is the lighting in my tank cooking my fish

[alyssag122]

hi i’m a fairly new nano reef tank owner. I’ve had my 13.5 gallon tank for a little over a month and cycled it with a yellow tail damsel ( i didn’t know any better when a new worker at the lfs sold it to me, i took it up w the manager j trying to get a second opinion and the worker who sold it to me is now on probation) i live in the south so summers get rly hot, it’s only april and my tank is having a hard time staying at my preferred temperature of 76-78 (it starts off at 76 in the morning and by the late evening it is at 80. from what i read it’s not a big deal, but i want to put as little stress on the damsel as possible, the issue it that my tank has a built in light, reviews say the light is very good for lps, sps, and softies which i plan on adding in a few months, but they also said that it can heat up my tank since there is not a ton of ventilation, any advice???

 

[lpsouth1978]

I live in Phoenix, so I feel you on the difficulty keeping the temps down. I think the easiest solution would be to get a small fan and have it blow across the top of the light. If you are able, you can also raise the light off the water surface a bit.

One last thing, I am VERY suspicious of the claim that the light on your tank is capable of supporting SPS. Just a word of caution.

 

[Bpb]

You’re fine 80 is harmless

 

[KimG]

You can get a inkbird temperature controller with the heating and cooling option and preferably the rubber probe. Then attached a fan to the cooling side. When temperature rises above the set point it will start the fan. That's how keep my SR80 cool.
You might need to modify the lid o fit the fan. It also gives you redundancy on the heater.

 

[sfin52]

Is that a window behind your tank? That maybe some of the issue.

 

[najer]

Take the cover off the weir section, see if that helps.

 

[alyssag122]

Is that a window behind your tank? That maybe some of the issue.

i have blackout screen on the whole window and they work to block out all thermal heat, so i thought that would help the issue but it didn’t, and my room is kept at a decent temperature, usually around 70-72 degrees, i have no idea why it is heating up so much

 

[sfin52]

i have blackout screen on the whole window and they work to block out all thermal heat, so i thought that would help the issue but it didn’t, and my room is kept at a decent temperature, usually around 70-72 degrees, i have no idea why it is heating up so much

Try a radiant barrier

 

[Aquavaj]

I have the same tank and even with a mesh top I'm hitting 81 and even 82 in the afternoons. I have a clip on fan coming in soon that will be controlled by my apex. Evaporation is going to be crazy but I have a 10g reservoir so that should last me at least a week.