Hot enough for ya???

mr_alberta · #1 07-23-2006, 05:17 AM

My tank runs at 85*F these last few days. No lights, chiller on for 12hrs/day

Unfortunatly for me, the drop in chiller pumps all the heat into my apartment. Ambient was about 30*C. Night is about 25*C.

EmilyB · #2 07-23-2006, 05:50 PM

We seem to be pretty lucky because the tanks are downstairs in a walkout basement. However, it's been stinkin' hot and I have actually just been monitoring the temp by watching the clams and the fish. If they are happy, I am.

I figured I had better pop in a thermometer with all this heat talk, and the temp was 30C so I guess I'll shut the lights down for a few days.

StirCrazy · #3 07-23-2006, 06:37 PM

Well, seeing as I have nothing but live rock I don't care this summer about the temp, my chiller is shut down, no lights on the new tank as all it has is water. (don't want to add anything till painting and new skimmer are done, well maybe the rock soon) but if I had to keep things cool a chiller would be the only way for this weather as evaporative cooling like Sam said is good for 5 or 6 degrees, but on my tank before the chiller I could easily get up to 100+ degrees so 5 or 6 didn't cut it as my tank used to get up to low 90's on hot days like this.

Central air is good for a little bit of cooling and if you don't have MH it will probably be enough, but remember air is a very pour source of cooling power as it heat value is about 1/4 that of water so you would need a lot of cool air flow to remove the heat caused by MH light and I don't know of any central ACs that are affordable that could keep up to the demands of a large tank.

Steve

marie · #4 07-23-2006, 07:30 PM

Basement sump works for me

. My 175g hasn't got above 84

b_james · #5 07-24-2006, 03:19 PM

Over the weekend we had temps reaching 35C, in fact by 11:00AM the temp already hit 30C. My tank temp maxed out at 72.9F without a chiller. I guess having the sump/fuge located in the basement really helps keeping the upstairs tank cool - not to mention having central A/C is a plus in keeping the tank cool.

chwkreefer · #6 07-24-2006, 05:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Central air is good for a little bit of cooling and if you don't have MH it will probably be enough, but remember air is a very pour source of cooling power as it heat value is about 1/4 that of water so you would need a lot of cool air flow to remove the heat caused by MH light and I don't know of any central ACs that are affordable that could keep up to the demands of a large tank.

Steve

I have a heat pump on my house. It costs about a dollar a day to run. I keep my 150 gallon tank upstairs and my tank temps vary between 76 and 78. I have a pretty good exhaust fan which creates negative air pressure to draw the cool 73 degree air into the lighting area. I have two fans blowing over the tank. Water overheating problems are not an issue for me and it's strictly due to the ambient temperature of the house. Bill

Midknight · #7 07-24-2006, 06:28 PM

Was going to switch to night lighting but forgot trying to get ready for vacation

Came home after 4 days near Nelson with 40c temp.
both tanks had lost over 20% water volume and temp in the high 80's
My 10G nano lost primary cerculation but did have a small pump moving some water and my bigger 33 had lots of water movment, was the water cascaded down several inchs to the new water level!!!

To my surprise everybody was well and waiting for a nice drink of water.

danny zubot · #8 07-24-2006, 06:54 PM

Mine peeked at 88-89F the other day. No ill effects though, maybe my thermometer is wrong.

My clowns have been doing the mating dance a lot these days, coincidence?

I may try cutting down my photo period a bit, I don't want to tempt fate.

Jaws · #9 07-24-2006, 07:21 PM

I took my filter off my chiller pump to clean it the other day because the chiller was having trouble keeping up. I took the front cover off the chiller too so the filter didn't clog. My only mistake was I forgot to plug the chiller pump back in afterwards and came home to an 88 degree tank after work. The fish were breathing pretty heavily but I plugged the pump back in and slowly brought the temp back down to 78 after 8 hours. I consider myself very luck because with the amount of lighting on my tank I could have cooked everything very quickly. I'm please to report that there were no fatalities and everything seems to be doing quite well. The only thing I can manage is the heat in my condo. Even with an 11000 BTU air conditioner, it's no match for the amount of heat that my chiller pumps out. The coolest day in my condo all year was the day I forgot to plug the chiller pump back in.

StirCrazy · #10 07-24-2006, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chwkreefer

I have a pretty good exhaust fan which creates negative air pressure to draw the cool 73 degree air into the lighting area. I have two fans blowing over the tank. Water overheating problems are not an issue for me and it's strictly due to the ambient temperature of the house. Bill

I would say your fans are doing most of the work. Central AC does help, by lowering the air temp enabling it to pick up more heat before it is equalized, but on its own usually isn't enuf, the question that remains now is how much water are you losing a day due to evaporative cooling? I was able to keep my tank under 82 with fans but I was losing 5 gal a day on a 90 gal tank, with the chiller I only lose 2 gal a day so that is a difference of 3 gal a day less water vapor being pumped into my house and up to 100 gal less of RO / month I have to make.

Steve