Summer time, high tank temps

[Jolieve]

Okay, so summer is here and my tank temp shot up to 86 degrees yesterday. I discovered that my neighbors had cut back my grapevine that normally blocks light coming into the room and I had a direct beam of sunlight hitting the tank. A bedsheet and some thumbtacks and a couple of hours later.. and the tank temp did not come down.

I tried shutting off the lights, and one of the powerheads in the tank. A couple hours later, no movement the tank stayed at 86 degrees, and this.. after dark. Lastly, I dropped the house temp to 73 degrees. The temp in the tank is now 84, but we haven't hit the high part of the day yet. The question remains... if this continues, if the temps in the tank don't come back down, or keep going up, what do I do next?

The heater is off and has been off for several weeks now.

Any help on this is appreciated. Thanks folks!
J.

 

[Anonymous]

Add a fan blowing across the top of the tank or the sump. Evaporative cooling should solve your problem.

 

[Reefguide]

Not sure what heater your running or if it has a on/off switch if it's diconnected fine if not disconnect it just in case it got stuck.. What's the tanks normal operating temp? Are you using any fans? MH ? at 86 your still okay... If the temp goes over that and you cant bring it down try using zip-locks filled with Ice. But, if you do you won't be able to determine if other factors are bringing the temp down. So use Ice only if you have too !! I personally use a fan in the canope, and maintain the house temp at about 75f all day long. Thats keeps my tanks temp at about 77f but I then use a heater to bump it to 80f b/c of my spawning clowns....

If the house temp is 73f and you have lights off, I'd think the tank should be cooler than than 84f ! How many other powerheads/pumps besides the one you shut off do you have?

 

[Jolieve]

Will try the fan, thanks Mick

Stats on the tank for clarification: 75 g acrylic tank. 260w pc lights half actinic half daylight. No sump, right now I am running with the remora and three maxijet 1200's as my source of water movement and filtration (I have four mj's total). Heater is a 150w thing that came with the tank. Planned to replace it in the fall, I have no clue what it is, seems to be ye olde petsmart cheapo heater. The tank is open at the back where the hang on slots are. I have two sheets of plexiglass covering the main access holes in the top of the tank. Lights are raised up off the tank about an inch and a half with some pine blocks. No canopy.

Was going to try raising the lights up higher, grabbing a clip on fan, and pulling the plexiglass sheets off the tank. Will run the fan beneath the lights to move air under them.

We'll see how it goes...

J.

 

[Expos Forever]

As stated the best way to cool with a fan is by having it blow directly on the water surface of the tank or sump. Just keep in mind that your water will evaporate faster meaning extra freshwater top off.

You can also buy a chiller, but they're expensive.