Fluval 13.5 Temperature too High

[bbeck28]

Having some trouble with the temp heating up too much, 89-90. Turned off heater a week ago. I presume it has to be the light -- still using the default one the Fluval Evo 13.5 came with. Any tips for lowering the temp and/or advice on upgrading light? Thanks.

 

[fishski13]

There is no way you have your heater off and just the stock light is heating up your tank to 89-90 degrees. What is your house temp at? And what are you using to measure temperature?

 

[Spare time]

I had this issue when mine was up and running. Lids can be problematic if heat becomes an issue.

 

[Spare time]

There is no way you have your heater off and just the stock light is heating up your tank to 89-90 degrees. What is your house temp at? And what are you using to measure temperature?

I had issues with mine getting into the 80's with the stock lid and light. But it also is good to have a second thermometer just in case.

 

[bbeck28]

I had this issue when mine was up and running. Lids can be problematic if heat becomes an issue.

Did you remove lid? I really think it's the issue -- house temp is consistently between 68-71 degrees, I turned off heater in tank, no other heat source close to tank. . . If you removed lid, what light did you replace it with?

 

[olonmv]

Lids not the issue with the stock light in a cold house like yours. Something else is the heat source. I ran mine with stick lid n light for a while and maintained 78 in 73 degree house temp. Had a 100w heater to warm up water. Is your heater still plugged in? Perhaps it malfunctioned and won’t shut off?

 

[Spare time]

Did you remove lid? I really think it's the issue -- house temp is consistently between 68-71 degrees, I turned off heater in tank, no other heat source close to tank. . . If you removed lid, what light did you replace it with?

I just had to try and cool the room down some more and would have the lid semi off for a bit.

 

[Kelloggs2800]

I was looking for a forum like this because I am having the same exact issue. I will explain it all.

Recently bought the EVO about 2 weeks ago. When I first plugged everything is after one day I was getting temps of 84-86. I unplugged the skimmer, didn't change. Then I unplugged heater, didn't change. Then I unplugged the pump (last piece of equipment plugged in), Finally started to go down,

The room temp amount of the water when everything is unplugged is 84.4 (actual room temp is about 78). I know that this is a little high but a pump should not bring the temps that high. I replaced the pump with a new one (different company altogether).

The temps after 2 days are now sitting at 80.1 and seems to just keep going up. It is definitely increasing a whole lot slower then the other pump so the original one definitely had an issue.

Still nothing is plugged in except for the pump. No lights, no skimmer, no heater. I cannot see a pump increasing the heat of the water this much. You would figure maybe 1-2 degrees not 6 and still rising.

Anyone have suggestions? I was thinking about getting a fan or something. I would love to get a mesh top but then that means I need to also buy a different light and to be honest I am only doing fish (no corals) so having to buy all this new stuff seems counterproductive.

Also the lights are not on either so it will definitely go even higher at that point.

 

[doubleshot00]

I had this issue when mine was up and running. Lids can be problematic if heat becomes an issue.

This. Take the lid off.

 

[doubleshot00]

I was looking for a forum like this because I am having the same exact issue. I will explain it all.

Recently bought the EVO about 2 weeks ago. When I first plugged everything is after one day I was getting temps of 84-86. I unplugged the skimmer, didn't change. Then I unplugged heater, didn't change. Then I unplugged the pump (last piece of equipment plugged in), Finally started to go down,

The room temp amount of the water when everything is unplugged is 84.4 (actual room temp is about 78). I know that this is a little high but a pump should not bring the temps that high. I replaced the pump with a new one (different company altogether).

The temps after 2 days are now sitting at 80.1 and seems to just keep going up. It is definitely increasing a whole lot slower then the other pump so the original one definitely had an issue.

Still nothing is plugged in except for the pump. No lights, no skimmer, no heater. I cannot see a pump increasing the heat of the water this much. You would figure maybe 1-2 degrees not 6 and still rising.

Anyone have suggestions? I was thinking about getting a fan or something. I would love to get a mesh top but then that means I need to also buy a different light and to be honest I am only doing fish (no corals) so having to buy all this new stuff seems counterproductive.

