cooling tank

I just upgraded my lighting system from compact flurescent to metal halides. I am having the temperature of the water go too high I think, it is reaching 85F. How can I cool my tank without using a chiller, a chiller is very expensive and I dont have money for that. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
My tank is 75 gallons. I have a wet and dry filter without bio balls. A skimmer is inside the sump. The total watts of my system are 560 watts.
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

well...you can try more fans, or turning the AC up...but if its reaching that high a temp...you might end up having to get a chiller for long term reasons...

 

I am pretty sure that I am going to have to get a chiller for my acrylic tank because acrylic just holds the heat so much more than glass. For my glass tank I have used fans blowing directly at the water surface in my sump quite effectively. You can also use the 2L pop bottles filled with water and frozen to put in your sump. I usually fill them with RODI water and leave the top off the bottle and just let it melt into the tank for top off. On my acrylic tank I currently have a large fan that blows between the lights and the water (open top tank) that so far is working to keep the temperature down. Both tanks are lite with 3 X 400W MH lights so I have a lot of heat to deal with.

 

Do you have a glass cover on top of the tank?

Increasing evaporation will help with heat. Fans in the sump is how I keep my temp down.

J

 

Move the light further from the tank. As little as an inch can make a significant impact. A cover may help, or it may hinder evaporation. I tend to think it would help. I have ~550 watts of MH and PC sitting directly on my 110 and have not had a heat problem. It has a glass cover over both the tank and another under the lights, plus fans.

 

I am in the same situation here. I want to get MH lighting, but I have to get the chiller first and I really want the MH first.

Ruth's method is not bad at all. I might try it and see how much it will work in the hot south florida summer heat before I get the MH lights.

Thanks!

 

Dang, you're at about 8 to 9wpg, you keeping SPS's? You should eliminate maybe one halide. What's the dimensions of the tank?? How far is the metal halide from the tank?

 

I did this over the summer during a heat wave and it helped a lot and I also had my chiller running at the same time.

 

I was thinking how about using ice packs, the ones used to keep lunch cool, to be use in the sump? Has anybody try it before?

 

i have tried ice bags...they dont last long...the packs will probably last longer...but you will probably need alot of them