Temp issues with new 80 gallon tank

Keenank5 · Mar 12, 2013

Hey there! As the title inplies I've got a new 80 gal tank that's been up and running for about a week with no major issues except my temperature seems to be reading fairly high. As of right now I have a 300w heater that is kept in the sump set at approximately 76 degrees. But for some reason I'm getting temps that are around 80.2. Bear in mind when I'm not seeing that heater is coming frequently or anything like that and the temps in the house have been about 75 degrees. Any ideas on what is causing my overheating? Thanks and any help is appreciated.

jfcigarman · Mar 12, 2013

Sounds like u have a faulty heater. Not uncommon. Ive gone through several. I even had two, very good quality heaters fail on me within six months
In all honesty I have stopped using heaters period. I have three diieren tanks and I run a total of 0 heaters.
We keep our house temp about 74 degrees and after about two plus years now w/o heaters, I havent had any troubles.
Iknow several people would suggest against that but I was told long ago that if your house temp is average, then heaters arent
Necessary unless you buy specific temperature sensitive specimens. Zero trbls in my 72 g reef, my 135 fowlr or 29g biocube. Both larger tanks
Are open tops.

Gregory · Mar 12, 2013

What lights are you running on the tank and for how long. Also what pump are you using. Both can cause aded heat to your tank. 80 degrees is not bad. I keep mine at 77 degrees. The only problem is you need to be able to control the temp and if you do not know what is causing the increase then you can't control it.

Keenank5 · Mar 13, 2013

Gregory said:
What lights are you running on the tank and for how long. Also what pump are you using. Both can cause aded heat to your tank. 80 degrees is not bad. I keep mine at 77 degrees. The only problem is you need to be able to control the temp and if you do not know what is causing the increase then you can't control it.

Currently my lighting consists of a corallife 48" compact fluorescent and a 30 watt light for my refugium. As fsr as the pump I'm running a rio 2100.

Gregory · Mar 13, 2013

The pump should not be adding a significant amount of heat to your tank. Compact fluorscents do put off a quit a bit of heat especially if you have a unvented canopy. Easiest way to find out if it is a bad heater is to unplug it and see if your tank temp drops. If it does then it is your heater.

Mike J. · Mar 13, 2013

I've learned that you can't trust the settings on the heater. I'd turn it down a click every day until you get it set right.

Keenank5 · Mar 16, 2013

Just a quick update. I adjusted the heater every day until I got it right so I guess my heater's sweet spot is 74 to get tank temp of 78. Thanks everyone for the advice!