Also the lights are not on either so it will definitely go even higher at that point.

Take the lid off. Get a screen and new light.

 

[Tidal Gardens Verified Sponsor]

The lid is 100% keeping heat in. Remove it if you can and it will help.

 

[ScubaFish802]

I also had this issue with my 32 flex, taking the rear section off the cover helped a lot, adding a fan helps even more. They definitely trap heat, it is a very commonly talked about issue with the flex groups.

 

[ScubaFish802]

If removing or swapping the lid is not an option here are a few of the 'cleaner' fan examples I have come accross

 

[jfoahs04]

I've had my 13.5 EVO for a good while now and this is a common issue in the groups. It's one of the many reasons most EVO owners ditch the lids. I know a lot of new users don't want to do this, but most people who keep this tank longer term end up doing it. Screen, new light, and auto top-off will help greatly in terms of keeping things stable. The tank just traps a lot of heat with the lid on.

*Edit* 100w is really a lot more heater than you need for the EVO. 50w is more than enough. I actually use two small 25w heaters (in case of failure, the tank won't overheat or cool too quickly). Smaller heaters don't heat that volume of water (likely 10g or so accounting for rocks/sand, etc.) as quickly as a 100w will. If you have a lid and are struggling with high heat, a 100w heater is going to make it trickier to stabilize at a good temp.

 

[Kelloggs2800]

I've had my 13.5 EVO for a good while now and this is a common issue in the groups. It's one of the many reasons most EVO owners ditch the lids. I know a lot of new users don't want to do this, but most people who keep this tank longer term end up doing it. Screen, new light, and auto top-off will help greatly in terms of keeping things stable. The tank just traps a lot of heat with the lid on.

*Edit* 100w is really a lot more heater than you need for the EVO. 50w is more than enough. I actually use two small 25w heaters (in case of failure, the tank won't overheat or cool too quickly). Smaller heaters don't heat that volume of water (likely 10g or so accounting for rocks/sand, etc.) as quickly as a 100w will. If you have a lid and are struggling with high heat, a 100w heater is going to make it trickier to stabilize at a good temp.

Essentially I didn't want to remove the lid for the fact that I didn't want to be evaporating water like crazy. I wasn't confident before but now I definitely feel a little better about it now.

 

[jfoahs04]

Essentially I didn't want to remove the lid for the fact that I didn't want to be evaporating water like crazy. I wasn't confident before but now I definitely feel a little better about it now.

I think that's a pretty common reason people don't want to do it (that, and the most of upgraded equipment). You'll definitely get more evaporation without the lid. But an ATO really makes it a non issue.

 

[RaymondL]

Here's an item that can help with EVO temperatures:

Fluval EVO 13.5 Cooling Fan - Etsy

The Fluval EVO 13.5 with the stock lid can create higher than ideal temperatures for its inhabitants, and its typically important to keep the temperature under 80 deg F - especially, in hotter months were the ambient room temperatures can exceed that. Having a cooling fan such as this can bring down

www.etsy.com

 

[JamaicanReefer45]

Having some trouble with the temp heating up too much, 89-90. Turned off heater a week ago. I presume it has to be the light -- still using the default one the Fluval Evo 13.5 came with. Any tips for lowering the temp and/or advice on upgrading light? Thanks.

This Problem might be coming from the Pump in the back replace it with a better and stronger pump, and replace the lighting and lid, You will love these changes.

 

[JamaicanReefer45]

Did you remove lid? I really think it's the issue -- house temp is consistently between 68-71 degrees, I turned off heater in tank, no other heat source close to tank. . . If you removed lid, what light did you replace it with?

AI Prime HD, AI Prime 16HD im using on my Fluval 13.5 with no Lid

 

[davidcalgary29]

Essentially I didn't want to remove the lid for the fact that I didn't want to be evaporating water like crazy. I wasn't confident before but now I definitely feel a little better about it now.

I took off the canopy on my home Evo when the stock light burnt out. I replaced with a mesh lid and a Prime 16. Evaporation still isn't much of a problem, as the Evo has a small surface area for its volume. I run that tank without a heater in a house heated to 20C.