Help! Aquarium water too hot

[Zach W]

So I live in the greater Boston area and was out of town on the two hottest days of the season so far (85-90 degrees) I just came home to find my tank water at 84.2 degrees. Now this isn’t a huge deal because I don’t have any coral or fish yet, just two small astrea snails who seem to be fine. I have a IM fusion 20 and live on the top floor of an apartment complex. I did not have my AC running but just patio door and windows open while I was gone. Do I need a chiller, or will direct fans do the trick? I really don’t want to have to turn on my A/C whenever it gets above 80 outside so I’m not sure what to do.

 

[LuizW13]

Dude, turn that A/C on!

I Like to have my patio door open and fan on too, but during the summer in Texas, it's just not feasible.

It can take a long time to get your water back down to temperature; i wouldn't turn the A/C just when the temperature in your heater reads above the temp you set it to.

Set your A/C to 78 and relax

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

My AC goes on when opening the windows can't keep my temperatures below 80*F. I keep my AC at 77*F and my tanks stay at 78*F. You shouldn't need a chiller unless you regularly allow your home to get above your aquarium's set temperature.

The trade off is you need to be smart with your AC. If you have a time like this again where you're going to be traveling and it's possible that the temperature can get high, you need to turn the AC on before you leave so your home will keep the tank cool.

 

[Brew12]

So I live in the greater Boston area and was out of town on the two hottest days of the season so far (85-90 degrees) I just came home to find my tank water at 84.2 degrees. Now this isn’t a huge deal because I don’t have any coral or fish yet, just two small astrea snails who seem to be fine. I have a IM fusion 20 and live on the top floor of an apartment complex. I did not have my AC running but just patio door and windows open while I was gone. Do I need a chiller, or will direct fans do the trick? I really don’t want to have to turn on my A/C whenever it gets above 80 outside so I’m not sure what to do.

Direct fans will probably work with the outside temp under 85. Much more than that and you could have problems. Keep in mind that the direct fans cool the water through increased evaporation so you will need to top off much more often.
And keep a block of salt water in a ziplock bag in the freezer "just in case".

 

[Greybeard]

What's the ambient temp in the apartment?

My tank naturally maintains a few degrees higher temp than the room temp. Lights, pumps, etc. all add a bit of heat to the tank. If you expect your tank temp to be equal to or lower than the room temp, then a chiller is probably the right answer. Fans can help, but they're not going to maintain a tank temp to 78 in an 85 degree room.

I pretty much switch off the heat pumps and turn on the AC at the same time. Heat to 68 in the winter, cool to 72 in the summer. This is in Missouri... we don't have spring and fall

Tank is set for 76. If I let it get hot in the house, tank will jump way up. I've got apex temp alarms, a cooling fan, and emergency shut down on my lights... but even that won't reduce tank temps more than a degree or two below room temp.

 

[Zach W]

Dude, turn that A/C on!

I Like to have my patio door open and fan on too, but during the summer in Texas, it's just not feasible.

It can take a long time to get your water back down to temperature; i wouldn't turn the A/C just when the temperature in your heater reads above the temp you set it to.

Set your A/C to 78 and relax

My issue is that the AC unit in my apartment isn’t a “set it and forget it” type. It’s either always on or off which sucks. That’s the root cause of this issue

If I could just set my apartment temp to 74 I’d be set but unfortunately I can’t

 

[Bayareareefer18]

A Nest is a great investment

 

[Zach W]

What's the ambient temp in the apartment?

My tank naturally maintains a few degrees higher temp than the room temp. Lights, pumps, etc. all add a bit of heat to the tank. If you expect your tank temp to be equal to or lower than the room temp, then a chiller is probably the right answer. Fans can help, but they're not going to maintain a tank temp to 78 in an 85 degree room.

