air temp lower than water temp

[mccanei]

SO I pulled my heater out of my tank, the air temp of the house is 71 degrees, and I have no sunlight coming into the room of my fish tank. Yet my tank temp is stuck at 82-80 degrees. The tank is a 37 gallon with a standard tank lighting system. FIltration is a CPR backpak, magnum 250 on back of tank, and a pretty sizeable powerhead to circulate water through 80 lbs of LR. No pumps feel hot to touch. Any ideas as to what is heating tank?

 

[moneyman]

Dont rule out pumps.
Originally Posted by mccanei
SO I pulled my heater out of my tank, the air temp of the house is 71 degrees, and I have no sunlight coming into the room of my fish tank. Yet my tank temp is stuck at 82-80 degrees. The tank is a 37 gallon with a standard tank lighting system. FIltration is a CPR backpak, magnum 250 on back of tank, and a pretty sizeable powerhead to circulate water through 80 lbs of LR. No pumps feel hot to touch. Any ideas as to what is heating tank?

 

[jokerj]

you could always head to the wally mart and buy a cheap clip on fan and hook on there to blow across the top of the water. this should cool things down a bit!

 

[bawood]

What is "standard lights"?
Also how long did you take your heater out? Water has a high specific energy meaning it takes lots of energy transfer to change it's temperature up our down. My heater stays off almost all day long, yet it stays warm. It only turns on a couple times at night to keep my tank warm. During the day the tank retains the heat and the single pc light and pumps keep the warmth in.

 

[rs1831]

Do you have any type of glass top or anything like that on your tank? I took mine off about a month ago and my heat fluctuations are a 100X better.

 

[phixer]

Originally Posted by mccanei
SO I pulled my heater out of my tank, the air temp of the house is 71 degrees, and I have no sunlight coming into the room of my fish tank. Yet my tank temp is stuck at 82-80 degrees. The tank is a 37 gallon with a standard tank lighting system. FIltration is a CPR backpak, magnum 250 on back of tank, and a pretty sizeable powerhead to circulate water through 80 lbs of LR. No pumps feel hot to touch. Any ideas as to what is heating tank?
SCSI brough up a good point on a similar thread, lighting also generates heat as well as the mechianical devices which can create heat due to friction i.e pumps. Smaller quantities of water heat and cool faster also.