Smaller tanks overheating in summer?

[Son Of Skyline]

Does anybody with a smaller tank have a problem with tank overheating in the Northwest summers? This will be my first summer with a reef and I want to be prepared so that my 27gal doesn't come to a nice simmer. TIA smile.gif

[FishGeek]

I'm from Edmonton Alberta and i had a overheating problem with my 135gal tank. All i did to remedy this was to go to REVY and buy an 8" clip on fan for $15. I clipped it onto my sump and I set it on the same timer as my lights and now my temp never goes above 81 C

Simon

[Bryan]

I am sorry, but if your tank is getting to 81 C I am afraid it's cooked<g>. We assume you mean Fahrenheit

Originally posted by FishOnTheBrain:
I clipped it onto my sump and I set it on the same timer as my lights and now my temp never goes above 81 C

Simon<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

[CHEAPREEF]

Originally posted by Bryan:
I am sorry, but if your tank is getting to 81 C I am afraid it's cooked<g>. We assume you mean Fahrenheit <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Why would it be cooked at 81 c? I keep my tank at 80 c All the time, might go down to 78 c once in a while but mostly steady at 80 c.

Clinton

[ 23 May 2002, 07:07: Message edited by: CHEAPREEF ]

[canadawest]

Clinton, the comment that Bryan was making was referring to the scale that the temperature was being measured in.

Mason, as well as yourself, mentioned the temperature in Degrees Celsius (C) when it should have been expressed in Degrees Fahrenheit (F). 81F would be equivalent to about 26C. If your tank did indeed reach 81C, you would only be 19C short of the boiling point of water, and your livestock would most certainly be "cooked". :eek:

Just a simple error of scale, but important that we all use the correct terminology. smile.gif

[Son Of Skyline]

Originally posted by canadawest:

Mason, as well as yourself, mentioned the temperature in Degrees Celsius (C) when it should have been expressed in Degrees Fahrenheit (F). smile.gif <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, I didn't mention any temperature at all tongue.gif

Back to the original question, so nobody has a problem with overheating in the summer?

[DJ88]

Mason,

Simon had a great suggestion. get a fan and hit your sump with it. I have two in my hood and if it gets too warm I'll put one on the sump as well. smile.gif The highest mine will go(I hope) is about 80. I keep my temp at about 78 on average. The fans are how I beat the heat. :D

[ 23 May 2002, 09:15: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[CHEAPREEF]

Opps, my bad. Missed that. :eek:

Clinton

[canadawest]

Speaking of high temperatures and fans....

Temperatures were not a problem with only my VHO lighting as I rarely saw more than 2 degrees difference between morning and evening temps. Now that I have the 250W MH running a few hours a day, my tank temp has jumped 2+ degrees while it's on. I definitely need a hood fan now.

I want a competant but QUIET fan that I can run on the same timer as the MH lamp. I have heard that DC fans are the quietest, but does anyone else have any suggestions?

If DC fans are the way to go, I suppose I could use a regular computer power supply or case fan and a radio shack AC/DC adapter? Is this correct?

PS... Darren, I recall you had a circular cutting bit for a drill for making large holes? If you still do, could I borrow it sometime?

[DJ88]

Andrew,

Go as big of a DC fan as you can get in terms of CFM. I am running two 4" right now. But they are no where neear as powerful as my other two. I'll say it again. Get as HIGH a Cubic Foot per Minute as you can find.

AC fans are noisy. But some people can handle them. They move air like nothing else.

Yeah you can borrow the hole saw I have. let me know when.

[Silverfish]

I am using two 4" AC fans blowing into my hood and they work great.
They are running on a solid state speed controler at about half speed.
If they were running flat out, the noise would be pretty bad, but they move tonnes of air.
Both of them are 105 CFM each, full speed.

[ 23 May 2002, 21:11: Message edited by: Silverfish ]

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

The worst I have seen my reef tanks go was about 83 F. This is usually in July when we have two to three weeks of continuous hot weather with no wind or rain in between. You know when it is hot when smog starts to build up and the temperature rise to about 32 C at 6 PM. My reef tank is on the first floor - my second floor can bring fish tanks up to 90F....

At that point, we run the lights in reverse lighting (i.e. lights on in the morning...rather than evenings). Its only really a problem during 3pm to 8pm.

Its not really a big problem in Vancouver...just opening the canopy lid usually fixes the problem. If have mushrooms, Xenias or toadstools...they are usually the first to tell you when you start having temperature problems (or water problems for that matter).

Imagine operating a reef in Phoenix...50C is normal there.

