Dapple
Active Member
I'm having a heat issue . It can get up to 82 degrees. I've tried many things. The only power sources are the refugium light and a mag 9 for the return plus the skimmer motor. What are my options.
HEAT issue
- Thread starter Dapple
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Rob.D
Moderator
Make sure your tempature probe is calibrated correctly, take crushed ice in a glass, fill the glass with water and stir for a minute. The temp should read 32 degrees, if your temp probe reads anything ither than 32 your probe is off.
dhutcheson
Active Member
I would suggest doing all things listed above first. I had a heater thermostat that actually stuck in the on position and read 77. I walked in one day and my coral beauty was dead and several of my coral had melted. The heater still read 77. When I touched the water I could tell it was wrong and very hot the correct tempo was 97. Due to the thermostat sticking in the on position the heater sayed on and overheated the tank. A couple I things I do now is keep RODI water in a 2 liter plastic bottle that I keep frozen in the freezer. I can drop a bottle in the tank if temp goes to high and it helps bring temp down. I use RODI water because if needed I can also pourit into the tank and no harm if the bottle leaks. I would also keep a fan or two blowing over the tank and cut back on lighting. This is the exact reason I bought a controller even though it ws expensive it was still cheaper than what I had lost due to the water temp going so high. Now if the temp gets out of set parameter to high or low I get an email and txt message alert and I can react. Also check your powerheads they throw off a lot of heat as well and your home heat during the colder spell at night are you turning on heat? A vent blowing in the right area can cause heat to rise as well.
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dhutcheson
Active Member
No heater in the tank. Take a look at your home heat and air vents to make sure they are not hitting the tank or the thermometer to give you a false reading. That is a lot of heat and with LEDs very confusing.
Rob.D
Moderator
Dave, I've got to disagree with you, I've been running a Mag 9.5 for two years and I have MH and 4 T5's and my 120 runs at 75-76 without a heater. I do have a small fan that blows across the top of my MH fixture.
SLUF681
Well-Known Member
I'm kinda leaning towards what Dave said. Rob, your tank is nearly 50 gallons bigger than Darren's and yours is exposed on the front and both sides. Darren's tank is in a pocket that doesn't allow for much "natural" ventilation around the tank. I'm not so sure it's the return pump though. My understanding is that the problem started when he changed skimmers. Did your tank run any warmer with that skimmer by chance? A very small difference in your tank could be magnified significantly in his smaller tank. I have to run a heater on my 125 FOWLR, but I have a Little Giant (inline) return pump and a mag 12 (submersible) driving my skimmer.
caudill187
Valuable Member
+1 get a controller. eBay has several clip on fans that should do the trick. I also like the blower-style fans they have at walmart. My skimmer pump puts out a lot of heat, so that may be the issue.
Rob.D
Moderator
Oh, so now it's my fault for selling him my skimmer!!!? LOL, that along with the fact his tank is in that corner of the basement may be the issue. I only hope a simple fan can solve his problem. No, when I had the skimmer my 40 breeder ran cool, but that doesn't mean much my basement stays @ 70-74 year round.
Engloid
Valuable Member
In my system, I have 6 large powerheads, 4 smaller ones, maxijet 1200, a big pump for 3ft skimmer, and more.. three 250w halides on display, 4 t5s on frag tank. I'm not having any heat problems, except when the house hvac system causes it.
I have a 1/4hp aqualogic chiller that I could sell. Had an hvac friend check it and it checked out good, doesn't need charge.
I have a 1/4hp aqualogic chiller that I could sell. Had an hvac friend check it and it checked out good, doesn't need charge.
SLUF681
Well-Known Member
Yep! Blame Rob! I've got a sneaking suspicion that the ventilation around the tank is as much to blame as anything. I think a simple desktop fan circulating air around the tank would fix the problem. It's not like the tank is getting 90* or anything. A couple degrees shouldn't be too hard to drop.
OP
OP
Dapple
Active Member
Temp today was 79.8 degrees with the only changes being refugium light off for 30+ hours. I'm thinking off getting a led refugium light to replace the Walmart utility light. I will update tomorrow with morning temp with Walmart light back on over the night.
Engloid
Valuable Member
Ftom my experience, you will start seeing corals stop growth about 88, and anything over will slowly kill them
A small case fan, blowing water across the water surface can somteimes drop a couple degrees without much cost or noiose, bu increasing evaporative cooling.
A small case fan, blowing water across the water surface can somteimes drop a couple degrees without much cost or noiose, bu increasing evaporative cooling.
I picked the return pump that I did because it was supposed to run cooler than the mag-drive pumps. It wasn't expensive or anything. You might think about a) going external or b) getting a cooler-running return pump.
OP
OP
Dapple
Active Member
I agree that external pumps will be cooler than internal. But with my mad scientist approach to plumbing the sump I do not feel that my setup can be modified for one. Refugium light is back off now cause the temp climbed up to 82 degrees. Tomorrow I seek a fan.
SLUF681
Well-Known Member
A fluorescent bulb is cheaper than a fan. Also, unless you can vent the heat OUT of the stand and bring cold air INTO the stand, you're only going to circulate the hot air inside the stand.
