How much heat does your equipment generate?

[mta_morrow]

So I have read a few posts recently where folks say they added a piece of equipment and it raised their tank temperature a couple degrees.

I find it odd because I realized I run ALOT of equipment and my tank stays near ambient room temperature.

So I’m going to post my tank size, all equipment, and tank and ambient temperature.

Red Sea Reefer 525XL. 133 gallons total volume

Maxspect RazorX 320watt LED 12 hours on
25 watt uv 24/7 light and pump
Main return pump
Skimmer 24/7
Algae reactor 12 hrs
2 180 gyres
1 RP-M wave maker
1 Tunze 6040
I have a heater but it doesn’t run as it is set at 76 and the on light is never on

Room temp 74, tank temp 76

I do have a ceiling fan on low as well in the room.

So all that stuff running and 2 degrees is my temp increase.

What do you all think?

 

[Jacked Reefer]

10 gallons
150w Metal Halide 12 inches from tank
Jebao SW2
Hang on back filter
At this point I don't even need to heat the tank. It stays at 79 degrees. I only have a heater in there for when the halide goes off.

 

[mta_morrow]

10 gallons
150w Metal Halide 12 inches from tank
Jebao SW2
Hang on back filter
At this point I don't even need to heat the tank. It stays at 79 degrees. I only have a heater in there for when the halide goes off.

What’s the temp in the room?

 

[Jacked Reefer]

What’s the temp in the room?

It varies, at daytime when it is not used around 67-68, But when im sleeping the temp goes to about 76-77 (thats when the lights off mostly, so I dont worry.)

 

[foxt]

What happens when you are in heating season?

The two biggest “ heaters” on your list are your leds and probably the return pump. The leds put heat into the air, and your Hvac ends up cooling that. What is the power consumption of the pump, and submerged or external? If internal, it is adding heat to the tank.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I originally started my 90 with six T5's overdriven with IceCap ballasts, a MAG 24 for my MRC skimmer and a MAG 9.5 as a return pump. It was rare that my heaters came on. The two MAGS put out a fair amount of heat 24/7, while the T5's warmed things up when they were on. I've since gone with a low watt skimmer (I think 45 watts....the MAG 24 was 285 watts!), a DC return pump, and LED lights, and now I frequently see my heaters are on.

 

[mta_morrow]

What happens when you are in heating season?

The two biggest “ heaters” on your list are your leds and probably the return pump. The leds put heat into the air, and your Hvac ends up cooling that. What is the power consumption of the pump, and submerged or external? If internal, it is adding heat to the tank.

All pumps are internal.

 

[ca1ore]

All the equipment I run adds about 4 degrees of heat to the tank. When I ran MH it was more like 8. I keep my house at 67 during the cold months, so about 6-7 degrees of heating is required. Nominally 78 in the Summer, so 2-3 degrees of cooling is required.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My Reeflo Hammerhead return pump- quite a bit that it adds about 5+ degrees under the tank.

 

[C. Eymann]

I ran a 2x250w + 2x54w T5 hammy fixture over my previous 75gal. Had to keep my house at 68°f in the summer + sump fan on controller to keep temps under 82. Having a 12 year old Tunze 6101 kicking out 55w of heat in the display didn't help either.

 

[X-37B]

75 house temp in summer. Its 95+ all summer to 110 at times.
Tank runs 78-79 lights on. 77 lights off. 6 lamp ati t5 4" off the surface.
So 3-4 above room temp, 2 without t5's.
Just getting into winter now.
This morning house temp 67 heater on tank at 78.
Tunze 4910dc skimmer
Tunze 1073.40 return
2 tunze 6095's
2 jebao ow-25's
Ehiem 150w heater set at 77
I turn heater off in summer as its not needed
Winter house is kept at 67.

 

[ReefGeezer]

90 Gallon Tank - 2X Rapid LED Onyx Fixtures, 96 watts - MP40 - Jeabo RW8 - Submersible 500 GPH Return Pump - Submersible 500 GPH Skimmer Pump - 200 GPH Submersible Reactor Pump - I get about a 4-5 degree rise above room temperature. The tank runs about 79 in winter and 82 in the summer. I think that most of the heat is from the submersible pumps.

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

When my house is 77 and my heaters are not running my tank will go to 81.1 but I use a fan blowing on the water and it keeps it at 77.5 and 76 at night

 

[mta_morrow]

I’m considering myself pretty fortunate after reading some of these temp increases.

I do run my heater in the winter though. It has to do about 2 degrees along with what my equipment generates

 

[ZoWhat]

It's more like...

How much HEAT does my spouse generate when I come home with yet another fish or coral


.

 

[mta_morrow]

It's more like...

