of the small clip on style from the local store. The only problem with the fan is it is going to increase you evaporation loss so you are going to have to stay on top of your top-off schedule, or ATO or whatever you use
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Turn the lights off as a temporary measure. Long term use them the minimum amount of time necessary to keep your corals healthy and probably only when you are running the AC.
If you have the glass top on your tank take it off. Given the right circumstances all fish will jump but especially if you have known jumpers replace it with egg crate.
Great tips guys. THe cooler with ice is a great idea. If possible get as much tubing as you can and coil it up and maybe secure with zip-ties or rope. The longer the tube, the more time the hot tank water has to come in contact with the cooler water. Also, look at a low flow pump. If you have a harbor freight around you can get a small pump for about 10 bucks or so. The slower the flow, the more time there is to pull the heat out of the water.
Fans work great. I have a hood with vents, but when it gets hot, I open the doors and blow a fan across. My temp dropped about 2 degrees in under an hour.
Had the same problem for years. All above excellent ideas and in the long run when you get tired of your chiller running (make sure you do get a larger one than recommended, I have a 1/3hp for total water volume of 120) try to attack the sources. Pumps and lights are the big enemies heat wise. Look into the new Vortech powerheads, motor is on the outside of the tank so no transfered heat. I'm putting my return pump outboard of the sump, should help. I bought a new skimmer that uses only one pump instead of two and draws 18 watts instead of about 60. And the big ticket item everyone is raving about, including me, is the new LED lighting systems by Solaris and Aqua Illumination. I love my Solaris for the lack of heat alone although it has plenty of other benefits and features too. Good luck and stay cool!
turn your a/c on, its summer!! i never let my house get hotter then 75F, even when your not there, its gonna cost you more to turn the a/c on and off then it is to leave it on constantly, it will also cost you more to run a chiller then to just drop the ambient temperature, chillers put off a lot of heat, which in turn will make your a/c work harder, unless you like a hot house, and ass for the ice ideas, there great ideas, but you will get sick of replacing the ice after awhile, those 2 liters melt pretty fast, i had the same problem with a hydroponics setup and those 2 liters lasted me no more then an hour or 2, a few extra bu, cks on the power bill is definatley worth your tank IMO
I was having similar problems when it started warming up a couple of months ago and used the computer fan method that Seahorsedreams linked to. Worked great and cost me less than $20 for two fans and the power supply. Beats the heck out of an expensive chiller.
I've thought for years about a DIY chiller that was made from one of those little fridges people use in offices and dorm rooms. I'd cut two holes in the front door for the in and out tubes. Inside the fridge, I'd have some pitchers of water (or something similar) with tubing wrapped around them as many times as possible. You could use some sort of temp controller to kick on the pump that pushes water through the system. One of these days, I'll give it a try -- probably when I have a tank large enough to warrant it.
Temp. is a big problem---Have you had a cyno outbreak yet? Cyno loves warm water. Anyway, we had the same temp. problems and used fans and ice in the sump and all the other stuff, Then I said to hell with this and bought a chiller. After I hooked the chiller up my whole tank and inhabitants changed, coral grew faster, fish were more active, cyno completely disappeared and stuff really started sprouting on my live rock - good stuff, not algae. The best part is all the bad stuff went away, nitrates dropped to 0, phosphorus drooped to 0 and ph went up to 8.4 also the chillers are quiet, ya don't even know they are running. I have mine set @ 77-degrees for my 125 gal. It goes on at 78.5 degrees and turns of at 76.8. AND my wife loves me again---LOL.
Temp. is a big problem---Have you had a cyno outbreak yet? Cyno loves warm water. Anyway, we had the same temp. problems and used fans and ice in the sump and all the other stuff, Then I said to hell with this and bought a chiller. After I hooked the chiller up my whole tank and inhabitants changed, coral grew faster, fish were more active, cyno completely disappeared and stuff really started sprouting on my live rock - good stuff, not algae. The best part is all the bad stuff went away, nitrates dropped to 0, phosphorus drooped to 0 and ph went up to 8.4 also the chillers are quiet, ya don't even know they are running. I have mine set @ 77-degrees for my 125 gal. It goes on at 78.5 degrees and turns of at 76.8. AND my wife loves me again---LOL.
I didn't mean the chiller actually did all that, what I meant was all the effort we put into keeping our tanks in balance started working with the lower and stable water temp. Heat and the problems that go with it are GONE. I can use any lighting now without worry and maintaining proper water parameters is easy.
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to TR agsansoo! Thanks for jumping in with advice.
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