Nano Tank Getting Too Hot

[ekvikmost]

I know I am going to regret posting this, but here goes.
I have a 12 gallon Nano that I have had for 6 months now. I have a small coral reef and I have 2 clown fish. The tank has been doing great. The fish are healthy and happy and the levels have been fine. I am using ozonated water and doing my partial water changes on a regular basis because of the small size of the tank.
The tank has the stock lid that came with it, so for those of you that know, it doesn't offer the ideal lighting and to retrofit anything else would be difficult at best.
We have been having a MAJOR HEAT WAVE in New York as you know and my water is hot. By hot I mean 86 degrees and higher. This all started yesterday because of the heat wave. I today am running the A/C in the room that the fish tank is in and I have floated ice in ziploc bags to try and get the water temperature down.
The water is cloudy, which I am attributing to the temperature as the levels were all fine and the cloudy water only started when the temps were higher.
Is there anything REASONABLE that I can do to prevent this from happening again?
Thanks for any advice.
Regards,
Karen

 

[mr. guitar]

I had problems with the temp in my Nano, too. It usually gets around 90+ here, but that's normal this time of year. My Nano is located in my room which gets around 80-85 degrees durin' the day. There used to be a big tree in front of my window and the temp in my room was perfectly fine until a good storm blew by. Anyway, last week I checked the temp in my Nano and it was 83!!! So, I took off the air vent in my room and turned my celin' fan on. That brought the temperature down to about 79. Question for ya...What's the temperature gettin' where you live and is it in a room with a window? Have you tried turnin the lights on at night? Hope my info helps in some way.

 

[ekvikmost]

Thanks for posting. There are windows, but the shades are pulled and the A/C is running right next to the tank. I had been putting the lights on during the day and off at night, but now the lights are off and have been since last night as I am trying to get the temperature down. This of course is no good for my corals (there are only two small corals) but I would rather lose the corals than lose the fish.
It is 100 degrees here during the day right now, which is VERY unusual.
My biggest question is would the temp rising be the reason for the cloudy water? Can't imagine that it could be anything else.

 

[teen]

im in NY also and its 100 degress here too. ive been filling 2 liter soda bottles with fresh water and then freezing them, and then putting them in the tank. it pulls the temp down like two degrees, so i have about 4 of em in my freezer. id say try that. the cloudy water could be an algae bloom because the water temp is soo high.

 

[ekvikmost]

That is a good idea. I could definitely do that and this way the ice won't melt so quickly as it is with the ice in the Ziploc. Didn't realize it could be an algae bloom. That is possible.
Do you think the water will clear up on its own once I get the temps down? I did a water change last night (partial) so I don't want to do another one so soon.

 

[mr. guitar]

I just saw on the Weather Channel that it's supposed to get around 101 in New York today!!! I didn't know it could get that hot that far "North" haha. I've been thinkin about the cloudy water in your tank. I also believe it could possibly be an algae bloom. After your water temp goes down (Hopefully) it should clear up if not you might want to clean out your filter. Hope it cools down!!!

 

[ekvikmost]

Thanks. I cleaned out the filter last night, but will clean it again if it isn't cleared up by this weekend.

 

[sugarfox03]

Put towels/blankets or anything over the windows to keep the room dark. Also, keep the lid open (if you havent been doing this) and point a fan right at the water. This helped when I had high tank temps. I ended up buying a 15000 btu AC unit for the room and now my tank wont go above 80! freezing the bottles and putting them in the tank is a good idea, but a 2 liter is big for a 12 gal, and may displace a lot of water, you can try some smaller sized bottles. Good luck, I hope everything makes it!

 

[ekvikmost]

Thanks again. Yes, the 2 liter is too big. I was planning on using one of two of the small single serving water bottles and freezing them and putting them in the tank. After today the heat wave is supposed to break so hopefully I won't have any more problems.
I did not open the lid mainly because I have two cats and I didn't want one of them to try and jump up on the tank and accidentally end up in the tank. LOL!!
I figured the A/C being on and keeping the room at 70 degrees would cool the water down enough while I am gone.
I am worried about not having the lights on in the tank. My coral is going to die if I leave the lights off too long.

