Temperature during Summer

[something'sfishy]

I noticed that my reef's temp rises to 83 deg. during hot weather. Is this fine, night temp is about 78 deg.? I live in Los Angeles and it tends to be hot here during sumemr time. I'm trying to avoid purvhasing a chiller which is expensive. Any suggestions or comments? Thanks, guys :notsure:

 

[spafeature]

I'm having same problem in NYC....my heater is off! Not sure what to do----

 

[kdfrosty]

I'm having the same problem, and have done a little bit of research on the subject. It seems that one way to decrease temps is to increase evaporation.
-Have an open air or egg crate top.
-Raise light slightly off the water.
-Have a fan blow across the surface of the water.
-Set your AC to about 79. The temp of the tank will usually be a couple of degrees warmer than the room temp.
-Make sure you avoid drastic temp swings. Set your heater at 82, and lower gradually.
My tank was hitting a high of 85*, and I have so far got it steady at 82*. I'm still looking to go a bit lower, preferable down to 80*.
The above info, of course, varies on your tanks placement. Is it in front or near a window that gives some sun to the tank? Do you get air circulation from your AC to the tank? It's probably different for everyone.
One thing I can tell you is that it's not even June yet, and we are already hitting 100* temps here in NM. I cant wait to see what July/August has to offer.

 

[matti070]

I would avoid taking off the top, jumpers could kill emselves. Try the fan, and turn up the AC. Close any blinds in the daytime near the tank. Try cooling the water you top off your tank with. If nothing works, use a chiller as a last resort.

 

[murph145]

u need to put some small computer fans in your canopy or however ur set up is one blowing across and one sucking the hot air out.... this will help a lot .... i have an open tank took the top off but i have a 12" high canopy .... i have had one dart fish jump out.... but that has been my only casualty....
i notice that without having a acrylic top over the tank that the temp is more stable easier to cool off and that i have a lot more evaporation pretty much about 1 gallon a day that i have to refill with DI water....
my temp stays around 80 during the summer months with the fans coming on with my timed lighting..... i then set the heater for about 78 so that way the temp doesnt toggle back and forth between night and day.... u want your temp to stay relatively constant within 2-3 degrees during the day.... so it ur temp starts at 78 u dont want it getting much higher than 81.... this could stress out and kill some of your animals with drastic temp changes...
good luck

 

[kdfrosty]

Originally Posted by Matti070
I would avoid taking off the top, jumpers could kill emselves.
I took off my glass top, and replaced it with egg crate. I only have two fish, both species known to be jumpers.....a Yellow Watchman Goby and a Bicolor Blenny.
No carpet surfing to date.
Using no top or egg crate has other benefits as well.....better gas exchange (maintaining higher Ph), and promotes evaporation - therefore cooling to an extent.

 

[wax32]

It's hot in New Orleans. Eggcrate AND chiller.

 

[newbie68]

I am in D same boat as something Fishy. I 2 live in SoCal and the my tank has been hitting the 80's. My LFS told me that I need to purchase a chiller for my corals but a chiller is just 2 expensive. I have a 46G bowfront with 2 97W PC lights with a built in fan. I actually had to open my hood and set my heater to 79 so that it does not fluctuate at night. Before my temp would vary between 76 - 81. I am curius about the fans, does it really work? I have a few comp fans here that I could rig up to cool the water.

 

[murph145]

they work!
i cut 2 exact holes on each side of my canopy to install 2 3" computer fans that i wired in to an DC adapter and plugged it into my lighting system so that the fans come on in the morning with my actinics and go off with them in the evening.... in order to keep the temp low also i had to remove the acrylic top that covered the water..... the top acts as an insulator and will keep the heat in.... once u take the top off if u have one on still it will alow for better cooling and better oxygenation of your water.... only thing is the evaporation u will have to do daily top offs if u havent already....
i also live in So. Cali out in simi valley to be exact my house temp stays around 78 but i have 470W of PC over my 100g and before installing the fans i noticed the temp would elevate to 82 within a couple of hours from 79.... now my temp stays between 79-81 i have the heater set at 78 so it wont go below that....
heres a pic of one side of my canop thats one of the comp fans blowing in on the other side the fan is blowing out.... its a lot less expensive that using a chiller and works great ...
bottom line is that u need air flow over the top of your water to cool it down and you need a lot of surface movement to help in the cool down too....

 

[newbie68]

what about using the fans to blow air into the water to speed up evaporation? Has anyone tried this?

 

[murph145]

what exactly do u mean blow air into the water??

