Tank running hot

Well let me fill you in on my whole system's specs (well, what I think could be making some issues):

I have 5 pumps throughout my tank (3 PHs for flow, 1 for my PS, 1 for the return). I only use a refugium with a skimmer in it (after I move I will be fashioning an above-tank fuge with a return into the overflow reservoir so that I can put a real wet dry in the bottom). I am using a regular screw in bulb for the light on the fuge.

My theory is that having 5 (three of which are 'budget' ViaAqua) PHs are giving off a lot of heat and my fuge light (which I run 24/7) is too hot.

Think this could be it?

 

I am very very very anti chiller for those reasons . I'm a college student, I'm not about to go out and spend $500+ on something that's only going to make my house hotter during summer, thus killing my electric bill.

 

I don't know, sounds like everything is contributing to some degree, Do you live near the coast at all? If you do try and see how hot it gets mid day in the ocean and compare, I can't imagine it would be cooler than 80 degrees in the summertime but who knows.

 

if you are moving in a little while and your fan method works then I would just do that to get by but you can pick up a window ac much less than a chiller then you and your fish will be comfortable.

 

The window AC is an idea worth looking into, but I really just want the damn thing to work! Does having a lot of LR effect temp?

 

Not that I have noticed. I have a lot of rock, and run mh's, and my tank never gets above 79. But I always kept my house cool.
The pumps might not be helping, but I dont know how much those particular pumps contribute to heat. I know when I increased flow in my tank the temp actually dropped.
I would try the frozen bottle of water trick. You can use it, and not have to run the fan *hopefully*. Play with a few little things, see what works best.

 

Its going to be tuff with a room temp between 76-78. my house is kept constant 72deg. and my tank is costant 80deg during the day.

 

Got a couple of bottles sitting in the freezer right now.. I'm using a compact fluorescent rated at 70 watts for my 7ish gallon fuge, so maybe I will tone that down with something along the lines of 35w PC or something. the CF was definitely throwing a ton of heat in the cabinet, so i put a 15w incandescent bulb in to cool things down a bit. Hopefully i'll see some dropping in temp

 

I'd love too keep my AC there, but like i said my unit sucks in this apartment (the coils are destroyed by prior tenants not using filters). The unit that I'm moving into just had the AC replaced, so maybe 72 degrees wont be a pipedream anymore

 

Yeah, you could definitely tone down the fuge lighting. I believe most macro's grow great at 2-3 watts per gallon, but I may stand corrected at that. So that may help.
Are you currently on spring break? If you are it would be a great time to play around with it a little each day, try to figure out what works best for you.