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Aquattro
06-19-2008, 02:06 AM
So, summer is here (ok, not so much) and this is the time of year people drop in looking for ideas on temp control. What is everyone doing, or planning on doing in mid July when the days hit 30?
chillers, frozen pop bottles in the sump, alternate lighting schedules, etc?

Let's hear all the great ideas, and any experiences on past "great ideas", thoughts on what is acceptable, what is not for temp swings.

Go on, heat it up!

Treebeard
06-19-2008, 02:27 AM
I am about to go through my first summer with a reef tank and already I am concerned about my tank temperature.

My tank is on the main floor and my sump is in the basement where the temperature is much cooler which helps reduce the temperature a bit.

The frozen pop bottle idea sounds great! How well does it work?

So, summer is here (ok, not so much) and this is the time of year people drop in looking for ideas on temp control. What is everyone doing, or planning on doing in mid July when the days hit 30?
chillers, frozen pop bottles in the sump, alternate lighting schedules, etc?

Let's hear all the great ideas, and any experiences on past "great ideas", thoughts on what is acceptable, what is not for temp swings.

Go on, heat it up!

mark
06-19-2008, 03:01 AM
Before the central air was keeping temp steady just with some muffin fans over the basement sump.

michika
06-19-2008, 03:36 AM
The usual for me:
- chiller as a last resort (OMG the power consumption and extra heat in the room is brutal!)
- fans, in the canopy, one pushing air in and one pulling it out, and over the sump
- if the power goes out, frozen bottles of water or frozen bags of water I keep on hand
- keep my blinds closed
- move my lighting from 10am-6pm, to 6pm-2am, and reduce my MH use by a couple of hours.
- move my lighting higher (worked in the past pretty well)

Chaloupa
06-19-2008, 03:38 AM
AC is on in the whole house...but the room that the tanks are in still heats up a bit...so have fans blowing at the sump and an Icecap fan in the top....all doors on cabinet and top open....seems to work ok.

Lance
06-19-2008, 03:41 AM
AC in the house and fans on the sump. Fortunately, it doesn't get that hot here.

crtrcrzy
06-19-2008, 03:46 AM
melt way to fast if your sump is in the basement i woyuld try a fan blowing across the surface water small clip on fan should do the trick only bad news is more evaporation

Chin_Lee
06-19-2008, 05:01 AM
My LPS tanks lights (2x175, 1x250) are on during the day and my SPS tank lights (2x400W HQI) are on at nights. I set up that schedule last summer and I forgot to change it back for the last 10 months. On the alternating lighting schedule, my temp swing only vary by 2 degrees farenheit all year round.

EmilyB
06-19-2008, 05:18 AM
It's going to hit 30 here?? Woot !!!:lol:

Marlin65
06-19-2008, 06:45 AM
I like my chiller my tank is the same temp all the time no stress when the temp comes up.:wink:
Not like that is going to happen though we are going straight to fall.:lol:

Doug
06-19-2008, 12:06 PM
The solution,
move to a Manitoba basement. :lol:

My central air keeps the house temp. decent. With my modular/mobile house, the tank would over heat without it. I do run a decent fan over the open top design also, when the halide is on.

Oscar
06-19-2008, 01:07 PM
This will be my first summer with a tank. We commonly get a stretch of 40C temperatures so this issue is a real concern. Our only AC is an old beater machine that I insert into one of the windows when the temp gets unbearable. It may get installed a lot earlier than it has in the past.

Currently my tank has a Ice Caps variable speed cooling fan that adjusts it's speed based on the air temperatue above the water surface. The lights are on legs which in turn rest on the lip of the tank. I like the idea of raising the lights for more air circulation, that would also assist in tank maintenance.

sphelps
06-19-2008, 01:57 PM
My tank has always had problems with heat, everything is sealed up so it holds the heat in. Even in the winter the tank will reach 82 degrees without cooling. I don't like the idea of chillers and simply running fans produces way too much humidity in my place. So I build an evaporative cooler that allows me to vent the humid air outside.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/EngineeredAquariums/DSC_0008.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/EngineeredAquariums/DSC_0009.jpg

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/EngineeredAquariums/DSC_0013-1.jpg

I connected a 3" PVC pipe line to connect the cooler exhaust air to an outside vent.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/EngineeredAquariums/DSC_0020-1.jpg

The cooler is capable of lowering my tank temperature up to 4 degrees in normal conditions, works very well in the winter but I'm yet to find out how well it works in the summer with the extra heat and humidity. So far I've had to keep the room temp below 25 degrees C.

