Red Sea Max - Temperature fluctuation Issue

[RipCurl]

Hi All,

I am taking a shot in the dark to see if any of you have experienced the same issue I am having.

My tank tends to heat up farily quickly as it is a closed unit. The cooling fans can only be turned on manually. I can either leave them on or turn them off . They do not operate under the timer unlike my lights. It is a ridiculous flaw.

The problem is If I decide to go on vacation for an extended period of time, I do not want to leave the fans running for 24x7 in case they blow and stop working. I fear if it does, my fish will fry.

I have my lights on from 12-8pm everyday. When I come home around 5, the temp reaches 81. If I give it another 3 hours, I have seen it rise to 88. I usually turn on the cooling fans when I get back from work to keep the temperature below 80... I would like to avoid doing this all together.

I would like to start introducing corals to my tank and will need at least another 2 hours of light per day

Does anyone know of a work around for this issue? In a perfect world, the colling fans would activate themselved once the temperature has exceeded what I have set it to....

Tank Type: Red Sea Max250

Thanks for your time.

[RipCurl]

I would prefer to not have to go the chiller route but it looks as though I may have to..

[Borderjumper]

I will get back at you this afternoon when work allows. And yes the fans can be set to come on with the lights.

[RipCurl]

You just might be my savior Borderjumper. Much appreciated.

[Borderjumper]

If you look under the timer cover, there are two rocker switches. make sure they are both in the l position, this sets the fans to come on when the lights are on.. Now saying that, I don't use the lighting timer, I manually switch them on and off with the rocker switch in the control box. You will have to read up if this works using the timer.

heat is always an issue with a stock RSM... Have you ever looked at just how huge that stock skimmer pump is? As well as the pumps for circulation?

I removed the stock skimmer and am using a little bubble magnus, and I also took out the left side recirc pump and put in an eheim pump.. And i leave the flap up in the back.That pretty much solved my heat problems, except on the very hottest summer days. When it's mega hot I put a piece of egg crate over the little open area in the back left side ( this is with the back lid thing flipped up) and set an old computer fan on it on a timer that runs it 5 minutes an hour during the day.

Hope this helps
Shelley

[Skimmerking]

Shelley great idea. So having a overflow on that tank solve the problems of having the system heat up. and second i think that is why they state a place for a chiller in the compartment below. Cause it does heat up.

[lee9]

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

If you look under the timer cover, there are two rocker switches. make sure they are both in the l position, this sets the fans to come on when the lights are on.. Now saying that, I don't use the lighting timer, I manually switch them on and off with the rocker switch in the control box. You will have to read up if this works using the timer.

I don't think this isn't entirely correct. Unless it's different on some models of the RSM250. Mine is like this. One of the rocker switches is for the cooling fans (rear) and the other is for the LED lights. The rear cooling fans only have the ability to be turned on and off manually via the rocker switch. I leave them on 24 hours a day. The fans in the lights are turned on and off via the timer and/or the on off switch on the timer. If the lights are on, these fans are on.

If you bought the unit used check to ensure all the fans are operating at full speed. When I bought mine I had to clean them and replace some as they weren't operating optimally. Make sure the fans for the lights are installed correctly as well (in case someone changed them). Two should be blowing across the bulbs and the other two should be pulling that warm air out the opposite end.

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

heat is always an issue with a stock RSM... Have you ever looked at just how huge that stock skimmer pump is? As well as the pumps for circulation?

I've heard this as well but it's decreased if you have the new style skimmer pump. The Sicce supposedly reduces the heat compared to the older Hydor pump. I believe there are Sicce replacement pumps for the circulation pumps as well.

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

I removed the stock skimmer and am using a little bubble magnus, and I also took out the left side recirc pump and put in an eheim pump.. And i leave the flap up in the back.That pretty much solved my heat problems, except on the very hottest summer days. When it's mega hot I put a piece of egg crate over the little open area in the back left side ( this is with the back lid thing flipped up) and set an old computer fan on it on a timer that runs it 5 minutes an hour during the day.

I also don't use the stock skimmer. I went with the Deltec MCE-500 so I leave the back flap open too. I also leave the front feeding door up as well as that is where my autofeeder sits. That probably allows more of the heat to escape.

My apartment is quite warm and my temperature stays fairly stable within a few degrees day and night.

[RGS88]

This is not correct... at least on my RSM250 (4 months old). Bottom rocker switch is for manually turning off/on the back water cooling fans. The top rocker switch is for switching on/off the blue LED moonlights. The instructions on page 22 of the RSM250 instruction book also confirm this.

Originally Posted by Borderjumper

If you look under the timer cover, there are two rocker switches. make sure they are both in the l position, this sets the fans to come on when the lights are on.. Now saying that, I don't use the lighting timer, I manually switch them on and off with the rocker switch in the control box. You will have to read up if this works using the timer.

heat is always an issue with a stock RSM... Have you ever looked at just how huge that stock skimmer pump is? As well as the pumps for circulation?

I removed the stock skimmer and am using a little bubble magnus, and I also took out the left side recirc pump and put in an eheim pump.. And i leave the flap up in the back.That pretty much solved my heat problems, except on the very hottest summer days. When it's mega hot I put a piece of egg crate over the little open area in the back left side ( this is with the back lid thing flipped up) and set an old computer fan on it on a timer that runs it 5 minutes an hour during the day.

Hope this helps
Shelley

[RGS88]

Originally Posted by RipCurl

Hi All,

I am taking a shot in the dark to see if any of you have experienced the same issue I am having.

My tank tends to heat up farily quickly as it is a closed unit. The cooling fans can only be turned on manually. I can either leave them on or turn them off . They do not operate under the timer unlike my lights. It is a ridiculous flaw.

The problem is If I decide to go on vacation for an extended period of time, I do not want to leave the fans running for 24x7 in case they blow and stop working. I fear if it does, my fish will fry.

I have my lights on from 12-8pm everyday. When I come home around 5, the temp reaches 81. If I give it another 3 hours, I have seen it rise to 88. I usually turn on the cooling fans when I get back from work to keep the temperature below 80... I would like to avoid doing this all together.

I would like to start introducing corals to my tank and will need at least another 2 hours of light per day

Does anyone know of a work around for this issue? In a perfect world, the colling fans would activate themselved once the temperature has exceeded what I have set it to....

Tank Type: Red Sea Max250

Thanks for your time.

I agree that the water cooling fans should of been hooked up to the timer. This is a bad design. I can get huge temperature fluctuations in a 24 hour period... anywhere from 76 up to 84. Lucky to this point I haven't lost anything because of temperature fluctuations. I am planning to rewire those back water cooling fans to their own separate circuit and timer so that they can go on and off the same time as the lights.

[Skimmerking]

all you need to do is plug the fans in and where the wire comes out cut it and hook it to its own plug, and there you have it