Vectra M2 running hot? Tank at 80F

[sneakerhead]

Hello people!
As the title states, my tank temps are rising without any possible explanations. The tank itself is FOWLR for now.
The equipment inside the sump is vectra m2, red sea rsk-900 and reefmat.

I was around 76-77 the first few weeks, but past few days I have noticed a reasonable rise to 80 without any equipment changes.

My house never goes above 77, and I haven't turned on any heaters.

By turning the skimmer off, I was able to reduce the temperature some(was testing the effects of the skimmer on temps)
The only change I can think of is raising my Ecotech Vectra m2 pump from 65 to 70% power.

Could that alone attributed to the 2-3 degree change? I cannot really think of anything else that I have done.

 

[sneakerhead]

bump

 

[Sleepydoc]

Hello people!
As the title states, my tank temps are rising without any possible explanations. The tank itself is FOWLR for now.
The equipment inside the sump is vectra m2, red sea rsk-900 and reefmat.

I was around 76-77 the first few weeks, but past few days I have noticed a reasonable rise to 80 without any equipment changes.

My house never goes above 77, and I haven't turned on any heaters.

By turning the skimmer off, I was able to reduce the temperature some(was testing the effects of the skimmer on temps)
The only change I can think of is raising my Ecotech Vectra m2 pump from 65 to 70% power.

Could that alone attributed to the 2-3 degree change? I cannot really think of anything else that I have done.

I don't know about the 2nd generation vectra pumps but the 1st gen pumps were known for running hot. A 5% increase doesn't seem like it should add that much heat, though.

It should be pretty easy to test, though - just back off the power on your M2 and see what happens.

What else has changed?

 

[sneakerhead]

I don't know about the 2nd generation vectra pumps but the 1st gen pumps were known for running hot. A 5% increase doesn't seem like it should add that much heat, though.

It should be pretty easy to test, though - just back off the power on your M2 and see what happens.

What else has changed?

I really cannot think of much that has changed, besides maybe the environment.
Temperatures in my city have dropped some, resulting in less air conditioner use.
That is the only other thing I can think of.

On a side note, I did open the M2 to make sure everything was fine, and everything did look okay.

 

[Lavey29]

What heater and controller are you using?

 

[sneakerhead]

What heater and controller are you using?

No heater, using no controller either.

 

[Lavey29]

No heater, using no controller either.

Interesting, so your large fowler tank has no heating element at all? I'm following your thread because I have an M2 pump also. So your water is just natural room temp huh whatever that might be.

 

[Sleepydoc]

A dirty pump will run less efficiently and create more heat, so that's a possibility but it sounds like you didn't see anything.

If you have a kill-a-watt you can plug each device on your tank into it and see what the power draw is. That's of limited use without any historical data, though.

What else do you have running in the tank? Skimmer, Vectra M2....?

 

[sneakerhead]

Interesting, so your large fowler tank has no heating element at all? I'm following your thread because I have an M2 pump also. So your water is just natural room temp huh whatever that might be.

Almost 3 degrees above room temp. Room temp is around 77

 

[sneakerhead]

A dirty pump will run less efficiently and create more heat, so that's a possibility but it sounds like you didn't see anything.

If you have a kill-a-watt you can plug each device on your tank into it and see what the power draw is. That's of limited use without any historical data, though.

What else do you have running in the tank? Skimmer, Vectra M2....?

Just a Red Sea skimmer and reefmat

 

[Sleepydoc]

If the tank temp is going up you are either putting more heat in or losing less heat. From what you’ve written you have 5 sources of heat for your tank:

• Skimmer pump
• Reef mat motor
• Vectra pump
• Lights
• Ambient conditions (including sunlight)

After that, you have 2 ways of getting rid of heat:

• Evaporation
• Ambient conditions

If the ambient temp is a couple of degrees higher that could easily explain higher tank temps. Increased humidity will decrease evaporation and cause an increase in tank temps, too.

Increasing the amount of time your lights are on will increase the tank temp, assuming you haven’t done that the only other increase is the vectra pump. Like I said, you can try dropping the flow a bit and see what it does. It’s easy enough to do.

 

[workhz]

Someone touched on it above but is your evap constant or has that changed?

 

[sneakerhead]

If the tank temp is going up you are either putting more heat in or losing less heat. From what you’ve written you have 5 sources of heat for your tank:

• Skimmer pump
• Reef mat motor
• Vectra pump
• Lights
• Ambient conditions (including sunlight)

After that, you have 2 ways of getting rid of heat:

• Evaporation
• Ambient conditions

If the ambient temp is a couple of degrees higher that could easily explain higher tank temps. Increased humidity will decrease evaporation and cause an increase in tank temps, too.

Increasing the amount of time your lights are on will increase the tank temp, assuming you haven’t done that the only other increase is the vectra pump. Like I said, you can try dropping the flow a bit and see what it does. It’s easy enough to do.

Thanks for the extensive write-up.

You are spot on, as far as the sources go, maybe besides the reefmat since its motor has no contact with water.

I think my best guess has to be the evaporation; since the AC isn't on as much as it was before, that could be attributed to the higher temps.

I have reduced the flow to 60%, waiting a few days to see how things go.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Try putting a fan on the water

 

[sneakerhead]

Try putting a fan on the water

will try that as well

 

[DCR]

If you are running the air conditioner less, the humidity in your house is increasing at the same 77 F temperature. This will reduce the evaporative cooling and cause the tank temperature to rise. I suspect this is a large contributor to the increase in temperature.