Cooling the tank

[minh_han]

I was looking at my tank and noticed everything looking quite puny looking. Then I checked my thermometer. 88 Degrees!

I was wondering what y'all did to cool your tank down. Chiller or no, DYI jobs, anything. I am currently placing a couple of cooling blocks into the sump, but with 125G, I don't have nearly enough to make a dent in it all. With the fairly mild temperatures like we've been having, I shudder to think what the tank will be like at the height of summer, particularly without central air. Any suggestions?

[hammerhead]

The way I see things is this hobby is to expensive to lose your tank do to over heating. I know that chillers are expensive but in the long run well worth the expense. Lets say you have 2k worth of critters and a chiller costs you 800 are you willing to lose 2k or spend 800 on a chiller to me it's a no brainer. I have a Pacific coast inline 1/6 hp it works great.

[hawkfsh]

have the same problem & i have central air, if the cooling blocks are not working try filling a 2 liter plastic coke bottle with frozen water & put it right in the tank

[billwinterholer]

Never really had that problem, with my tanks being in the basement. My daughter did have the problem with a ten gal in her second floor bedroom, but the frozen soda bottles helped. How about a mess of the 1 or 2 liter bottles in your sump? At least till you get the chiller.

Makes me wonder...I have an old chest freezer I don't use very much since the kids left...could put a refugium in there with lights and everything and plumb the return lines to the main tank...

Bill

[minh_han]

Well, most likely I have to get a chiller, but I didn't expect to need one with outside temps in the 40 to 50's. I was dumbfounded to find the tank at 88. I'll put some 2 liters in the freezer right now and freeze them overnight. THat'll help for the short term.

Any DYI chillers y'all have used?

[bdr127]

Minh: Go to Wal-Mart and pick up a few of the clip-on "Optimus" fans they have for like $7.88 A couple for the top, couple for the sump.... They put out some good air and are a pretty cheap DIY fix..... they'll drop the temp a few degrees, guaranteed. :)

--Brad

[pncstod]

I use two 4 inch fans in my canopy and a window a/c in the room the tanks in. I refuse to put more heat in the romm by using a chiller. Chillers put so much heat in a room they cause the chiller to work even more putting more heat in the room. I refuse to sweat for the tank. I never had a problem with running fans in the canopy and running a window a/c. You can also put a fan on the sump. When adding the fans watch out for evaporation, it will increase a lot! Good luck. Also somewhere on R/C there is someone who has the plans to make a remote chiller (stays outside house) out of a window unit a/c and the best part is a 5000 btu window unti will cool a very large tank (like a 250 gallon or more i think)

[Bruce]

Fans make a huge difference, but you won't be able to cool below ambient room temperature.

You'll need to get a window AC unit. Spend the extra dough to get one with automatic turn on/off (pretty much standard on larger units) so you can leave it and not worry too much. Also buy a unit that is rated for a slightly larger room.
With the AC, YOU and your tank will be happy. Not to mention that it will only cost $200.00.


Good luck,

Bruce

[nakama]

Minh,
How many watts of ligthing do you have and how long do you keep them on? I'm just wondering how your tank got to 88 with these air temps! My chiller hasn't kicked on yet and I'm running 800 watts with a in the wall tank. I do have a radon fan blowing air from my basement into my fishroom. My tank hasn't gotten above 81 yet!
I lost my monti digitata frag! Do you have another you can spare? When my tank grows out a bit I"ll have some really nice frags for you and the rest of the gang.
Regards, Neil

[minh_han]

Well, maybe my heater was doing wierd things. I've unplugged my heater, so we'll see how that goes. I didn't change any settings, but I did take it out of the sump (after unplugging it) when I was trying to get a bigger sump into the stand. Maybe some of its internal settings changed when I did so. Well, with it unplugged, we'll have to see.

[wetone]

Minh....I would definetely check your heaters, I think its a little early in the summer,( if you want to call all this rain summer !!!) for a major temp spike. I have a 12" fan that is mounted over my sump and once the weather gets warm , It runs during the lighting period. My tank is in the basement so it seems to be OK when the outside temps get real warm, even though the house has AC. I have also took big 1 gal plastic jugs (milk, apple juice, etc.) and cut the tops off, I fill them with RO/DI and put in the freezer, if the temp starts to climb I can put these big blocks of ice in the sump and it will cool a couple of degrees (70g tank)

Hopefully these ideas can save you a few bucks before you have to go for a chiller, but I do agree with previous comments....with thousands invested in the tank another $500-800 isn't that much to keep all alive and happy.


Tony

[billwinterholer]

Okay, I think Minh has started a hot tank virus. I did a check on my tanks tonight and happened to notice mine were 83 degrees when usually they're 78.

Sure enough, one heater had been turned up (probably when I was fixing a leaking hose right next to it).

Bill

[mig29]

Minh...

I have a 120 gal with two 175W halides and two 65W actinics. I also run an Ecosystem (refugium) filter that requires 24 hr lighting in the cabinet. Earlier in the summer(?) I was experiencing rising temps as well. I also have a window AC unit in the room.

Over the past couple of days when the weather has been a little warmer, I have been leaving the cabinet doors open and directing a small floor fan into the cabinet. I also purchased an 8 inch clip on fan at Rite Aid which I clipped onto my tank and aimed to blow air across the main tank water surface whenever the halides are on.

I know it's early but so far I have been able to maintain no more than 82 degrees at all times with or without the window AC. Yesterday was the biggest test yet as it reached 86 degrees outdoor temp. I want to continue to experiment with this but, at the moment I am considering running the two fans all day, and setting my window AC timer to begin cooling at 2PM or 78 degrees internal house temp. I also recently read about a tank temp control switch that can be set to turn the halides off at a preset temp, and back on again at another preset temp. This might serve as a reliable back up system to my patched together fan system.

This is my first summer so, here's hoping we both make it to Sept.

Len