How to cool reef tank during California heatwave

[clown99]

It's 111 today in San Jose. My reef tank is at 79.4 with fan on high & an ice bag, so I just threw in the frozen ribs to cool it down more.

 

[Nigel35]

It was almost 120 yesterday for me... Kept the AC running and it was ok. Keep up the good work!

 

[BlennyTime]

Wonder if fish are more into Kansas City or Memphis style bbq? Maybe it depends on which part of the world they are from?

 

[BackToTheReef]

It's 111 today in San Jose. My reef tank is at 79.4 with fan on high & an ice bag, so I just threw in the frozen ribs to cool it down more.

Now that's a new brining method!

 

[Nigel35]

Absolutely true!

 

[BackToTheReef]

Wonder if you could rig up some tubing to run thru the tank and run some cold fresh water thru the tube if it got too warm and the other stuff isn't helping. Not really controllable though and relies on cool water, if it's that hot the tap water might not help!

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Hahahaha when we had the 300 up in Florida and the chiller and ac couldn’t keep up we had dedicated vacuum bags of ice hahaha. This is definitely bringing ingenuity to the game! Hahahaha

 

[User1]

Northern Cali here and yeah - heat wave round 2, or 3, or I forget which number. Tank is 79 and I'm cool with it reaching 82 or 82 before I start to worry. House is 76'ish or there about so really never a issue. If I felt there was a worry I'd put a fan and point it over the surface - that always does the trick and a great way to cool a tank down.

 

[deahttub]

It's 111 today in San Jose. My reef tank is at 79.4 with fan on high & an ice bag, so I just threw in the frozen ribs to cool it down more.

my tank gets to 82 everyday here in florida. No issues.

 

[vetteguy53081]

RIBS ???? Thats a first but youre on the right track. fill 2 ziplock bags with ice cubes.
Float one and when it melts, place in freezer and float the other and keep rotating them. You now have ice-packs !

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Hitting similar temps in San Ramon today. I run my tank 79.4-79.9 year round since it’s regularly hot here in Cali. When we have a serious heat wave like now, with a surface fan I usually only have to run AC for a few hours a day to keep it down. I’ll let it get to 81 before I turn on the AC.

 

[Daddy-o]

108 in my driveway today. My 200+ gallon reef is in my un-insulated garage. I have no A/C or chiller. It can handle 2 or 3 days of this tops. My reef is swinging from 76-85 every day. On top of that we have had 2 power outages and a brown out. I guess this is how we weed out the weak corals.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Biglew11]

J wouldn't worry about temps until over 82.5 or 83. Way to think outside the box though.

 

[HB AL]

It's 111 today in San Jose. My reef tank is at 79.4 with fan on high & an ice bag, so I just threw in the frozen ribs to cool it down more.

At 79.4 sounds like its under control. My central ac takes care of it for me.

 

[Pistondog]

Hahahaha when we had the 300 up in Florida and the chiller and ac couldn’t keep up we had dedicated vacuum bags of ice hahaha. This is definitely bringing ingenuity to the game! Hahahaha

Same idea. I have 3 or 4 2 quart bottles of frozen water. 1 goes in the sump every 1.5 hours noon to 6pm
Fan runs above 79.5

 

[Ippyroy]

It's a blistering 35 here. Been snowing for the last 3 hours, but nothing stuck. Someone said it was a blizzard.

 

[creativeballance]

Step 1) move out of California.

Seriously. I lived in riverside until last October.
I'm enjoying my 2400ft2 house, thermostat set to 72f, and a $120/month electric bill.

 

[Daddy-o]

Step 1) move out of California.

Seriously. I lived in riverside until last October.
I'm enjoying my 2400ft2 house, thermostat set to 72f, and a $120/month electric bill.

And where is this "oasis"?

 

[creativeballance]

And where is this "oasis"?

Anywhere else.

In my case, Louisville, KY.

 

[CookieRdReef]

Living in hells heat of California is made up for in the winter. My first 24 winters were in the midwest. I'll take 75 and sunny in January in exchange for an ungodly electric bill