Got a hot tank -- how can I cool it down?

[geno]

My ACJr says the water temp in my 125 is 85. My house temp is 71. I'm really concerned about the summer!

Right now I have <u>nothing </u>in the tank except LR (from Sal's home tank) and a few critters he threw in. I'm in the process of cycling.

My lighting is a 72" Outer Orbit (only running the PC's at this time -- not the MH).

My sump uses <u>external </u>pumps but I put some sound proofing in two of the cabinet cut outs in back and the front doors are shut. So there is some heat in the sump area -- by the way, I'm not running the light in the sump at this time.

Is there any way to lower the temp without going to an expensive chiller?

I'm not sure a few fans in the sump is going to do the job.

I'm trying to get ready for a few inhabitants -- but they just might jump out at this temp.

Thanks,
-gene

 

[ericmcj31]

fans will def. help; how high is the heater turned up to?? is your glass top on??

 

[wolfie]

check for over heat heater or pump. Something really wrong there if your temp jump up to 85 with no MH running.

 

[jgoal55]

you can set your acjr to turn off your heater and turn on your fans when its too hot. Thats how I had mine set up and it worked wonders.

 

[geno]

Follow up on the temp issue:

I took the heater out -- hoping that might be the culprit -- the darn thing wasn't even plugged in -- than ain't it.

I do have the glass tops on -- but it only covers about 1/2 the surface area. Perhaps I should just take them off completely.

I did check out some fans at Foster & Smith -- they have one with 4 fans that I could put in the sump area.

I totally agree that the lights should not be creating this kind of water temp. The light unit has built in fans that operate when the lights are on -- of course they may not be that great at removing the heat.

I'll post my solution as soon as I find one.

 

[sailfish]

Have you double checked the temp? Buy an old fashioned cheap thermometer and double check temp.

If you already checked that then something is heating your tank. Does it stay at 85 or fluctuate?

Is it by a window?

Joe

 

[wolfie]

are you running your like inside a canopy or hanging? Could be the heat trap in the Canopy tranfer to your tank.

Well if you going to get a fan for your sump then it does not hurt to get another 2 for your canopy also. This will help taking the heat out of the canopy and keep the light cool

 

[markl]

i used ice inside a gallon freezer bag to cool mine down. my heater got stuck and crashed my whole tank.exepth for my mated clowns.

 

[dannybradley]

I like these

 

[geno]

I did check the temp with a probe thermometer -- pretty much the same reading.

My light is not in a canopy -- it mounts on the ends with legs.

Yep, the tank is next to a sliding glass door -- however, the sky has been cloudy for 3 days and the temp has been pretty low. The room where the tank is reads 71 degrees.

I can't see how anything is malfunctioning. The sump light is off, the pumps are all external -- the only heat being transfered to the tank would have to come from the lights or the power heads (2 Hydor 4's).

By the way, the water has a nice ripple on top as the return nozzles and power heads keep it moving very well.

I'm gonna try the frozen gallon in the sump as well as the fans from Wal-Mart.

I gotta stabilize the temp pretty soon -- before it really gets hot in my house this summer.

I keep waiting for this sucker to cycle after putting in Sal's LR this past Wednesday. I've taken 2 readings and everything is 0 -- I'll wait another week.

 

[geno]

I have 2 external pumps:
1. BlueLine that draws 390 watts (main return pump) -- actually quite cool to the touch
2. Little Giant -- much smaller than the BlueLine -- it's my skimmer pump -- that sucker is really warm to the touch.

Remember -- I have enclosed the sump area with foam to reduce the noise -- I added a fan to the sump area this morning and will be watching the temp closely.

I'll post my results.

Thanks, David, for your inquiry.

-gene

 

[geno]

Thanks, David.

Even though it's the coolest to the touch -- you feel it's the culprit?

My option is to replace it (it's brand new) or take it out of the sump area. When I bought the sump "system" the guy who included it -- made a mistake -- it was not the pump I was supposed to get.

I'll put a temp gauge on it and see what it's doing. And one on the skimmer pump.

-gene