I pretty much switch off the heat pumps and turn on the AC at the same time. Heat to 68 in the winter, cool to 72 in the summer. This is in Missouri... we don't have spring and fall

Tank is set for 76. If I let it get hot in the house, tank will jump way up. I've got apex temp alarms, a cooling fan, and emergency shut down on my lights... but even that won't reduce tank temps more than a degree or two below room temp.

I’m not totally sure what the temp was when I got home. I immediately turned the AC on full blast. It was probably around 80. I just don’t wanna be controlled to my tank and be forced to have the AC on 24/7 in the warm months because it’s either on or off. I can’t set it to a temp unfortunately which sucks

 

[Zach W]

A Nest is a great investment

I live in an apartment that has its own heating and cooling setup unfortunately

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

It would totally suck to get a chiller for a 20 gallon tank... but providing AC for a whole place for a 20 gallon tank sounds just as atrocious .

I think it's probably most cost effective in the short term to get a ranco controller and plug the AC unit into it. When the temp reaches 82, the ranco will turn on the AC. Rancos are like bulletproof for consistency in my experience.

 

[Zach W]

Does anyone have any experience with the chill solutions csxc-1 ?

 

[Zach W]

It would totally suck to get a chiller for a 20 gallon tank... but providing AC for a whole place for a 20 gallon tank sounds just as atrocious .

I think it's probably most cost effective in the short term to get a ranco controller and plug the AC unit into it. When the temp reaches 82, the ranco will turn on the AC. Rancos are like bulletproof for consistency in my experience.

Im not familiar with those but that sounds like a great idea! Do they have them with this plug orientation?

 

[TripleDogDareYah]

Wow. Never seen that before. I imagine you'd need an adapter. It's just a standard 3 prong plug on the ones I've seen.

 

[Zach W]

Wow. Never seen that before. I imagine you'd need an adapter. It's just a standard 3 prong plug on the ones I've seen.

Just looked into it and apparently it’s a 220V plug instead of a regular 110V. I’m not an electrician and I don’t want to short a circuit and burn down my apartment... haha

 

[Zach W]

Im not familiar with those but that sounds like a great idea! Do they have them with this plug orientation?

@Brew12 i see you are electrically savvy, any way to hook this type of plug into a ranco temp controller and then back to the wall. I think it is a 220V plug but the controller just seems to have the “normal” plug and outlet (vertical posts not horizontal like the AC unit)

 

[Fish4udog]

A chiller will keep your tank cool but will raise the temp in your room 5-10 degrees depending on how long it runs. Same principle as your window air conditioner only difference the chillers exhaust in your apartment your AC exhaust outside. You will end up running your AC anyway if the chiller runs much to keep the apartment cool

 

[Brew12]

@Brew12 i see you are electrically savvy, any way to hook this type of plug into a ranco temp controller and then back to the wall. I think it is a 220V plug but the controller just seems to have the “normal” plug and outlet (vertical posts not horizontal like the AC unit)

It is a 220V, 15A plug. I think I have an idea, but it might take some work on your end. Let me give this some thought.

 

[Zach W]

A chiller will keep your tank cool but will raise the temp in your room 5-10 degrees depending on how long it runs. Same principle as your window air conditioner only difference the chillers exhaust in your apartment your AC exhaust outside. You will end up running your AC anyway if the chiller runs much to keep the apartment cool

The one I was looking at isn’t the normal type chiller. It’s made for aquariums up to 30gal. I can’t imagine this little guy would raise my room temp 5-10 degrees but I guess I could be wrong

I’ve got an “in wall” AC unit but I get your point as to the venting outside

 

[Zach W]

It is a 220V, 15A plug. I think I have an idea, but it might take some work on your end. Let me give this some thought.

Sounds good!

 

[Caswal]

I built my own unit similar to the CSXC-1 out of parts I had lying around, for my 16G. My house was peaking up to around 84-86F during our summer. It did keep up for me. The cooler and my controller for the heater, I could keep the tank between 25.5 and 26 deg c (78-79F).