 

[nygel]

another method, that i never hear around here, is to fill a carton of milk (not the jugs, a carton) with water, freeze it, and place it against the glass, this does work. I dont do it personally cuz with the A/C on on the other side of the house it keeps my 10 cool enough, plus I'm running a fan onto it for the moment, i have the same problem with opening the lid but cuz im afraid my goby will go carpet surfing. btw, its about 98 here in indiana, pretty sweet, especially since i play high school soccer and am out in it 4 hours a day

 

[demartini]

i had a big heat wave in Cali 2 weeks ago. the temp got up to 115!... which is insane here b/c the temp is almost always perfect. I had my AC at like 72 and my tank did great so as long as you use AC it should be fine.

 

[ravenhawk]

Here in Michigan its been extremely hot as well. My thermometer goes to 86 and its not even registering its so hot. I did a water change today and used cooler water to refill the tank. Thanks for the idea about freezing bottles of water Im going to try that. I have only 1 maroon clown in my tank at the moment as its only a 20 long and he wont tolerate much of anything else in the tank but I dont want to lose him. Prey for a cold front!!!!
(now that sounds strange doesnt it hahaa)

 

[laddy]

Buy a big fan, point it at the tank, make sure you have top-off water, and you should be alright.

 

[teen]

ive got a big fan pointed at my water and it does nothing. the soda bottles drop the temp like a degree or two and if i feel like going out, ill buy a bag of ice an throw that in my sump, that pulls the temp down like 3 degrees. consistancy is the hard part.

 

[bawood]

Even here in Seattle, where it's been much cooler I was having problem a couple weeks ago.
The best solution is a cool room, A/c or downstairs or whatever.
I used the 20oz frozen bottles to keep it down as I got as high as 88 before I realized it. The bottle melt pretty quick in 25 gallons so I recomment making a decent amount. I also ran a shortened light cycle to reduce the light induced heat.
Now it's not a problem as it's only been in the low 80s outside the last week, much better.
b

 

[laddy]

Originally Posted by teen
ive got a big fan pointed at my water and it does nothing. the soda bottles drop the temp like a degree or two and if i feel like going out, ill buy a bag of ice an throw that in my sump, that pulls the temp down like 3 degrees. consistancy is the hard part.

I feel your pain...consistency is the key. Anyone know much about thermal dynamics who wants to help us out?

 

[el diablo]

On my tank I've left the lid cracked open and a fan blowing over the water and when it gets too hot I leave off the lights. Also I keep my top off water in a 1 gallon jug and store it in the refrigerator. With that combination of things I've been able to keep a pretty consistant temp. I've also tried freezing some RO water but that only seems to provide temporary relief. I changed my light schedule to turn on in the morning and turn off in the morning instead og on in the afternoon and off at night. Good luck!

 

[partsman]

the heating problem in the 12 gallon jbj is not an uncommon problem and there are a lot of " fixes " recomended.
i had the same problem - of course ... and did a couple of mods after talking to jbj about a fan motor problem i was having.
they told me one of the most common heating problem was because people tend to want to fill their tank above the black rim (lip of tank ) it reduces the surface cooling area - made sense 2 me !!!!!!
i dropped my water line to the bottom of the black rim and went one step farther.i cut 2 round holes with a 2 inch hole saw directly below the cooling fans into the clear splash shield allowing the direct surface heat to be sucked out and away from the surface . i didn't have any surface splash onto the cooling fans either. adding the lighting mod from nano customs also helped as i could now put the lights on a timmer also.
even when Katrina hit here ( no power for 12 days ) and i was on generator and temps indoors were high 90's indoors i did have to float small frozen (sealed ) bottles to drop the temp as well as use a fan bowing directly on the tank as Laddy described .
hopfully that never happens again here , quite an experience for all of us !!!
anyway ..........never pour cold or frozen water into your sump , especially if you have corals or you WILL kill things.
leaving the lid partially open helps also .
there is no real fix for mother nature and the heat - only temporary fixes .
with the temp here at high 90's i am able to maintain a daily temp of about 80-81 and at night 78 - 80 with my fix and mods........
good luck ..........
wow ..........that is pretty unusual temps ya'll are having up north though ...
Michael
Katrina Land
Louisiana