Distance Of Lights From Water

[gizmo001i]

Hi everyone,
At the moment, my tank is getting very warm in this nice weather. I am wondering if it could be because there isn't enough space between the lights and the water to allow for the heat to dissipate ( I have about 2.5" space between them). My tank seems to be hovering around the 28 - 29 C mark which I'm not happy with. I have a community tank and would like to get back down to 26 C. I have read about fans and everything else but was wondering if a larger clearance between water and lights would help. Also, could my temp problem be to do with my undergravel heater. I have a 25W undergravel cable which is always on. Any thoughts on this matter will be very welcome.
Cheers
Ian

 

[gizmo001i]

Bump

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I think the distance is ok at 2.5 inches -- certainly much better than having the light sitting directly on the glass. Perhaps you could limit the number of hours the light is on? I'm not sure about the undergravel heater as I do not use one.

My tanks increase in temp during the summer, too. We use air conditioners (window units) which keep the tank temps down and it keeps us cool, too!!

 

[tjw]

If you have money to burn, you can always buy an aquarium chiller... the cheapest would cost you ~ $300.

I couldn't afford to buy a Chiller.... so, I bought an Aquatek Aquarium Cooling Fan from Aqua eWorld on eBay. This fan has been a BLESSING to my tank during the hot summer months!! Even though i have a canope, the air flow from the fan drives out the hot air accumulated inside. The little clips on the fan snaps onto the aquarium wall very easily.

It dropped the temperature of my tank in hours and saved me $300!!! (and save energy cost too!)

you can give it a try. Good Luck!