Fans anyone?

[tiffster]

I came home today and my temp was at 82 dgrees (yikes!!) I have two 36 watt power compacts on a 15 gal with a 10 gal sump. I was thinking that adding a fan or two would help. I do not have a canopy and I probably will not get one any time soon. So, would a fan or two help and if so what kind, where from and how much? (on a college student's budget here!)
Thanks TIff

 

[krux]

are your lights in a canopy of some sort? do they rest right on top of your tank? i found that simply elevating my lights a couple inches off of the top of the tank, allowing for air circulation to occur really cooled down the water a lot. if you do not have air space of any sort between your lights and your glass cover/water, i would definately look into elevation first.... easy to accomplish with just about anything you can prop them up with, i used a couple decks of cards until i could make something a little more permentant.
hth

 

[dockery07]

Exact same thing happened to us. We raised the light 6"and it really helped. Also if the lights are sitting down on the tank, fans wouldn't help as much as if they were elevated.

 

[tiffster]

My lights just sit on top. Will I still get enough light in the tank if I elevate them? I have a clam that needs lots of light. I guess less light would be better than boiling it, huh? Okay, I will elevate them and see what happens.
Tanks, I mean thanks,
Tiffany

 

[krux]

i would try elevatig the lights just a couple inches at first and check your temp. if the clam looks like its doing ok after a week, and your temp needs to go a bit lower, you can bump it up another 2 inches. i would rather see you do this than make some sort of hood lifing device, making your lights half a foot above the tank, and then having our poor clam suffer.... go slow and only lift as much as you need to... as you suspected, raising your lights will cut the lumens to the bottom of the tank, and as we are not working with halides (which put out like 5000 more lumens than clams require for a 175 watter) you should be conscientios of that drop off.

 

[melissa v.]

This answer was on another board that i read, but he said that a lot of reefers were keeping their tanks at a higher temp,(80 to 85) with positive results, because where most of the coral and fish comes from is warm climates anyways, i personally keep mine sitting on 82 to 84 degrees, and my fish and coral love it (i will buy a small frag, and before i know it, it is very large).
hope this helps
Melissa V.

 

[fishead]

mine stays between 80 & 82. motors such as powerheads and pumps also increase temp. I use to set up a fan in front of mine on hot summer days to keep it from goin over 82 then i figured out a way to get the air conditioning duct to the top of my tanks.

 

[tiffster]

Thanks guys, but I fugured out it's not so much the lights, but the temp difference between my sump and the display tank. The heater in the sump was still clicking on while it was 82 in the main tank! I turned it down and so far so good. Thanks for you help though!
Tiff