stablizing temperature

all deligh

all deligh

New Member
I have a 24g nano cube. Its been up for a 3 weeks now. I'm having problems keeping the temperature "stable". It fluctuates from a low of 76.5 to a high of 80.2. To me that's too much. The tank is in my bedroom so I leave my bedroom window cracked about 3 inches so I can get some cool air in, which is keeping it down a little. It used to get up to 82 degrees. I don't find buying a chiller economical. Nothings died yet, but on the other hand I dont have much in there.
1 golden angel
3 electric blue hermits
1 red lip blenny
20lbs live rock
Should I be as concerned as I am. The first thing I do when I wake up in check the temp, when I come home I check the temp. I must look at that temp about 10 times a day.
Opinions?
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
Hmmm...the nanocube hood would get in the way of a extra fan, otherwise you could setup a fan to blow across the top of the water. No other ideas come to mind.
May I ask, why do you want it at 77 degrees? Stability is more important than the temp you aim for.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Reef tanks should be kept between 78 to 84. 84 may be pushing it, but if it is stable within +/-1 degree it is ok. My tank goes up ever so slightly at night because of the fans being off and goes down by mid afternoon due to the fans being on. Mine is always in a range of 79.5-80.5. If you get the "jacksdad" surface skimmer that helped my temperature stabilize a lot. If the window is really close to your tank that could have an impact as well. When during the day is your tank the warmest and when is it the coolest?
:joy:
 
all deligh

all deligh

New Member
I actually do have a surface skimmer. I dont know if it helps with the temp but my surface is clean.
I got the idea of 77 degrees from my buddy. He prefers 77, thats what he holds his tank at. He told me to keep it between 75 and 78. He said once I start going higher in temp my tank is more likely to have ich. He also did state that stability is more important. But he said ideally I'd want to hold it at 77. I probably could hold it at 80-81, but I didnt want my fish to get ich.
My room is about 18ft x 18ft. My tank is about 12ft from my window. Its not directly in the windows path. So no direct sunlight hits it. I leave my house at 6am with the temp at about 76.7 or so, and when I get home at 5pm its around 79.8 or 80.4. When I'm going to sleep ~11pm its going down to 78ish.
Should I just bump up the temp and hold it to 80?
Next question, what about ich or any other type of disease? Am I opening the door?
Thanks in advance for your opinions.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Originally Posted by ViPeR_930
How did the surface skimmer help stabilize the temp?
When I added the skimmer, I lowered the water volume in the rear chamber of my nano cube. By doing this it created a waterfall like effect when the water spilled over from the main tank, this caused the water to bubble and splash about which promotes the water to move to gas form. It by no means cools the water like a chiller, but it certainly helps in gas exchange and increases the evaporation rate. This really helped in stabilizing my temperature by still having excellent gas exchange and evaporation due to the waterfall effect when the fans are off at night. Without the fans and without the skimmer the nano cube with the closed canopy makes the water basically behave as a closed system heat sink with no means to cool. All the energy stays in the system from the pumps, heater, and dissipating heat from the lights when they go out.
:joy:
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
The three degree range over the course of the day is really not that big of a deal. I would not want to push it further, but it is not worth tinkering with since you already have fish in the tank. If you were still cycling, it would be worth trying to adjust, but with fish already in the tank you may wish you never messed with it if you make an error. There is evidence that disease is more prevalent at higher temperatures, but most coral reefs operate at low to mid 80's. Your temp of 77-80 should not be a problem. If the range moves any farther, make sure you try to reduce it. If you have a digital probe thermometer try to verify that this is a correct range using a classical glass thermometer. It has been my experience that some of the cheaper waterproof digital probe thermometers have a creative way of "creating" a range of temperature in a constant temperature environment.
:joy:
 
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