Temperature problems

sjgsm

sjgsm

Member
So i have a 30 gal. xtra-tall and a 150 watt metal halide.... When my light is off my tank stays a nice 78ish but when i turn my metal halide on by the time i go to turn it off at night time it is at around 82-83.... and i was wondering how i can control this since im assuming a 5-6 degree change over a day is alittle drastict for the little buggers.... please letme know what i can do to fix it or if it is a big deal, thanks.. SJgsm
 
dmjordan

dmjordan

Active Member
if you have a glass canopy on your tank take it off and add a fan to blow air across the surface of the water.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by SJgsm
and i was wondering how i can control this since im assuming a 5-6 degree change over a day is alittle drastict for the little buggers....
a 5 - 6 degree shift can be a problem for some animals, others can handle it just fine. In my opinion it's best to try to keep the temp more stable than that. My suggestion would be to set to heaters to maintain 82F.
 
sjgsm

sjgsm

Member
yeah but i believe if i set the heater to run about 82 degrees the light will still heat it up more im sure, its just by the end of the day its only gotten to 82ish so if i were to increase the heater it would be hotter before the light comes on and when the light comes on itll still heat it up.... unless thats as high as itll get but i doubt it...but im gonna try the fan thing for now ,im looking for a small fan around the house right now and took of my glass canopy off
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
You are correct, if you start at a higher temp it will go higher through out the day. Yes, the glass does help with evaporation, but you are definately having some temp problems that outweigh that issue. I would remove the glass. When you do this be careful not to burn (I am not sure what you have in the tank) anything in the tank. The glass canopy blocked a lot of your light from penitrating the surface of the water. Keep an eye on things because the increase of light could hurt some of your corals. Just a thought. Make sure you have a fan in the canopy and that your hood is above the tank. Those little feet help to let air circulate for heat problems.
 
sjgsm

sjgsm

Member
well what i have is just a tank and a stand.... i had a glass cover to go on top but i have no actual canopy... the metal halide is the coralife one that mounts to the back of the tank... if i can find my camera ill show you a picture to see if itll help with how i should go about this...thanks so far for the thoughts and ideas
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
I love pictures. I really think that if there is a fan in the hood and it's not too close to the surface of the water then you should be fine. I am hoping that when you do this you should only see a two degree change. Let me know how it goes.
 
sjgsm

sjgsm

Member
oh and if you look at the left top corner of the pic you can see how i set up the fan...letme know if you think itll work, thanks
 
S

saltfreak4

Guest
Is that a clam? You have stuff in the tank
Looks great. See how that goes. Let me know if that improves your situation. I am very curious as I have a 29 show tank, and I am planning on puting metal halides on it. That is far enough from the surface, but I don't think that unit has a fan??? If it doesn't find one to mount to the tank to cool the surface. You will probably still need to cool the surface, but just removing the glass top should help.
 
dmjordan

dmjordan

Active Member
should work fine. another alternative is to change the times you have the lights on to either earlier in the morning or later in the day when the outside temps are cooler.
 
sjgsm

sjgsm

Member
yeah its a clam... might look small in the picture but its about 6" long, ill take pictures of the stock when i find my digital camera...my camera phone doesnt work so well...but yeah my metal halide has a built in fan on the left side... but yeah ill let everyone know how it goes...all have to wait till maybe sunday night hrough to check it and see if it stays steady... thanks for the help
 
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