32g Biocube cooling issues.

Aidanwolf · May 22, 2019

I am not sure how accurate it is but my coralife temperature probe reads 84 F. What would be the best way to cool it?

Ron Reefman · May 23, 2019

First, 84 degrees isn't awful, it's just a little too high. Second, get any other thermometer and double check or verify that your coralife probe is accurate.
Is the top of your tank covered or open? Blowing air over the surface can lower temps by a degree or two.
How warm is your house? Lower in the indoor temp can help.
Do you have any powerheads or wavemaker pumps in the tank? Do they feel warm? Most of them ar DC these days and run cooler than the old AC pumps. The same can be said for the main return pump. Are your lights leds? If they are warm or even hot, run them a bit less and/or raise them higher off the water. If they are in a cover that sits on the tank, find a way to raise it up off the tank (add spacers between the tank and the top) and get air blowing between them.
In a pinch, a short term fix is to put some ice cubes in a ziplock bag, make sure is has no holes and seal it tight, then put it in the tank and let it float until the ice has melted.

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

Ron Reefman said:
First, 84 degrees isn't awful, it's just a little too high. Second, get any other thermometer and double check or verify that your coralife probe is accurate.
Is the top of your tank covered or open? Blowing air over the surface can lower temps by a degree or two.
How warm is your house? Lower in the indoor temp can help.
Do you have any powerheads or wavemaker pumps in the tank? Do they feel warm? Most of them ar DC these days and run cooler than the old AC pumps. The same can be said for the main return pump. Are your lights leds? If they are warm or even hot, run them a bit less and/or raise them higher off the water. If they are in a cover that sits on the tank, find a way to raise it up off the tank (add spacers between the tank and the top) and get air blowing between them.
In a pinch, a short term fix is to put some ice cubes in a ziplock bag, make sure is has no holes and seal it tight, then put it in the tank and let it float until the ice has melted.

It is a closed top with Steve LEDs. I have a Jebao wavemaker and a aqamai wavemaker ,the return pump is a colbalt mj1200.

PirateDan · May 23, 2019

I kept my feed door open and froze water bottles. Kept four in the freezer. Dropped one in the back. Switched them out as often as I could everything was fine for over a year.

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

PirateDan said:
I kept my feed door open and froze water bottles. Kept four in the freezer. Dropped one in the back. Switched them out as often as I could everything was fine for over a year.

That's crazy lol.

hdsoftail1065 · May 23, 2019

Aidanwolf said:
It is a closed top with Steve LEDs. I have a Jebao wavemaker and a aqamai wavemaker ,the return pump is a colbalt mj1200.

I just had my Steve's leds repaired and discovered they have a mod to trim the system vents for airflow on their product page. I thought I would mention it incase you also bought yours previous to this coming out. This wasn't an installation step when I purchased mine. Right now I just leave the feeder door open. Once I trim the vents and install the lights hopefully that will improve the temp.

Edit - Also, if you ever have questions with your Steve's leds, Jeff signed up from Steve's. @Steves LEDs .

PirateDan · May 23, 2019

Aidanwolf said:
That's crazy lol.

They asked how to cool. I told them how I did it. Didn’t want my tank in the 80’s. Don’t see how that’s crazy.

PirateDan · May 23, 2019

KorD · May 23, 2019

Personally I would not worry about the tank getting that warm. I have swam in waters where all the things we keep in out tanks and the temps sometimes did not dip below 88°F for a month or two.
I keep my tank at 82-84°F all the time. The stuff is doing great in there so I'm. Not going to change it.

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

Thanks, I looked at the temperature a few hours ago and it was up to 86.

reefiniteasy · May 23, 2019

I took the lid off my 16 gallon BioCube and I added the Chill Solutions hydroponic chiller. With the top off, the tank sits at 76 to 78. After one day with the chiller I’m at a stable 77 degrees. This weekend when the temps in my classroom hit 85-90 we will see how the chiller holds up.

CNDReef · May 23, 2019

Open the feed door and the rear compartment ( if the 32 has one )
Put a fan blowing across the top

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

Alex Sadowsky said:
I took the lid off my 16 gallon BioCube and I added the Chill Solutions hydroponic chiller. With the top off, the tank sits at 76 to 78. After one day with the chiller I’m at a stable 77 degrees. This weekend when the temps in my classroom hit 85-90 we will see how the chiller holds up.

I can't take the hood off as I have the Steve's led upgrade in my hood.

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

CNDReef said:
Open the feed door and the rear compartment ( if the 32 has one )
Put a fan blowing across the top

The 32 lid doesn't have a rear door. But open the feed door and get a fan to blow through it. I don't think that will do much though.

CNDReef · May 23, 2019

Not through it over it, point it straight across the top , not pointing into it. It’ll suck out the hot air. Also you can freeze some bottles or even make RO water ice cubes and put them in your ato so the water comes out colder.

Aidanwolf · May 23, 2019

CNDReef said:
Not through it over it, point it straight across the top , not pointing into it. It’ll suck out the hot air. Also you can freeze some bottles or even make RO water ice cubes and put them in your ato so the water comes out colder.

Alright I will do that, hopefully it will help.