Heat kills deadly

[Willito]

Woh, I never thought that I would encounter such problem, but it's a reality. When the lights came on this morning, I noticed 4 colonies of sps, a fairy wrasse, and a blenny have become causualties of the summer heat.
I glanced at the thermometer and it appeared to be at 90C+. All the other corals have shribbled up and not looking so great. I threw on a fan to cool it down right away, but I don't know if it's going to help out the other remainders. I also turned off the halides for the day.

I am a litte lost right now, as to how it got up to 90c+ in a matter of 24 hrs. I understand that it was hot yesterday, but it was also hot days before as well. My heater has been unplugged for weeks now, pumps are still the same. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I recently added a cover onto the sump. Could this lid, which is covering 90% of the sump be the culprit? If so, I hope removing it will cool things down.

Has anyone else experienced this? How do you coupe with this weather if the tank is not in the basement?


-Will

[Canadian Man]

Your first problem is the one you mentioned. UN COVER YOUR SUMP. If you must cover it than save that for winter time.

Otherwise run a fan like your doing.

[Delphinus]

Are you in an apartment or something?

What are your nighttime temps?

I'm a little perplexed that you've lost fish. 90 shouldn't be killing fish, stressing maybe, but killing ... ? You say your heaters are off so I wonder what kind of swings your tanks are encountering. Or maybe it's some kind of factor of the speed of the temperature spike.

I think that lowering the setpoint on your heater would be a better option than taking it out or leaving it off. You need some sort of stability in your temperature management. Temperatures do cool off at night, and IMO the swings and the rate of change can be worse than the actual peak values.

As far as weathering the heat, ... evaporation is your friend. Increase it as much as you can. Add fans, remove covers. Potentially adjust your photoperiod so that it does not coincide with the daytime peaks.

Also, a fan blowing ONTO the water surface will do more than just a fan blowing ACROSS the water surface, so keep your options open and be creative.

Or if you've got the cash, get a chiller or a room AC unit.

[Willito]

I live in a house where the temp during a hot summer's night is about 27C. I haven't been monitoring the temp at night, but I will plug the heater back in for stability. I used to live in a basement and this was never an issue, but now I guess I have to pay more attention.

A chiller/AC is probably out of the question, but more fans and water circulation is not. I'll try some of the things you mentioned here Tony.
As for the fish, the heat got to them. All parameter are good. They were the happiest fish I've ever own.

[hawk]

During the day, run a fan over your sump aimed directly at the water, this will lower the temp significantly. If it's not enough add another one. Whatever your daytime constant temp is, try to maintain this with a heater at night.

[Delphinus]

Wow, 27 at night ... I would not be able to sleep at all in that.

Sorry for your losses and good luck.

[johnny rock]

you mentioned that you just threw a fan on. did you have any to start with? a humid day can really increase your heat as your tank won't evaporate anymore. TAKE the cover off the sump and cool the sump with a permanent fan. you'll have to do more topoff but thats the price of not having AC/CENTRAL air.sad losses.

[Willito]

Ya tell me about, sleep is not easy. I guess the reason why it's so hot here is because of the vaulted ceiling. There's no attic to insulate the cool from the hot, and once it's hot, it gets trapped. Using fans to circulate is the only option right now.

The only benifit I get out of this heat is it prepares me for the my vacation in Asia.

[Willito]

Just an update on the situation.

With the lid removed from the sump, an 8" fan blowing on the water surface, and the halides off for the day, the temperature lowered by 10 degrees in less than 12 hours. It is now sitting around 80F. The remaining corals are starting to come back out, not looking great, but much improved. Some corals sustained minor tissue fold-back, but I hope in time it will heal and grow back to replace the damaged areas.

I must admit, yesterday was pretty stressful. Let me tell ya, this is one lesson to be learnt and kept for a long time. Thanks to everyone who contributed in helping me bring this around.

[albert_dao]

That's really crappy Will. I remember you telling me about this but forgot to mention something. I remember reading a thread on RC a while back about a guy who ran 20' worth of pvc plumbed to his tank into the basement along the concrete. This allowed him to keep a significantly lower temperature consistantly during intense summers. You could probably rig something like that running from your sump, might have to do some drilling though.

Edit: You'll need a high powered pump though.