Heat Issues

earlybird

Active Member
Can't figure out why my temp is so high. I just set up and have been cycling for 2 days. Temp is around 81.6 on one digital thermometer and 82.4 on another digital thermometer. Don't know why the thermometers or off so much but I don't know why my heat is so hight.
My heater is NOT plugged in. I'm thinking one of my pumps is running hot. Anyone have issues with this or suggestions on what I should do?
 

rdhanley

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Can't figure out why my temp is so high. I just set up and have been cycling for 2 days. Temp is around 81.6 on one digital thermometer and 82.4 on another digital thermometer. Don't know why the thermometers or off so much but I don't know why my heat is so hight.
My heater is NOT plugged in. I'm thinking one of my pumps is running hot. Anyone have issues with this or suggestions on what I should do?

is the tank next to a heater vent.
whats the temperature in your area
is it next to a window
what equipment do you have
 

earlybird

Active Member
I'm in Fla and the house is at 76 with the air on. Not near a window and I have 2 mj 400s, ss 65, and a magdrive 7 in a 29g dt with 10g sump.
 

rdhanley

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
I'm in Fla and the house is at 76 with the air on. Not near a window and I have 2 mj 400s, ss 65, and a magdrive 7 in a 29g dt with 10g sump.
what type of lighting do you have
do you have anything next to the tank such a home theater system that produces alot of heat
do you use glass tops the lighting system .
is the top of the tank opened or it is covered by a canopy or hood that contains a flourescent light.
if you have a lighting system , how long do you keep your lights on for. do you have anything to that requires the lighting system
 

earlybird

Active Member
PC lighting and my temp is with the lights off.
Nothing near the tank at all
I have eggcrate top so it's pretty open no hood or canopy
The inside of my stand (sump) feels warm when I open the door. I did have a custom back for my stand that I took out an hour ago but nothing has changed. Is it possible that a pump is overheating?
 

rdhanley

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
PC lighting and my temp is with the lights off.
Nothing near the tank at all
I have eggcrate top so it's pretty open no hood or canopy
The inside of my stand (sump) feels warm when I open the door. I did have a custom back for my stand that I took out an hour ago but nothing has changed. Is it possible that a pump is overheating?

you probably won't see a major change on the back being off untill at 24 hours afterwards.
basically you half to due 1 thing at a time and wait 24 hours to see if any change.
eventually by unplugging stuff , you will find the problem.
you don't have a uv sterilizer by chance.
 

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by rdhanley
you probably won't see a major change on the back being off untill at 24 hours afterwards.
basically you half to due 1 thing at a time and wait 24 hours to see if any change.
eventually by unplugging stuff , you will find the problem.
you don't have a uv sterilizer by chance.
Nope no uv.
Why 24 hrs? I would think that temp heats/cools pretty fast in a 29
 

rdhanley

Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Nope no uv.
Why 24 hrs? I would think that temp heats/cools pretty fast in a 29


granted . it is a smaller tank. humidity , heat from the day ( even with air conditioning) still effect the cool down of the tank. i usually like to check my tanks first thing in the morning due to cool down of the night.
my 30 gallon salt in summer would heat up 82 to 83 with the flourescent light. overnight with light off ,the temperature would drop back down to 80.
i may not be scientific, its just what i have experienced.
if i was you , i would unplug one item the night before then check it in the morning to see if it makes a difference.
i would only use one of the temperature thermometers though. do you ever check to see what the temperature is before you go to bed , then check it when you wake up.
another thing you might check on is , if you have a pretty constant temperature in the room you have the tank in. have you checked it lets says at 7:00 am , then checked it lets say 5:00 pm. if the room is around a constant temperature, the outside heat might affect the tank . theory that one side of the house will be cool in the morning, the everyside might be warm.
does your tank change in temperature between morning and after noon
 

al mc

Active Member
You may find that addition of a very small fan (Radio Shack computer fan) inside the stand may be all you need to keep the temp controlled better....
 
not sure what the problem is i def agree with the troubleshoot method. a fan blowing across the surface will cool the aquarium 1-2 degrees a good temporary fix. a fan will increase evaporation so you may have to top off more frequently.
 
T

tizzo

Guest
I skimmed but as I agree with the fan idea, I hafta point out that if you set your heaters to 82 then your water will be a constant 82 and that temp is fine as long as it's consistant. 82 is where mine is at...
Digital thermometers arenot that trustworthy IMO, the floating ones are only 2 bucks at walmart, I'd invest if I were you...
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
Never underestimate heat from PC but you sound confident its not the light. Also you say its high with lighting off then ruling it out....
If temp is consistant then might look at the pump, if you have it throttled back too much the pump can generate some heat. Usually not this much especially with a little mag7 but if its consistant with lights off. then I would have a look at the pump. JMO
 

earlybird

Active Member
I think I have it fixed. Temp is holding around 80.2. I bought a few of the coralife digital thermometers and they all read something different. Might need a better thermometer.
 

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by earlybird
I'm in Fla and the house is at 76 with the air on. Not near a window and I have 2 mj 400s, ss 65, and a magdrive 7 in a 29g dt with 10g sump.
Waterflow generates heat. Typically, the watts of the pump equate to the heat generated by a heater using the same amount of power.
2 X MJ400 = 10 watts
Magdrive 7 = 70 watts
SuperSkimmer65 = 20 watts
So, adding up the waterflow you have about the same heat generation as a 100 watt heater.
 
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