Tank got warm fast

[wooglin]

I did not notice how warm it got yesterday, and the air was not on at my house. My tanks temp with from 79 to 83 in a matter of proabably 4-5 hours. Its now running a steady 80 and I am going to leave the heaters at that preparing for summer. Should everything be ok now that the temp is stable? I am assuming that everthing looked real unhappy because the temp change occured so fast.

[kevlouie]

From what I have read, I wouldn't worry too much. I have heard a lot of smart people say the best coral growing temp is 81.5. But that seems a little warm to me. I keep mine around 79.5 to 81. I remember hearing you shouldn't worry unless it gets above 85.

[rcmike]

Mine has gone over that a few times with no problems. I don't think that if it only happens every once and a while it will be a problem. If you kept it that high all the time I would worry though.

[aquaman67]

I hate spring and fall. I ususally try to remember to cut the AC on if I know it's going to be warm before I leave the house.

Yesterday I didn't and my tank got up to 84.

I'm going to buy an auto thermostat that will kick on the heat or AC as needed....

Wooglin... I hope every one is doing better!

[fishdoc11]

Mine did the same thing. It got up to 83. I would'nt worry about it too much. Going up in temp fast is not nearly as bad as going down fast. Kevlouie is right in saying it wont hurt anything untill you get to 85 and then it's still probably fine. You just need to do something at that point to get it down. I would'nt set your heater higher because when you start with a higher temp it tends to get hotter. I set mine at 76F. I struggled with the heat thing when I put my halides on but I have a hood so it's a little worse. Mine got up to 85 several times( I never saw any ill effects ) at first until I realized I needed to keep the room at 75 or below. My tank stays between 79 and 83 for most of the summer. Unfortunately heat is the drawback to MH as you know. Just be glad we don't live in Arizona where it costs a fortune to keep your house at 75. I've followed some of those threads and a chiller is required in that part of the country.
Chris

[gflat65]

I used to have a huge problem in the warmer seasons. I keep my homes thermostat set at around 68-70 through most of the summer and still had constant problems with temps staying between 82F and 85F with spikes to 90, and dropping back to 79F at night. I won't say things didn't look bad from time to time, but I still have many of the pieces I had then. I have solved my MH heating problem. I purchased a 115 cfm Dayton fan from Grainger. It ran me about $25, but it moves plenty of air. My tank hasn't gotten over 81F since I bought it. The drawback is that it is a loud fan. I have two running in my living room (one over the reef, one over the fish tank) and it sounds like a server room. You get used to it, but it's always there. Luckily, my wife loves the tanks just as much as I do (I know I'm fooling myself, but she is fairly proactive), so she puts up with it. She was tired of sps' not making it through the summer, too.

Long story short-wooglin, I, too, think you'll be fine.

[rcmike]

I second the fans. I had one blowing over my sump and it would lower the temp several degrees.

Just remember. Keep Wooglin on!:lol: :lol:

[Sir Knight]

Well you guys are lucky you can keep your houses cool enough to keep your temp under control with just fans. I lived in FL for 12 years, having my house temps set at 68 to 70 and I would be wearing a coat. :lol: I guess I still have thin blood;).

I have been keeping reef tanks for 15+ years, saltwater fish from the 70's and played with all the different temps that have been recommended. I have found that if I keep the temps at 77 degrees that I never have a problem with my tank O2, corals RTN, bleaching, etc. I have a 300 gallon tank (120x24x24) now with only 4 - 400 watt mh lighting, a 90 gallon sump and 6000 GPH water movement. For me to keep my temps in check I use a 1/3 Hp chiller set at 77 and a 18" fan. When the temps go up to 79 they turn on. I believe that stability is the most important element in reef keeping. I also believe that high temps may increase growth but at a cost. I would rather have a little slower growth rate then a tank that could crash because of higher temps. My tank is 99% SPS and 1% LPS.

When I was in the coral farming business, I had 12 -240's,
2 - 150's, 2 - 120's, 1 - 210 and 4 - 90's in a greenhouse and basement. It was harder to control the heat in the basement then is was in the greenhouse. I had to install a air exchanger in the basement, use 20" fans over the tanks and only run 250 watt MH lighting. My temps would sit about 82 degrees in the greenhouse when the outside temps were 89 last summer
and 80 in the basement. The basement temp was 77.
(Before you ask why i am not in business anymore 90 to 100 hr weeks was killing me)

I too believe that most of our problems with the reefs is the warming and over harvesting . Man always finds a way to screw things up and then trying to fix it, instead of looking at the overall outcome before we start.

