Water temp at 89.5 - Help!

[montana]

Our water temp rose substantially overnight and I can't figure out what is going on. Our heater was set at 74 as always. We had warmer weather here yesterday (85) but our tank is in the bsmt and it doesn't get warm down here - the air temp down here was 70 this morning. Why would the tank have gotten so hot? I just came down for the morning, and water is 89.5, but now starting to drop - I unplugged heater and opened windows (it is chilly outside this morning) and opened all tank cabinet doors. We have not been having heating issues at all, so I am thinking something must be malfunctioning, probably the heater? It is a ProHeat 300W heater. WE have an RO system and holding tank with auto topoff to the sump, and that heater is also set at 74. I checked the water temp of the holding tank and it was at 80, so I turned the heater down a bit on it. Any suggestion as to what else I should do? Thanks.

 

[Anonymous]

I dont trust the thermostats in heaters. I had 2 fail on me in 3 months. I now use a Ranco dual stage controller that I use as the temp controller for the heater.
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[montana]

Thanks. I am assuming the Ranco dual stage controller something I can find at the LFS or at an online aquarium site. I'll check it out.

 

[Anonymous]

This is where I got mine - http://diyreef.com/shop/product_info.ph ... cts_id=212

I use the cooling stage to control a 6 inch clip on fan in my canopy.
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[montana]

Thanks.

 

[bubblepuffer]

I think it's nothing to do with the heater.. my tank temperature rose to 88 last night even after the Heater is unplug. It's the environment condition causing the problem as what I suspected. Remember tank water cool dow slower then air.. It help when you get a fan blow over your tank all the time during the hot summer day even in the basement. I use a fan at Max speed blow on my tank to cool it down as it is not worth to get a water chiller for me since I am in Canada and the hot summer weather might just last for 2 months or so.. since the tank in the basement most of the time I just use 1 or 2 fans and good enought for me to cool down my tank and also get the heat away that generate by the light too..

 

[bubblepuffer]

I think it's nothing to do with the heater.. my tank temperature rose to 88 last night even after the Heater is unplug. It's the environment condition causing the problem as what I suspected. Remember tank water cool dow slower then air.. It help when you get a fan blow over your tank all the time during the hot summer day even in the basement. I use a fan at Max speed blow on my tank to cool it down as it is not worth to get a water chiller for me since I am in Canada and the hot summer weather might just last for 2 months or so.. since the tank in the basement most of the time I just use 1 or 2 fans and good enought for me to cool down my tank and also get the heat away that generate by the light too..

 

[montana]

Actually, it appears to HAVE been a heater malfunction. After letting things cool down, we replaced the heater and things are fine - the water stayed around 80 degrees all day yesterday, even tho it was almost 90 degrees outside here yesterday. We do have several fans blowing during our light cycle; without those we were having temp issues on a daily basis, even without the warmer weather. We also replaced the glass top on our tank with plastic grid (per another good tip from this site!) and that cut down on the heat tremendously...our tank is built into the wall, so we probably get more heat build up than typical. Here in Montana we are in similar situation as you in Canada - hated to install a chiller since our outdoor weather would likely only necessitate using it a few months out of the year. The fans, better ventilation for our in-wall tank (i.e., a few more vents in the wall) and replacing the glass top together have alleviated the daily heat issues. As to the heater malfunciton, someone else here suggested we replace the 300W heater on our tank with 2 smaller ones - that way if one malfunctions, there is not such a dramatic effect on the tank. Anyway, thanks for the suggestions,

 

[bubblepuffer]

yes .. 2 small heater better then 1 big one cause if the heater is dead, with 2 small one, you still able to maintain the temperature for a while until you get the broken one replace. The temperature control switch is good but only if the heater is mail function so it won't overheat the water but if the heater broken down, sometime it's hard to get replacement especially during winter time as water temperature dropped so fast. I always keep 1 or 2 spare heater incase something happen.

Have you been to Waterton Nation Park.. just south of Alberta. Last time I went there, there is a lot of Cars and RV from Montana camping over there..