 

[smarls]

IMHO you can, in a limited way, easily reduce the effect of this.
The problem isn't necessarily increasing water temps, it is the fluctuation betwene the daytime temps and the nightime temps...the differential is the problem.
If it is starting to heat up during the day where you live, and you expect this to happen all summer, maybe a solution would be to keep your tank warmer all the time? I mean, if the day time temp is going uo to 82 or 83, and at night it is going down to 78 (which is where you may normally run your tank), then maybe the solution is to actually increase the normal temp of your tank to 80 or 81...thus minimizing the diffierntial (which is really the issue).
This only works to a point of course, I mean if your tanmk is going to 85, then there may need to be other remedies...but this could help?
Just a thought,
Stewart

 

[mr. angelfish]

I keep my house in 70-72's on summer and 68's on winter.
My 45G Freshwater Bowfront in a upstair room remains stable from 72-74 in the winter and 74-76 in the summer. No heater in that tank. (An experiment)
When I, once, saw temperatre rosen to 78-80's and I simply change from standard room light to a ceiling fan with lights. Run the ceiling fan at medium speed all day. It works greatly on summer.
I do not see the need of a chiller at all.
I do not understand why people in California seem to try to conserve A/C usage as their weather is perfect!? Here in the Southeast states, Y'all, the Californians, would not last a minute! :hilarious Electric bill to keep A/C in 70-72's aint that bad. MUCH CHEAPER THAN INVEST A WORTHLESS CHILLER.
Here is question: By having a ceiling fan in your room, Does that help to maintain your satisfaction temperature range while your not an A/C user or keep it set above 76?
(Just curious)

 

[murph145]

well lets see its no so much our weather causing our tanks to get too hot.... its a slight cause but mainly its peoples lighting.... the light being directly over the tank causes the water to heat up.... but once summer comes along our house temps go up also thus increasing our tank temps even more....
us californians do have good weather most of the time.... but it still manages to get hot here.... in the 100's..... we have high energy prices thats y we try to conserve energy here thanks to our local government u know but not much i can do about that.... my houses temp stays about 78 during the summer i have a good insulated house... but if i left my tank lights on all day without the fans on my tank temp would easily be in the high 80's
so as u can see its not just us californians lol but anyone in the hotter regions on the us that have high power lights over there tank to keep corals.... for freshwater all u need is a 20watt bulb and ur set 20 watts wont do anything but when u start pilling 100's of watts over your tank the heat goes up tremendously....
thats my 411

 

[wax32]

I hate to think what my electricity bill would be if I tried to keep my fish room at 72! My fish room is never below 80 during the summer, even at night, and is usually hotter. If got a ceiling fan going in the room 24/7 and when I am home I have a floor fan running. 300w of VHO + hot room temp means no way I could keep my tank without a chiller, at least during the summer.

 

[stuckinfla]

My tank tops off at 82 during the day....81 at night. Under 84 is ideal. I live in Fla, and keep my house - 78 Summer & winter. I have MH & PC combo with eggcrate & 1-6"fan blowing on the surface. I do have auto topoff with the RO/DI, so this helps. What if you just try to keep the tank warmer instead of cooling it?

 

[something'sfishy]

Thnaks guys for your inputs..I don't have an Ac byt the room temp gets to 80 deg.
I will try increasing the temp to 78 from 77...In that way there's not too much chnage in temp.

 

[the claw]

This may sound funny, but I actually have more trouble in winter when the house is heated rather than A/C. Fans work great at reducing temps. The biggest problem is with top off water.

 

[wax32]

My room is 84 as I type this at 9:15 at night and it was 86 earlier. Don't think I want my tank that hot!

 

[ktsdad]

Here is my 2 cents worth....
I also live in California, but I live in the high desert, summer temp averages 105 plus every day. I can't afford to keep my house cooled to 72 with AC, that would cost 300-400 a month. Instead I did buy a chiller for my reef tank. That with the heater keeps the water at 78 at all times year around.
My 95 Hex tank was another issue. Since it is FOWLR I decided to go another route. For about $15 you can buy a fan like the one installed in any bathroom (with a fan) at any hardware store. The output is about 60CFM. The output port is usually 3 inches. So I bought a 3 inch flexable duct (like the one from your dryer). Put the fan on the floor behind the stand (out of sight) route the flex duct up into the canopy so it blows between the lights and the water. Plug the fan into the same timer as the lights. This dropped my water temp down 4-5 degrees.
Just another fan option if your canopy is not tall enough to install computer fans.
Not trying to start a war, but....most of us from California wouldn't want to live in the southeast states!