Never Ending Heat Issues

My temps were pretty high (86-87) when i was running VHO's and PC's in my old closed canopy, so I figured I would either break down and get a chiller, or get into some T5's and remake my canopy with a more simpler and open design. I chose option 2, but whats really kicking me in the pants is its 7pm . . . no lights have been on over my tank for 48 hours and the temp is at 84.5!!!

It makes me want to scream. The house is always at 77 . . . what could it be? I thought it might be the noisy iwaki return pump, so i put a big fan on it . . . nothing changed. Maybe the heater is bugging out? its been unplugged for 24 hours. Maybe the skimmer pump? its a little warm, but only 1" of it is under water. I'm at my witts end with this thing.

~Will.

 

my guess is that is it the house temp the difference between the tank and the house is not that great

 

7 degrees isn't a big difference? I have a QT in the same room as my DT with only 2 hob filters on it and its at 77. Could it have something to do with my tank being acrylic (QT is glass)? The top off water comes from outside but is never in any direct sunlight could that be the issue? My return pump is noisey and seems to not be pumping as much as when I got it, could that cause the high temps?

~Will.

 

I had similar issues. It is a combination of heat generated from your pumps/powerheads and lighting. For example, I run 4 large powerheads and a return pump from my sump, in addition to 8 T5 bulbs. With no cooling mechanism the temp in my tank would be 83-84F, while the temp in my house is only 73F.

Your best solution is to buy a cheap fan and let it blow across the top of the tank. It can, no joke, cool your tank by around 5 degrees easily. With the fan, my tank temp is 78F (as opposed to 84F). I am talking a cheap clip-on fan from walmart. The only issue to be careful of is that the fan will increase evaporation so you will have to top off more RO/DI water.

 

First off, have you used multiple thermometers to verify the reading?

 

What type of return pump and powerheads do you have? You might try using a fan blowing across you sump to help with the heat exchange. Also using a fan in your hood should help. The only downside to the fans is increased water evaporation.

 

Using an RK2 with a brand new temp probe AND a super awesome high tech $3 suction cup "analog" one.

My new canopy - which I am going to pick up in a couple hours - has 2 "massey" walmart fans mounted to the inner sides. I made it so I could either have them pointing at the lights or the water or one at each. I had a larger 8" fan blowing down into my tiny sump, but I moved that to the return pump last night to see if it would help any.

The return pump is an Iwaki WMD-40RXLT. Power heads are 2 Koralia 4's, and a Quietone 4000 (keeping the lower back of my tank moving), and there is a sedra 5000 thats maybe 1" max underwater in the sump for the skimmer. I just unplugged the quietone to see if that helps any by tomorrow.

~Will.

 

After the canopy was put back on with the fans going, the temp seems to have dropped almost exactly as JJK said it would. It was really nice having lights over the tank for the first time in a few days AND seeing the temp drop. I actually plugged in my heater so the tank dosen't get below 78 (its 80.7 right now).

I cant wait to see what it tops out at tomorrow with all 6 T5's blazing for a few hours, hopefully I'll stay in the green and keep the mighty suction cup thermometer happy. Thanks for all the help!!

~Will.