How much HEAT does my spouse generate when I come home with yet another fish or coral


.

I hear ya! The temperature can rise rather quickly!

 

[foxt]

I find thermodynamics and heat transfer to be wicked complicated and confusing. This is one of those things that R2R is great about! Hoping to learn more from this thread.

I have a 220g tank with about 100g in the sump which is remotely located in the basement. I am in NY, so we get winter.

Submerged return pump that adds about 300w to the water
320w of T5 about 8-10 inches off the water
about 360W of led's about 12" off the water
Two 300w heaters in the sump (only come on in winter)
120w UV with a 50w submerged pump
A collection of MP40s and gyres
Skimmer with another 50w Submerged pump

The a/c keeps the house at 78 in the summer, with the tank usually a degree or two above that. I've always figured that the whatever heat is being absorbed by the water in the tank is also being radiated back out by the tank into the house and removed by the a/c, although at different rates than perhaps added. Then, in addition to temperature, there is the humidity from the tank to consider. On top of that, my basement is always cooler than the rest of the house, and since the volume of water circulates through the sump at 1200gph, that is probably cooling things as well.

We keep the house cool in the winter, usually around 68-69. I am sure that the tank is helping to heat the house at that point. I do have a masonry heater in the same room as the DT, and I am also sure that heat radiated by that is being absorbed by the tank. The tank usually stays around 77-78 in the winter, and that is without both of those 300w heaters running 24/7 - one usually keeps up.

Although it is probably a small effect, someday I'd love to better understand how much heat is being transferred between my tank and my sump. No matter what season, the basement is always cooler, so I assume that heat is being transferred from the DT to the sump and eventually to the basement. The fishroom where the sump sits is always warmer than the rest of the basement, so the tank is heating the fishroom.

It is all probably very complicated by all of the different materials involved; water, glass, air, pumps, etc. There is all of that pesky thermodynamics stuff again!

 

[mta_morrow]

I find thermodynamics and heat transfer to be wicked complicated and confusing. This is one of those things that R2R is great about! Hoping to learn more from this thread.

I have a 220g tank with about 100g in the sump which is remotely located in the basement. I am in NY, so we get winter.

Submerged return pump that adds about 300w to the water
320w of T5 about 8-10 inches off the water
about 360W of led's about 12" off the water
Two 300w heaters in the sump (only come on in winter)
120w UV with a 50w submerged pump
A collection of MP40s and gyres
Skimmer with another 50w Submerged pump

The a/c keeps the house at 78 in the summer, with the tank usually a degree or two above that. I've always figured that the whatever heat is being absorbed by the water in the tank is also being radiated back out by the tank into the house and removed by the a/c, although at different rates than perhaps added. Then, in addition to temperature, there is the humidity from the tank to consider. On top of that, my basement is always cooler than the rest of the house, and since the volume of water circulates through the sump at 1200gph, that is probably cooling things as well.

We keep the house cool in the winter, usually around 68-69. I am sure that the tank is helping to heat the house at that point. I do have a masonry heater in the same room as the DT, and I am also sure that heat radiated by that is being absorbed by the tank. The tank usually stays around 77-78 in the winter, and that is without both of those 300w heaters running 24/7 - one usually keeps up.

Although it is probably a small effect, someday I'd love to better understand how much heat is being transferred between my tank and my sump. No matter what season, the basement is always cooler, so I assume that heat is being transferred from the DT to the sump and eventually to the basement. The fishroom where the sump sits is always warmer than the rest of the basement, so the tank is heating the fishroom.

It is all probably very complicated by all of the different materials involved; water, glass, air, pumps, etc. There is all of that pesky thermodynamics stuff again!



In the winter, in addit

Dang! You have a lot going on there! I guess I personally never realized all of this because my tanks have been relatively “cool” running. I’ve never had to consider cooling my tank. I think I would be nervous if mine ran 80-82 in the summer. If the AC goes out, you most likely don’t have much time. I feel better wit mine running 76.

 

[saltyhog]

Wow! Maybe it's because my house is constantly 72-74 but my heaters run pretty much all the time to keep my tank at 79 degrees.

Tank is 72x24x21 and I have :

Vectra M1 return pump
MP40 x 2
MP10 x 2
AI hydra 52HD x 3
Skimz SM203 skimmer
Sicce Syncra 2.0 feeding my UV
Aqua 57 watt UV

 

[foxt]

If the AC goes out, you most likely don’t have much time. I feel better wit mine running 76.

There is one of those pesky thermodynamic things again. I have lost a/c in the heat of the summer for days at a time (we lose power a lot), and as long as I can keep water circulating between the basement and the DT, it seems as though the tank stays below 80. Fans help, and the basement has to be helping cool the tank.