Heater gone haywire?

[woodymdt]

Before we went to bed last night, I noticed that the tank temp in my 40gallon tank was hovering around 84 degrees...so I turned the heater down to 72 to get it to level out.
This morning when I got up I didn't see any change in the reading, so I've unplugged my heater altogether.
What are the chances that my heater has gone haywire on me?

 

[bacffin]

How hot is it out there in the midland? If ambient temperature is the cause, you might want to give it more time. The tank may need more time to show some results because of the thermal properties including the tank, lights, pumps, etc. Is your pump noisy? I would check the other components also.
Do you have a probe thermometer you can use to check your heater? Like a meat thermometer or outside air thermometer. You could tape the probe to the heater and run the heater through a range of settings and see if it working properly. HTH
Bruce

 

[woodymdt]

Originally Posted by Bacffin
How hot is it out there in the midland? If ambient temperature is the cause, you might want to give it more time. The tank may need more time to show some results because of the thermal properties including the tank, lights, pumps, etc. Is your pump noisy? I would check the other components also.
Do you have a probe thermometer you can use to check your heater? Like a meat thermometer or outside air thermometer. You could tape the probe to the heater and run the heater through a range of settings and see if it working properly. HTH
Bruce
Thanks Bac...I think we do have a probe thermometer somewhere...I'll find it and do that.
And it is hot here...it's gotten in the upper 90's this week.
We're moving the tank to what I hope is a better location in the house this weekend, maybe that will help as well.

 

[bacffin]

Yea, 90's...we are getting that this weekend. I'll bet that is the issue. Is the room where your tank is air conditioned? If so, that should help. If not try placing a fan to blow over the surface of the water.
I'm thinking of making a temporary home made chiller to use for the hot sticky days.
Bruce

 

[woodymdt]

Originally Posted by Bacffin
Yea, 90's...we are getting that this weekend. I'll bet that is the issue. Is the room where your tank is air conditioned? If so, that should help. If not try placing a fan to blow over the surface of the water.
I'm thinking of making a temporary home made chiller to use for the hot sticky days.
Bruce
A home made chiller? Any design plans or materials list you can share??

 

[ophiura]

Try the fan directed over the surface of water. You would be AMAZED at what this can do :yes: It will increase evaporation but it works. Try a cheapo fan before even considering a chiller. BTW 84 is not all that bad. And yes, heaters do maltfunction but it probably would have gone higher than 84...mine just have started to go higher and higher....

 

[woodymdt]

Originally Posted by ophiura
Try the fan directed over the surface of water. You would be AMAZED at what this can do :yes: It will increase evaporation but it works. Try a cheapo fan before even considering a chiller. BTW 84 is not all that bad. And yes, heaters do maltfunction but it probably would have gone higher than 84...mine just have started to go higher and higher....
Well, right now I'm going to check out the ambient room temp problem...and see where that leads. I'll know more when I go home here in a bit and check the temp in the tank.
I think we'll solve that problem when we transfer the stuff to the 55 gallon tank, and move that tank to the family room.

 

[maeistero]

oph is the boss, however i must say that not all us people buy the greatest equipment at first. we kill stuff. i've had heaters fry my tanks numerous times before deciding finally to buy the expensive brands. if one of my tanks heats or cools strangely then that heater is in the trash. expensive heaters are cheaper than what's in my tank and frankly i like to look at the other things in my tank rather than that heater.
imo. :happy:

 

[ericp2311]

What about putting ice cubes in the tank? It's unbearably hot and muggy out here in flyover country...A/C just makes it slightly less miserable.
What if you froze RO/DI water?

 

[ophiura]

Adding the ice may create areas of significant heat differences, and rapid changes in temperature are very very bad. I'm serious about that fan...I added a $10 fan to blow across the top of the tank (just one from the CVS/Walgreens) and my temperature is a good 2 degrees lower than it was and much more stable.
And I've had some piece of trash heaters in my time. I did once boil my fish when I was a kid...just got too hot, and I've had several issues recently with heaters that have been bad (thankfully with no lasting problems). And one of them (a Ebo-Jager) was supposed to be one of the best but now it apparently is not. Such a hard call. Some have been bad out of the box. But I definitely have not always (and still don't) have the greatest equipment...by far not even close. Its donations, hand me downs, "broken in the mail" stuff :yes:

 

[woodymdt]

Well I don't really think it's the heater...can't remember the brand but it's a titanium heater with an actual thermostat so I can set the heat where I want it.
I'm going to check the tank again when I get home and see if it's fallen some more...and if it has then I'll know it was the heater + the warmth in the room. I pointed the box fan towards the tank to see if that would help cool it down as well.
When we get the 55 gal setup, I'll check on one of those small cheapie clip on fans and see if that helps...We don't have a top for the 55 just yet, so it will be hitting the room air as well, and I'll use the egg crate stuff to keep the varmints in the tank.

 

[kiharaconn]

My tank has only been set up a month now. I haven't added anything but ls and lr because of the temp. Last weekend it was 85. So I closed the curtains, added a fan to blow on the wet/dry and bumped the air conditioner down a couple of degrees. I also left the doors to the stand open and the hood cover open. That way I get good circulation. Today when I got up my temp was 75.5 and when I went home for lunch it was 75.8. If I leave the curtain open it goes back up 2-3 degrees. Even tho the sun is not direct on the tank the curtains block alot of the heat. So give the fan a try. But keep plenty of water on hand for the top ups.

 

[kiharaconn]

Also I had noticed wed at lunch that my heater light was on. It was set at 75 and it was only 77 in the house. So I'm sure that was part of my problem. Just like your house thermostat I would think that the heater could be off a few degrees. So try turning it down some just to play it safe.

 

[ophiura]

Do you want your tank running that cold? That is pretty low for tropical fish, IMO. Standard is around 80 degrees, and natural reefs run much warmer.

 

[bacffin]

Originally Posted by woodymdt
A home made chiller? Any design plans or materials list you can share??
All this is still in my head. It's only to cover those days that are really bad, (going to bust 100 tomorrow) so I was thinking along the lines of my coalman cooler filled with ice and a small pump and some chilled water filled tubing in the sump to help cool the water. I would just let the heater and chiller battle it out for the precise temp. Now if it worked really good, I would probably morph that idea to work off the chiller on my 2nd fridge some way....sick, I know :yes:
Bruce

 

[kiharaconn]

I was mistaken it was 77.5 degrees instead of 75. My lfs said that the temp needed to stay between 75-80.