Tank Temperature Rising

[Amelia]

Hi there, With the warm weather we have been having the temperature in my tank has been quite high. On a really hot day it is sitting between 28-32 degrees celcius. All my fish and corals seem to be ok so far except some of my little yellow polyps which have closed a little. I was looking at chillers and they are very expensive and was wondering if anyone has tried the fans you mount on top of your tank and if they are any good. If not could anyone recommend a chiller that will do the job and is not to expensive! Thanks once again

 

[kj23502]

I've read and been told that chillers are a waste of $. You can do a search on here in the sw section to read why.

The most efficient way to cool your tank is blowing air over the top of it. You could turn your air conditioning on a cooler setting or get a window air conditioner for the room that the tanks in.



I don't feel I can comment effectively on what fans to use though so I'll leave that to someone else

 

[SkiFletch]

Agreed, fans over the top of the aquarium blowing on the water surface will do very well to keep temps cool. If you have a closed in hood, you'll need a fan or two to vent air out of it, otherwise your lights basically bake the aquarium. While your at it, clean all powerhead inlet strainers just to be safe

 

[Amelia]

Thanks for your replies. I have halides so my tank is open at the top. I have just ordered a couple of fans that state they can lower the temp by 3-4 degrees. I will let you know how these work. Cheers

 

[Crazy fishes]

Just a quick comment... Remember to keep tabs on the salinity of the water as the increased temperature and now increased air movement (provided by the fans) will really increase the rate of evaporation.

Best of luck with those fans

Regards

 

[svirid]

Yep, completely agree, I was worried about temp too, when I bought MH lights.
I ordered 3 kind of fans from ebay so I can attche it in every position, plus bought JBJ top-off for my nano. So with the max speed of the fans evaporation is very high so I dont have to worry about it.
I would also suggest you to get AC adapter for your fans with ajustable voltage so u can control the speed of the fan,
and make sure u have a very good heater. So when u overcool water with the fans and nobodies home heater can work agains fans
to keep water stable.

First I pointed fan to blow right into the water, it was working very well, later I decded to attach it to the Light leg and blow under the surface, what a surprise, I got the same result but with less evaporation.

 

[Crazy fishes]

Do you mean you directed the fans at the halide lighting? I think, if I remember correctly, that halides have to work at a specific temperature and if you cool them by whatever means it can alter the light emitted by them (it changes the temperature of the light and uses more electricity as well as shortening the bulb life). I am sure some one will correct me if I am wrong . I think the most effective way to cool the tank with fans is to have the air flow parallel to the water surface but of course this also is associated with the fastest evaporation rate. You can't win one solution causes another challenge.....

Regards

 

[SkiFletch]

I think, if I remember correctly, that halides have to work at a specific temperature and if you cool them by whatever means it can alter the light emitted by them (it changes the temperature of the light and uses more electricity as well as shortening the bulb life).

Umm sort of true. Remember, all halide bulbs are a two-part entity. The inner "nipple" where the electricty actually arcs and burns the halide, and then the glass shield to scrub out UV light produced by the nipple. In single ended (mogul) halides, the outer shell of the bulb is it's UV shield. In double ended halides, the glass pane at the bottom of the reflector is the shield. In either case, you can cool the shield without harming or altering what the bulb does. Cooling the nipple will cause problems you describe CF, but it's hard to do that

 

[Amelia]

Thanks for all the info! I got my fans today so will get them on asap. I am going to put them on a timer so they only come on for the hottest part of the day usually between 12 - 4pm. I will watch the evaporation rate as my tank already loses a lot with the halides. Will let you know how it goes. Cheers

 

[superman]

Just remember that cooling fans are only as good as the ambient air temperature. If the ambient air temperature isn't below what you want to keep the aquarium temperature at then the fans are useless.