tank temp stays over 83!

pohtr

pohtr

Member
I think my flourescent lights must be putting off a lot of heat. I have a 90 with a plastic top, open on the back strip and with one 4 ft. flourescent 10k light strip. What can I do to cool down my tank?
The heater is unplugged and the room stays at or below 78. I've tried cleaning the mag 5 and unplugging the skimmer with no change in temp. I guess it has to be the lights.
Will the egg crate thing work and if so how is it done? Do you remove the existing plastic cover and place the egg crate over the tank and then set the light on that?
That just sounds too simple....
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
Um, would that be something found at a lfs or a lghting store? And then would they go under the egg crate or under the light? Or just under the existing plastic cover?
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Do the eggcrate and see if you can raise the lights off the water a bit, then get a clip on fan and blow air across the water.
You need to keep the heater on, a temp of 83 is not fatal, a change in temp from more than 2 or 3 degrees can be.
 
saltyguy

saltyguy

Member
I don't have anything covering my tank. Those glass canopy's and plastic tops do nothing but collect salt creep. I have 6x65 watts pc lights and my temp stays rght at 80.5 degrees. I think it gives a lot better gas exchange to with no top. only drawbacks is if you have any fish that like to jump, but if you do the eggcrate that would help, and you will have more evaporation so more top-offs.
 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
I think that makes sense to not have a top except some of the fish I want to have someday are jumpers. Maybe if the egg crate thing is white the salt creep won't show as much.
Do your lights hang from the ceiling?
For tonight I'm going to just open the 2 lids & tomorrow I'm going to search for eggcrate plastic.
Thanks for your help.
 
f1shman

f1shman

Active Member
just look at the website that made your light they should sell mounting legs that go on the light and then hang off the size off the tank.over the glass if u had it. im gonna invest in some eggcrate soon as well, don't want my fish on the floor!
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
taking the top off will help a lot i had to do that on my 100 reef since the PC lights woulda cooked my fish and corals... i have an open top with a canopy over it and my lights housed into the canopy.... i havent put any egg crate on my tank but i did lose one fish a dart fish due to jumping out.... make sure you have lots of water movement on the surface and that air blows across it also.... i installed 2 3" cpu fans one at each end one blowing in and one sucking out.... they are timed to come on with the lights.... anyways with 470watts of PC housed under my canopy my temp never exceeds 81 it stays between 79-81.... if i woulda left the top on im sure the tank temp would reached 90 in one day....
 
E

exile415

Guest
I had a very high tempature before I made my own kinda .. well I don't know what to call it , but here are some pics. when I put this up my tempature dropped in a week. the cost of making this is really cheap and i put a shelf up so i can put some equipment.


 
pohtr

pohtr

Member
I haven't found the plastic egg crate stuff yet so I've been leaving the two little top doors open. It helps a little but I've been afraid to leave them open at night in case it got too cold since my heater's unplugged (because I thought that might have been the problem). Keeping track of the ups & downs of temp were making me nuts so as of right now.......I am plugging the heater back on and leaving the top doors open all the time til I can get some of the plastic stuff.
Thanks for the pics. It is so helpful to SEE what other folks are doing. Eventually we're going to make a canopy probably, the kind that sits on legs on the acq.
 
airforceb2

airforceb2

Active Member
What kind of lights do you have? The stock lights or upgraded? Where is your ballast if they are upgraded? How many powerheads do you have running and what kind?
 
snailheave

snailheave

Active Member
my tank at this very moment is at 84.7 degree with freaking lights off. i am starting to concern. i leave only a slight open on top because i have fairy wrasses and they jump. i need a storm here.
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
my tank at this very moment is at 84.7 degree with freaking lights off
i know its not standard advice but my tank is almost always at 84 or even 86 some days.
never have had a problem the years i have had it up. its all about stability.IMO you need to to worry
 
airforceb2

airforceb2

Active Member
Another determining factor is what climate you have in your tank. What the temp of the water is in the inhabitant's natural habitat.
 
mister t

mister t

Member
leave your heater on, leave your glass tops off keep the heater going it will only come on when needed , and go to walmart and get a small clipon fan , it's been 90+ at my place and i can keep my 55g at77-78 no problem
 
snailheave

snailheave

Active Member
the only way i could keep the temp stable is if i set the heaters at 90. and i really don't want to do that.
 
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