- Victor.

[Son Of Skyline]

Thanks for the info everyone. I do have a fan over my tank, but I've noticed that on a few days this spring my tank has shot up from 82 to 84 degrees. My tank normally holds even at 82 night and day. I guess I'll just have to have another fan ready for those potential hot days. I am concerned about evaporation though, as even now I can get as much as 1.5 to 2 gallons of evaporation per day in my 27gal tank.

[DJ88]

Mason,

If needed put a second fan over your tank or sump.

I am concerned about evaporation though, as even now I can get as much as 1.5 to 2 gallons of evaporation per day in my 27gal tank <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Welcome to the world of reefing. :D I go through that much or more. smile.gif I am sure those with dual 400's go through even more.. lol.

Just keep the temp down and things will be fine. smile.gif

[Jack Rainville]

Originally posted by Troy F:
Jack, there is a huge amount of debate about Ron's point of view. Many long time hobbyists don't agree with the higher temps he is a proponent of.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, I know. Ron calls the writings by some of the best known hobbyists on this subject "idiotic twattle" and that their opinions "don't matter". :rolleyes: I don't see why he has to call people stupid just to try to make his point.

Anyhow, while I may not be a big fan of Ron Shimek's personality, I do agree with some of the things he says. In this case I agree with him for the simple fact that the conclusions he draws are based on real life measurements of temp/salinity on the reefs from which our animals come, and on the studies by several other scientists on the effects of unnaturally low temperatures on the metabolism of ectothermic animals. The approach I prefer to take is to make the creatures as comfortable as possible by mainting conditions closer to what they experience in nature.

In our tanks, we keep things that come from a lot of slightly different reef environments so it's nearly impossible to make them all happy anyhow.

[Troy F]

Jack, I missed your reply. Here are a couple of other articles. One by Dr. Shimek and one by Richard Harker.

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/mar/features/1/default.asp

http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/nov/features/1/default.asp

Both articles are temperature based. It does not appear that they agree with one another though.

FWIW, Ron is a great guy but I think the phrase; doesn't suffer fools, was written with him in mind.

[Jack Rainville]

Originally posted by DJ88:

The highest mine will go(I hope) is about 80.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Lots of people seem to still keep their tanks around 77/78F and freak at the idea of temps above 80F. Anyone who hasn't read this article by Ron Shimek should do so...
What are Natural Reef Salinities and Temperatures…Really… (http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1997/nov/features/1/default.asp)

Here's what it boils down to...

The worldwide average temperature of coral reefs is right around 82F. Most of the animals in the hobby come from areas averaging 84F. Temperatures too far below that cause undue stress on most of the creatures we keep. Some of the richest coral reefs can reach maximum temps just above 91F. Most of these animals are beginning to experience stress at temperatures below 80F. It doesn't mean that they're dying, but rather that in order to cope with the extreme cold (for them) environment, they're expending energy they would normally use to grow, compete, fight disease, etc. They're "living on the edge" and it doesn't take much additional stress to push them over.

In short, the optimum temperature for our mini-reefs is around 83-84F, and the specific gravity would be about 1.024-1.025 at that temperature.

I keep mine around 83F (28C) and sg at 1.024

Jack

[Troy F]

Jack, there is a huge amount of debate about Ron's point of view. Many long time hobbyists don't agree with the higher temps he is a proponent of.

[DJ88]

Jack,

I am keeping mine at a lower temperature as it slows down the growth of algaes in my tank. Where I am currently in the process of fighting a Bryopsis outbreak a slow growth is very beneficial. So a lower temperature is as well.

I don't freak out about higher temps. Unless they are extreme temperatures. My corals grow fine with the 77-80 degree temps as they did at 80+. I understand the rational behind higher temps are closer to nature. But another thing I like to keep is a large buffer between healthy high temps in summer too much temperatre. The added bonus of two to four degrees of leeway in my system during summertime is a small price for peace of mind. Those two to four degrees can mean a live tank or a dead tank. If you wer eto take a read of my web page you will see that normally I keep my tank at 81-84 degrees. That isn't freaking out

IME IMO

[ 24 May 2002, 12:57: Message edited by: DJ88 ]

[titus]

Hello,

I run a 20 gallon, along with 300W of lighting in an enclosed hood (completely enclosed for the sides and top), used to have also the Dolphin 1200 SST pump running, etc. In the summer, the tank will heat up very hot if no cooling is done. So I put a fan in the hood blowing air directly on the water surface and it works fine. I must add that my sump is open so water can cool down there as well.