help w/another temp issue

[sgt__york]

well... i got the lighting hood finally finished and installed.. 4- VHO (same as I had in a prev setup several years ago) However i upgrade the fans from 1 4" fan to 2 4" fans with slightly higher output. I use to have temp avg's of 82.. WOW, i wasn't ready for this... even w/the upgraded fans - it seems my avg temp is now 86-88 (84 in the morn).
We have central A/C.. and it seems the tank evaporation rate has drastically increased - and making the room (and dare i say 1/2 the house) feel more like a sauna.
The lights are on from 10:30am to 8:30 (blue actenics) and the whites from 12noon to 6pm. One of the fans runs 24/7 - the other turns on w/the lights.
I'm wondering if a chiller (likely a DIY using a new dorm room refrig/freezer) is the way to go now. I never had to use one in the past, and for the life of me, i can't understand why temp ranges are so high now.
So what am i asking? Well, for one, how common is it that you guyz find ur acquarium turns the house into a humid sauna? In the past, I remember it doing this to the room a tad - but not the house!
I also don't remember VHO "bulbs" being as hot. I have the ballasts located remotely under the tank - so not talking about their heat output. The VHO bulb's are hot to the touch. Is this common?
And more importantly - what is the best way to stabilize these temp's? I am looking to stabalize temps at 80-82. I never thought i'd have to look at a chiller for those temps.

 

[kris walker]

You could try turning your lights off during the day and putting them on at night, but this won't help if the tank is in your bedroom.
It sounds like your central AC can't keep the room temp stable with the summer heat outside plus the heat from the tank's lights. Is the tank near a window where the greenhouse effect may also be a factor? If the GH effect is a problem, white shades drawn during the day will help a lot.
It seems to me that you just need more AC umph. And turning up the AC will be too expensive (since it is central air). If you have a window near the tank, you could simply add a window AC unit. They are much cheaper than tank chillers, and for your situation (if the room is small enough), since you already have central air, I think that would be more than enough to keep the tank in the upper 70's if you want.
Good luck,
kris

 

[frankl15207]

I finally gave up on all of the easy solutions and was forced to buy the chiller. I've read that the dorm refrigerator DIYs really don't work all that well.
The VHO lights took my tank temperature through the roof also (and I only have two of them on with 2 NO lights). It seemed that all the fans did was move the hot air around to the rest of the room (which is where the thermostat is, which caused the air to run more which made the rest of the house too cold...). Now we have to keep a fan on in the room and we have central air.

 

[sgt__york]

Well, maybe things are not as bad as they first seemed... I was taking temp readings from a thermal unit mounted on the outside of the tank. I went and got a digital one w/a probe inside the water and found a STARK! difference in their reading. It seems my water temp is only fluxing from 80 to 82 - whereas the thermal one on the outside is flux'n from 82 to 88. WEIRD!
I did turn the a/c up a tad, and have the fan in the room running 24/7 now as well. If it becomes a problem, i think i'll go w/the window a/c unit as it chills more than just the tank, but the room itself. And perhaps a dehumidifier to pull water out of the air from evaporation would help with the 'sauna' affect.
Things are look'n a bit better now.
I just introduced 20 more lbs of live rock - the last of it - gives me about 80lbs of rock (40 base; 40 live) in a 75 gal - think that is plenty here. Cant wait to let it all settle, and start get'n REAL fish.. LOL.
PS: w/all the rock now - which is also finally setup the way i want it (after 3hrs of constant rearranging.. LOL) - HOW do you catch the small damsels????? LOL
i'm think'n i'll starve em for 4-5 days.. put a clear bowl in a day early to get em use to it... then see if i can't catch em during a feeding frenzy... any other good ways to catch em???

 

[frankl15207]

They are tough little buggers to catch. It's why I quit putting them in large tanks. I tried one of the traps to get a tomato clown out. I swear that thing knew that I was gunning for it. Finally got it when it was sleeping. Good luck with getting them out.
Glad the temperature thing worked out for you. I put two of the digital stick on thermometers right out of the package next to the thermostat in the room once. One read 6 degrees higher than the thermostat temperature. The other was 2 degrees higher. That's when I went back to in the tank glass ones.

 

[susiepan]

They are SUCH a pain in the butt to catch...you might want to go with the not feeding idea..and then soak the food (shrimp pc's) in garlic...that will make them nuts...attach the shrimp tp the inside of a net and bingo!!
Before you use the net and food, you might want to just let the net sit in the tank so they get use to it..that usually works,,
Gl
~susie

 

[sanangelosaltfish1]

I know you were askign about getting your tank temp down. Did you put a top on your hood? if you did take it off. Are you using power heads in your tank? if so take them out they dump all thier heat in to the water. DOnt use power heads use Gemie pumps that sit above the water. I live in texas so it gets very hot here. When i first got in to the hobby Larry Jackson helped me set everything up he told me some tricks of the trade you might say.