over heating

[salisbury a d]

My tank is way over heating. The temp right now is 85 . I know hot. I do not have a chiller and can not afford one. What do I do? Bags of ice only bring the temp down two degrees and we do not have room for alot of ice and our fridge does not have an ice maker.
Tomarrow is supposed to get hotter at 95 and humid what do I do? . OUr house isn't air conditioned either.
Adam

 

[dad]

I don't want to sound rude or anything but i think you need to invest in a air conditioner.
just a small window unit to keep the room cool.
there are no cheap ways of keeping the temp down other than ice or making yourself a chiller of some type.
this is not a cheap hobby!
my 2 cents.

 

[panther]

You could purchase some ice packs pretty cheap. Freeze them, and put them in the tank to lower temp. While you have 2 in the tank, make sure you have 2 in the freezer, that way you can swap them when the ones in the tank thaw out. That should help keep the temp down in the tank.
I haven't had an overheating problem as my tanks are in the basement and stay pretty cool, but I would think this would work pretty good. You didn't say what size tank you have, but the more ice packs you put in the tank, the quicker the temp will drop. HTH

 

[salisbury a d]

Dad I can't get a window unit. Where my tank is is in our living room on the first floor of our house. The living room is connected to the kitchen/dining room by two large passages. The a long halway connecting to three bedrooms and a bathroom. The living room also has an open stair well tha goes up to a landing and three more rooms.
The only rooms that have doors are the ones upstairs and the three downstairs including the bathroom.
We would need about four window units to cool the house enough.
Plus our electric bill is high.
Also something about the way my dad built the addition to our house does not allow us to put in central ac.
Adam
[ June 26, 2001: Message edited by: Salisbury A D ]

 

[dugan]

Open the hood and aim a fan over the top of the tank. Use ice packs. Both should help.
Katie

 

[twoods71]

I had a heat problem until I left the lid on my hood up. Now the temp stays around 80 to 82.

 

[salisbury a d]

I do leave the hood open and there is a ceiling fan right over the tank. Still it does nothing to help. I have also been turning the light on at night instead of the day and that doesn't even work.
I would like to get the ice probe chiller but it requires to put a hole in the tank or in the sump. That would mean a few days of my critters in buckets or a few days without a filter. The Ice Probe chiller is only 99$. But what to do what to do.
Adam

[hr]
Here comes A dam Salisbury again.

 

[dugan]

Adam, try one of those fans on a pole aimed right across the top of the tank. That's been working for me, temps no higher than 82 today.
Katie

 

[dad]

huuummm, delema.
the ice packs,open hood,fans....all are great advice.
what kind of lights do you have?may need to move them away some.
also:keep your dispacement water in your icebox.
if you do water changes(do the same).
i'm all out of ideas,sorry

 

[kodi]

Don't know how big you tank is or if you have a sump. However, I would freeze several plastic gallon milk jugs then drop them in my sump. Depending on the temp they would last several hours and drop the temp several degrees. This along with open hood and a fan blowing over the surface of the water (not just a ceiling fan) always worked for me. After they melted they went right back into the freezer - the water never mixed with my tank water. You might want to do a search on this site for DIY chiller made out of a small refrigerator. LOL

 

[andymi]

How much current do you have? Sometimes water circulating and moving around the top will help keep the temp a little lower as well. Otherwise use some of the other techniques.
HTH
Andy

 

[pudd'ntang]

I don't want to sound like, I think you are dumb or anything, but do you have the heater unplugged. You don't need it. Also take the advise about adding the frozen water to the sump. Also use a floor fan facing the aquarium in addition to the ceiling fan. This should lower your temperature.

 

[salisbury a d]

Yes my heater is unplugged and not even in the tank. We do not have a fan that reaches the top of the tank it is to tall. I have been using big tubs and soda bottles of frozen water and that only helps with two degrees. I have almost to much water movement for the fish and I have about 30 mushroom corals that can not extend to their full potential.
Adam

 

[salisbury a d]

Yes my heater is unplugged and not even in the tank. We do not have a fan that reaches the top of the tank it is to tall. I have been using big tubs and soda bottles of frozen water and that only helps with two degrees. I have almost to much water movement for the fish and I have about 30 mushroom corals that can not extend to their full potential.
Adam

 

[jups1]

So far the temp hasn't gotten out of control. Not sure what you have in your tank, but you should be fine. If the ice jugs are bringing temp down a couple degrees, sounds like you've solved the problem. Is there a way to keep the temp down in your house? For me, I close all curtains/shades and my house ranges from 82-85 when it's 90+ outside. Can't use the air much cuz it triples the electric bill.
You're fine around 85 - just don't want it going much higher than that.
Juli

 

[goofieones]

I've pretty much given into the fact that my tank won't go below 82 in the summer, and right now is 84.6, goes lower at night. But my tank has been this way for over a month, and no problems yet. I don't know if you will have problems, I have a fish only tank, so don't know how that will effect the corals, if at all. I know some people with corals who keep their tanks at 82 all the time.

 

[mal]

My friend and I had this problem also. We went to radio shack and bought small compter fans, used to cool hard drives, we installed them in our hoods and set them up with the light timer so the fan circulates air under the hood when the lights are on. My temp has been really stable ever since. The fans are dirt cheap, (about $10) and very small and VERY quiet.

 

[quoc]

If you have a sump, go to walmart and buy those small clip on fan. Clip it on somewhere that it will blow air over your sump and leave it running 24hrs

 

[indy1]

I 'm with goofie my tank stays around 85 F during the day and things look great. It has been that way for 2 years now!!! No problems!!!!!! In my opinion if it gets over say...88 F then you mhave a problem. By the way my AC is on @75 F and my tank still goes to 85 F with the lights on..

 

[q]

Indy1
I'm just curious about what type of light you have and how far off the water they are.