Will UV Sterilizer raise tank temp?

[huskerreefatl]

I added the Coralife 6x Turbo twist UV sterilizer to my tank and the temp has been rising. I normally keep it at 78 and stays constant. I added the UV and right now my temp is 80. I unplugged my heater this morning thinking it was acting up but the temp stays up. The house temp is about 74. The only other heat sources would be the return pump, skimmer, and T5s but they have been on the tank for a while. Any thoughts?

Sorry for all of the posts lately. You can tell that I am back in the country and catching up on my tank activity....those month long trips to Liberia really put a dent in my reefing....

Thanks,
Carl

 

[nickg]

Are you running the UV off an additional pump, manifold, or how? I would say yes to temp. But an additional pump could also be the culprit...

 

[huskerreefatl]

Yes, there is a pump in the sump pushing it out to uv and then back in. It is small though... A rio 180. There is also a pump pulling water out to my dual reactors.

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[bcavalli]

I just upgraded from the 18 watt to 57 watt and haven't seen a change in temp. With that small of a pump and the low flow going through it you really shouldn't see much more heat dependent on the size of your tank of course.

You could always test the pump and uv in your water change barrel and see if you get an increase in water temp. Just a thought.

 

[huskerreefatl]

I turned it off and the temp did drop. ..a little but still not down where it was. It is odd. My temp has always be consistent but now if is raising for some reason and my heater is off.

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[bcavalli]

huskerreefatl;1057727 wrote: I turned it off and the temp did drop. ..a little but still not down where it was. It is odd. My temp has always be consistent but now if is raising for some reason and my heater is off.

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That is odd. Any way to check your actual room temp? Now that we're using our home heaters, could your home thermostat be off a bit? I'm just grasping at straws and throwing ideas out there.

 

[huskerreefatl]

I thought of that also. I have a Nest and it seems accurate. I also have another temp indicator in the house and shows around 74. Our heater is set at 68 so it isn't running either. I am baffled by this.

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[fraustdemon]

what kind of lights are you using? Are they in a canopy? Is it possible that something happened with the light fixture and its not venting properly?

How about your return pump? is it getting hot? My Mag 7 recently bound up and got rather warm in the sump raising the temp a few degrees inside the sump (but not the DT as it couldnt push water).

 

[huskerreefatl]

I don't have a canopy but use the brackets that came with my Coralife 4-T5s HO (2-10K, 2-Act) and the orbit marine LED. They have brackets that mount directly to the tank so plenty of air movement. Nothing in the DT only the sump. There is the heater (off right now), UV with a Rio 180 pump (off right now), Cobalt MJ1200 pump for my Dual BRS Carbon/GFO reactors (on right now), Reef Octopus 150 skimmer and whatever pump is on it (on right now), and my eheim 1260 return pump (on right now). So if everything is running then there are 4 pumps in the sump but right now only 3 are on. Maybe it is coincidence but this seems to have started after I started dosing kalk in my ATO. My ATO refill line dumps into the section of the sump where the return pump is located. Could that have done something to the pump?

 

[fraustdemon]

couldnt hurt to pull out the return pump and clean it and check that everything in it is running properly...

 

[huskerreefatl]

it is relatively new so shouldn't be dirty but I will do that anyway, just to rule it out. thanks.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

How do you know your heater(s) is "off"? Are you assuming that the light is out that it's off? That could be a bad assumption. I'd unplug it to make sure it's "off" then check.

 

[huskerreefatl]

It is connected to my Reefkeeper Elite and the channel (outlet) is off. I could unplug it just to be sure that the reefkeeper elite doesn't have a faulty channel though. So in theory, the RKE channel would have to fail and then the thermostat on the heater would also have to fail.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

huskerreefatl;1057756 wrote: It is connected to my Reefkeeper Elite and the channel (outlet) is off. I could unplug it just to be sure that the reefkeeper elite doesn't have a faulty channel though. So in theory, the RKE channel would have to fail and then the thermostat on the heater would also have to fail.

Not probable but not improbable either. Process of elimination. How many degree rise are we talking?

 

[huskerreefatl]

I keep the RKE heater function set at 78 with a 0.5 hysteresis so the heater should only come on when the temp drops below 77.5. The heater is set about 79 so if the RKE fails, the heater shouldn't go higher than 79. Recently the temp went has gone up to 80+. It only went down to 79 last night and is creeping back up..actually at 80 right now. I have attached my temp over the last couple days. Before it stayed between 77.5 and 79 at the most. That is one thing that I like about the Net module of RKE, I can check my tank parameters from anywhere in the world. Since I unplugged the UV and the temp is going up again, it must not be it.

 

[fraustdemon]

Is it getting direct sunlight around 1300-1500 during the day?

 

[huskerreefatl]

It is near a window but the blinds are closed and point the opposite direction so that sun light doesn't shine down through them. The T5s run from 10 to 4 so that may contribute to the increased heat during that time period.

 

[huskerreefatl]

Okay, when I look at the graph, it does follow the light cycle but in the past it didn't change that much. It did change, but not that much. I reduced the rocks in my tank so there is more water now and I went to the dual BRS reactors with carbon in one and GFO in the other. Is it possible that my water clarity and volume has increased and now it is heating it up more?