my tank temp is 85º!!!! i cant get it below that!!!!!

[karvis]

in baltimore it was 92º today. it has been around there since monday. the tank is heated up!!! i took the hoods off, floated ice in the tank and in the filter. when the water evaporater i replaced it with 72º water. all my fish & cleanup crew are fine, but i am worried about my feather dusters. they have barely opended to feed. could the high temp be the promlem?? (all are barely 2 inches long...hitch hikers) they were eating Dt's fine before the temp went up.
TIA, karvis

 

[q]

Try increasing air flow over the top of the tank with a big fan since you have the hood off. I also assume you are not running your lights.
85 is warm and you don't want it getting much higher but it shouldn't be a problem. I have hit 84 a couple of times and my Open Brain, Sun coral, and sps showed no signs of irratiation by retracting their polyps.
BTW what is your room temp?

 

[richard rendos]

What is the room temp? You could lower the temp in the room, or put a fan on over the tank blowing at the surface of the water. Evaporation will cool a tank pretty well.

 

[kris walker]

Good luck Karvis. I completely hear you. I had the same problem, and the only thing I could do to solve it (and not buy a chiller) was moving the tank into a room small enough to be cooled by an AC unit (our bedroom).
kris

 

[dr drew]

Hi karvis,
I've been lurking for a while, since I have been considering starting a reef tank as a hobby for a little while now, but I want to make sure that I can afford the time and money that it will take. I registered just now because I see that you are in Baltimore. Where abouts are you? I'm in Roland Park, just across the street from the Johns Hopkins campus...

 

[drakave]

i had the same problem when i added my canopy and an extra set of lights. i whent to my lfs and bought thiss little fan from jbj that i placed on one corner of my canopy back kinda pointed at the front of the canopy(i know, hard to describe) but to make a long story short it moves current from one side of my canopy and out the other and now i dont have the problem any more. if your good with wood i have read also of poeple cutting the sides of their canopys and actually installing computer fans in the holes they make blowing across the canopy. sounded like too much work for me, but they said it worked. btw the fan was like $50 but it did solvemy problem.

 

[nm reef]

For what its worth my reef runs 78-82 on a normal basis. Around here we get very hot in the summer months. At times my system will range closer to 84 . To keep things cool I use a fan blowing across the open top of my refugium and this normally helps keep temp below 84. I have had problems with frogspawn and torch corals in temps around 84...but for the most part the rest of the corals seem to be less affected. I would suggest fans to help and possibly look at ways to increase ventalation on the canopy(mine is mostly open on the back).Do all you can to avoid temps above 84 or so and try to avoid sudden swings in temp. I don't think a normal swing in the range of 78-82 would be too drastic but if much above that level it may cause problems.

 

[lu]

Just to let you know, you're not alone in this fight. It's been very hot here all week. We moved here last fall and have not gotten our air conditioner for the house hooked up yet. My temps have been at 83-84 too. I've been doing everything I know to drop the temp in the tank but it isn't working very well. The inverts don't seem to be faring as well as everything else, they're doing weird things. I hope this hot spell don't last too much longer....
Anyway......I feel yer pain, good luck to you!

 

[krusk]

I think you can do a small water change
like 1 or 2 gallons. about 72-75 F new mix water
my top off water also 72-75 F 1/2 G per day
You are not alone

 

[oneflysi]

open the top of the tank up (open canopy if you have one, or open hood), place a fan blowing directly on the water, and if you must leave your lights on move them as far away from the water as possible. also cooling down the room would help tremendously.
like someone mentioned above...you could always install a fan in the canopy like me

$20 electrical fan from radio shack. blows in a good amount of cool air to keep my 2 MH's and 1 PC cool. the install job doesn't look to good in the pics, but believe me, it looks professional in person
just a suggestion.
-One

 

[twoods71]

I am with golfish on this one. My average temp on my 55 reef is between 80 and 84 also, with a few days of higher temps. It has been this way for a little over a year with no problems from temp.

 

[teog]

I too was having problems with overheating 84-85...But I went from an external pump to a submerssible and also added 2 of those radio shack fans to run during while my VHOs are on...No my tank is between 77-80...And I live in Orlando.....

 

[predator]

Well the humidity here alone is worse than anywhere in the country(even Lousiana). It stays around 96 to 100 percent humidity 24/7 for 10 months. It kicks the heat index up to almost unbareable. And though right now it says it's in the 80's. With the heat index it's actually around 94 or 95 degress out right now. IMy tank temp was at 81 to 84 degrees all the time duruing the winter(if thats what you call it). I used to freeze ro water in ice trays and dump them into my tank to keep it cooloed down in the summer. Heck of alot cheaper than a chiller, but a little more work.