Geofrog
06-19-2008, 02:51 PM
I used to use frozen pop bottles, worked well but took up alot of room in the freezer. Currently I have a fan blowing across the surface set on a timer for the hottest part of the day (usually 5 hours of run time). This seems to be keeping the temp under control. Would love to get a temp controller that would kick in the fan once the tank hit a certain temp though.

christyf5
06-19-2008, 03:40 PM
I have a chiller to cool the tank and a fan to cool the chiller and an AC unit to cool the room the tank is in :rolleyes: Without all these the chiller goes through fuses like a kid with candy. Its ridiculous but due to the room its in and the lack of any air flow its very difficult to keep the room cool (even with a ceiling fan). Last year before we moved the AC into the room my tank hit over 90F and I lost several colonies and frags. Since moving the AC into the same room things are better and hopefully I won't have to go through that again. Cracks me up that I have AC but don't get to enjoy it in the rest of the house. Everything for the tank :razz:

Speaking of which, I need to stock up on those fuses, one blew the other day and it wasn't even that hot out :rolleyes:

michika
06-19-2008, 03:46 PM
sphelps,

Can we get a separate thread with your very cool DIYed evap cooler? I want to ask you questions but don't want to clutter this thread.

Aquattro
06-19-2008, 03:50 PM
So I build an evaporative cooler that allows me to vent the humid air outside.



Well, I'm thinkin' we need more details on this device!!

VFX
06-19-2008, 03:54 PM
This will be my 1st summer in BC with a tank so I don't know what will happen if/when it gets really warm.

In the UK I used to use this attached to a fan.

http://www.eurorep.net/habistat/coolcontrol.jpg

And this attached to my heater.

http://www.eurorep.net/habistat/temp.jpg

It worked a treat & my tank temperatures never swung more than a degree or 2 all year round, even on a 15 gallon nano.

They're made for reptile tanks & the only mod you have to do is to silicone the ends of the temp sensors to water proof them.

Does anyone know where they sell these things or something similar in Canada?

LInk to Habistat (http://www.eurorep.net/habistat/index.htm#)

.

Todd
06-19-2008, 04:03 PM
My tank has always had problems with heat, everything is sealed up so it holds the heat in. Even in the winter the tank will reach 82 degrees without cooling. I don't like the idea of chillers and simply running fans produces way too much humidity in my place. So I build an evaporative cooler that allows me to vent the humid air outside.



That's a really neat idea. I like the idea of not having equipment work against each other (lights heating things up, chiller keeping things cool ect).

One idea I had thought about in the past along similar lines is to install a rain-water heat exchanger. Basically have a reservoir stored outside in a cool area that is filled with rainwater, then have a titanium heat exchanger install in the reservoir and have a pump turned on at a certain temperature that would run the heat exchanger. The only problem would be the water that is needed to fill the plumbing would cause varying levels in the sump (and salinity swings due to auto top off). I know that you can get heat exchanges from chiller companies, but have yet to try this because I am renting right now.

brizzo
06-19-2008, 04:22 PM
Should be interesting this year with glass top + metal halide now. Last 2 summers I have had no problem with my cube getting warm. If I left the feeding door on, the temp would get around 85F, with it off, it stayed stable at 79. I run my AC at 24C from noon till 7pm on hot days

Okguy
06-19-2008, 04:39 PM
Being in the Okanagan, heat is a serious concern. I have a clip on fan that blows across my sump that comes on when my MH's come on from fall to spring and I have it come on when my PC's come on in the summer. I have an in-wall AC in the room the tank is in and a portable AC unit that I have in the adjacent room. In the summer both units are set up to run on timers. The problem with this is that they come on even when they are not needed.

I've started to look for a plug-in thermostat that could control the units. But so far have only found them in the States.

http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE1-2373651reg.jpg

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2151140

I'm heading to Kelowna this weekend to hunt for some there and if anyone knows where I can find them please let me know.

Cheers

Oscar
06-20-2008, 02:05 AM
http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE1-2373651reg.jpg

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2151140

I'm heading to Kelowna this weekend to hunt for some there and if anyone knows where I can find them please let me know.

Cheers

If you find something similar please let us know.