I will admit that I do go fishing when the outside temps are 50 degrees no coat :).

[A. Critter Killer]

...'Them Halides...lol, hope everything is cool. ----Sean

[fishdoc11]

I also have 2 4" fans blowing in over my H2O for evaporation cooling. This is the only way I can have a canopy. Wooglin, you don't have a canopy so you could stick a small house fan next to the tank blowing over your tank if you need a couple more degrees of cooling.
Chris

[reewik]

Chris, You are crazy. i too keep the house at about 69 to 70 . My tank stays right at 79 to 81 degrees at the highest. i will see this summer though.

[rcmike]

I keep my tanks in the basement and it has a seperate heating/cooling unit so I can keep it a little cooler than the rest of the house.

[Mimi]

I got worried too....my tank is usually around 78 and it increased to 80 degrees......this morning it's back to 78....I didn't know if it was the warm weather or my lights. My apt is usually around 68 degrees.....I'll keep an eye on it....

So a couple degrees of fluctuating temp isn't a prob right?
:)
Thanks
Mimi

[gflat65]

mimi
if youstart to get wild swings ranging from 7 to 10+ degrees F on a daily basis, you might want to look into some form of additional cooling, but if it is just a couple of degrees, I personally think you'lll be okay. Stability is very important, but I've found these guys can take a lot of taruma. given all other condiytions are more than suffiicient (lighting, chemistry,etc.). It might be something to keep in the back of your head, though, because the July-August-Sept months are going to be much hotter. Before the purchase of my cooling fans, as long as hte weather outside was below 60 for a high (and relatively low humidity~60-70%-relatively low to what I am used to), I rarely had temp problems. If the temp got much above 60, regardless of humidity, I would have to start thinking of ways to keep it cooler (like freezing my wife out of the house).

Any one else with an opinion on the next statement, please chime in. If you get a seriously high spike (say you come home, your A/C has frozen up or is no longer working) and your tank read 88-90, I have been known to float ice bags to drop the temp. This is no fool proof way, but I have been able to drop the temp by 3-4 degrees before within an hour and a half. Of course, then you have the threat of cooling something quickly that was heated rather quickly. It might work everytime for pasta, but...

[wooglin]

Sean, it would have spiked with the PC's just as much or more. The trouble was that it was heading towards 80 degrees in the house. We run the AC at 72-74 in the summer so I dont think I will have to much trouble. Of course the way things are going it may never get very cold, and may not ever get very hot outside in Tennesseee again anyway. We are part of the world that benifits from global warming in the shortterm.

[Sir Knight]

Any one else with an opinion on the next statement, please chime in. If you get a seriously high spike (say you come home, your A/C has frozen up or is no longer working) and your tank read 88-90, I have been known to float ice bags to drop the temp. This is no fool proof way, but I have been able to drop the temp by 3-4 degrees before within an hour and a half. Of course, then you have the threat of cooling something quickly that was heated rather quickly. It might work everytime for pasta, but...

If your tank gets up to 88 - 90 you need to act fast. As a note 7 to 10 degree swings from your set point can/will cause bleaching in the matter of hours(SPS). Shut the light off and cool the tank. 90 degrees is close to a total bleaching event in most SPS's. At about 114 degrees corals can live for a couple of minutes max. The stress at these temps is worst than a quick cooling back to your set point IMHO. I have setup tanks where if my chiller stops working and the water temps go up 4 degrees the lights shut down. These comments are dealing with SPS. Most soft corals can take these swings a lot better than SPS, however 114 is for all coral life and I think all fish. We can protect them with a chiller why not just do it. It is cheaper to cool a tank then it is to cool a house IMO. I have been looking at the next generation of chillers, where the compressor can be plumbed outside and the cooling element is inside. This sounds very promising to keep the noise and heat outside. This is similar to the A/C units for our houses. Evaporative cooling only works in low humidity

Just my opinions :beer:

[wooglin]

You are talking serious heat. Its never gotten above 80 degrees in my house even during a power outage.

[gflat65]

Joe Wall
Good point about the stonies. I wasn't keeping any stonies at the time. The leathers would close frequently, but would open shortly after. Still never a pretty sight.

wooglin
You must have my dream insulation. With my A/C running (which I know is slightly undersized), the closest room to the A/C unit still struggles to stay cool in the summer. I am still searching out the inefficiencies in the ducting, so maybe that'll help.

[wooglin]

My house was bulit during the energy crisis while Carter was President, so it almost has too much insulation. If I set my thermostat to 70 degrees, it is 70 degrees in every room period!!! It is crazy.