86 degrees!

[fallen04]

well its just as i feared. it is in the upper 80's today and my tank is following suit and has climbed to 86 degrees! when summer gets going here we are looking at 100 and up outside and probably in the tank. i have a fan running over my filter system and two six inch fans inside the canopy as well as ice bags. i cant afford a chiller let alone the pg&e bill to run it. the tank is in the living room as far from an exterior wall as possible. i cant move the tank because the 240 is in the family room and there are tanks in the bedrooms. i use pc lighting for this tank and the 6" fans are blowing across the fans to keep them from heating the tank. I have a feeling this tank is a goner when the summer hits full on in a month or so. guess i should enjoy it while i can.

 

[fallen04]

29 gallon, 2/65watt pcs, homemade maple canopy lights are about eight inches off the surface and the room temp is at 87 degrees. running the air conditioning is too expensive for us. to keep the house at 78 costs us about 400.00 a month.

 

[scott270]

you can put some zip lock bags filled with ice

 

[stacy]

I'm just down the road in Merced. I installed a whole house fane and leave that running all day with the windows and screens open. My house never gets above 80 until we hit the 100's. Then I close up the house and crank on the air. You can get a hole house fan at home depot for around $150. It'll keep you cool, plus save some money on AC costs. Last year my tanks never got above 80 and all I have is a 39, 55, and 80 gallon.

 

[blondenaso1]

All the fans in the world are no going to help if the ambient room temperature is 86. You are pretty much blowing 86 degree air over the tank. Why is turning on the air so expensive?

 

[stacy]

PG&E is gouging those of us in CA. Are rates almost doubled ever since our so called energy crisis. Yet I see PG&E crews working on weekends making double time on jobs they could easily be doing during the week. To put it in simle terms PG&E screwed californians. Just a couple more yrs and I'll move out of this stupid state. If you put a whole house fan in as I did last summer you can keep the room temp at 80. It will blow all the hot air out of your attic. Thats what keeps your house so hot durring the summer days.

 

[bigred]

STACY, I live in Los Banos, do you go to the Pet Barn there in Merced? That is where I go and like that store alot. I also work in merced.

 

[stacy]

The wife and I spend alot of time in pet barn. Larry's the one that got me started in saltwater, as well telling me about this site. He's been really helpful. I checked out the pics of your tank looks pretty cool. I was just at pet barn last night. They have some pretty cool stuff in right now. Larry has a pretty cool coral in there right now. Had it in his tank, but said that his lighting isn't sufficient and wants to find someone with a better light setup to give it a good home. I guess we're one of the few that have a good source locally.

 

[jakob4001]

do a SEARCH in the DIY section for chillers...supposedly you can convert/use a dorm fridge as cheaper alternative to keeping your tank cool

 

[bagofsalt]

fallen04
if you're paying 400 a month to maintain 78 room temp. Buy a chiller it will only cost you (not including elec. bills) at least 700 bucks one shot and you can use it all summer long.
Reuben.

 

[karvis]

float ice that is in a bag. replace the ice if it melts. turn everything on max but turn off the heater and lights until the temp goes down!!

 

[karvis]

float ice that is in a bag. replace the ice if it melts. turn everything on max but turn off the heater and lights until the temp goes down!!

 

[dirtybilge]

Look on <a href="http://WWW.----.com" target="_blank">WWW.----.com</a> you can buy a 1/5HP chiller for about $300 its worth the looking time.
ED

 

[n4ru]

you know some power head type got a venturi hole...??
get a styrofoam box , filled it with Ice ( in a plastic bag )
put a vynil tubing there and connect it with your powerhead
and you will get cool bubble in your tank

 

[ninjamini]

How about one of those room AC units. The kind that stick in the window. That way you are only cooling 1 room. You can enjoy the cool air also. Or move out of CA.

 

[bsp]

You can also try a dehumidifier it pulls mositure out of the air. Then turn your AC on but put it at a higher temp so it won't cost as much. You will have to close windows and empty the water container of the dehumidifer. I use one in my basement with no AC and it keeps it cool.

 

[bsp]

PS. dehumidifiers come in different sizes, so you would need one to do that room or several.

 

[jer4916]

Originally Posted by fallen04
29 gallon, 2/65watt pcs, homemade maple canopy lights are about eight inches off the surface and the room temp is at 87 degrees. running the air conditioning is too expensive for us. to keep the house at 78 costs us about 400.00 a month.

29 gallons?... you can buy a used chiller for that on the " auction " site for like $100 bux
break down and buy one

 

[fallnhorse]

Originally Posted by scott270
you can put some zip lock bags filled with ice
Ice should be used when you can't afford a chiller. I use to live in southern colorado. It got to well over 90f in my house and up to a 105f out side. My tank was getting about 80f. i had to use ice. Worked just perfect. For every 1 BTU(British Theromal Unit) temperture unit of water goes down one degree F. Law Latent heat say when you change a State of a liquid from solid to liquid to gas. There a large amount of BTU required. About 1400 btu to change ice to water. Your transfer heat is all. With Fans your not transfering any heat unless the outside temperture is colder. Or you got an outside heat source to your tank transfering heat. Using this method your refrigerator is going to expell the heat from your tank. Just make sure the heat goes out side. Fan would help there.
That's what i did....worked well.

 

[abethedog]

I am enjoying this. When I went outside this morning is was -9 degrees. Like below zero.
If you are having a problem keeping the room temp down you should consider what a chiller would do in that room. Your tank temp would go down but the room would basically have a heater running in it. Maybe think of a way for the chiller to go outside and run the coil from out there just like regular house central air.