Heat problems

[SptfireXIV]

Recently I've been having some problems with heat, and I can't figure out what's causing it. Here's a rundown on the problem.

At night, my temperature doesn't drop below 82 degrees. During the day it usually gets up to 84. This is a little high for me, but yesterday it hit 86.7, and that scared me.

Here's the setup, maybe you guys can figure out whats causing all the extra heat.

In the sump:
Euro-Reef CS6-1
Won Pro titanium heater (set at 79 degrees)
mag 7

In the display:
a closed loop with a Sequence Reeflo Dart
a 250 watt HQI hanging over it.

The only recent additions are the heater, and a new metal halide bulb, a Phoenix 14k. I've been acclimating the corals to the light, so the fixture is hanging about 18 inches above the water currently.

The only thing that I can come up with is the heater, but it never seems to turn on, so the heat must be coming from somewhere else.

Would blowing a fan on the sump help? I'm not crazy about that idea just because I have a lot of evaporation as it is, but if that will help, then I'm all for it. What suggestions do you guys have? Thanks in advance.

Jason

[jjac]

Was the 86.7 during the day? What about the temp in your house, it has been slightly warmer out the past couple of days.

[dvmsn]

Acrylic holds heat very well and hqi burn hotter than a magnetic ballast. My tank has also been warmer lately, I think its from the ambient heat.

[SptfireXIV]

The house has been at a constant 72 degrees. I didn't realize acrylic held heat better than glass, but I can't really change that.

Tomorrow I'm going to switch back to my old heater to see if that makes a difference.

[phishguy78]

yes i agree with dave and jimmy what is house temp have you started running your ac my tank always stays around 77.3 to 78.6 i have used fans on a sump also i think that it helps quite a bit but i would blow cool air on sump wall rather than on than on the water

[chad508]

with the new heater are you sur it is working good. how about take it out and put it in a bucket of water and see what the temp gets up to. my tank also was about 2* warmer yesterday because my house was almost 80*

[SptfireXIV]

Well my blue tort has now officially started to bleach, grrr.

I'm testing the heater out as we speak. I'm more worried about the fact that the tank will not get below 82 degrees, even with the lights off. I think thats where the source of the problem is. When the lights turn on, it raises the temperature about 2 degrees, which is about normal for my tank.

I just don't understand why I've never had this problem before, even during last summer when it got really hot. Looks like I'll be heading to wal-mart tomorrow to look for a small fan to blow on the sump.

[will1021]

Global warming.

[bugshop]

Originally posted by will1021
Global warming.

LOL Will



I too would look at the heater.
I wouldn't think you would even need a heater
Let us know how the heater test works out.
My heater would need to be tweaked to the sys
as there are alot of variables that make up tank temp.

Timmy

[dvmsn]

Did you have that big pump driving that closed loop last summer? My mag 24 put a lot of heat into the tank. That why I bought your sequence from Landon

[dvmsn]

You could probably pick up a 1/6 horsepower chiller pretty cheap. This site shows acrylic as 20% more efficient at insulating. http://tanked.netfirms.com/acrylic.html#benefits

[SptfireXIV]

Lol you bought the pump from Landon?

And no, last summer I didn't have the closed loop, but I was under the impression that external pumps didn't add much heat?

[dvmsn]

I've read, depending on the make and model, they can add a fair amount of heat to the tank.

[SptfireXIV]

Well damn. I bought a clip on fan today, and it's blowing on the sump right now, hopefully that will work, because I don't have $600 to shell out on a chiller right now (or even $300 for a used one).

[tomterreefic]

I had the same problem with my 30 gal. because I'm running dual 175W MH over it. I bought one of the tower fans,$40.00, from Wal-Mart last night and placed it blowing across the top of the water. I checked it at lunch after both bulbs were on for 4 hours. The temp was 79.5F. Hopefully, that solves my heat issues. The tower fans are more pleasing to the eye than a standard oscillating fan.
Also, I've read many complaints about the Won heaters. Most complaints were that they got so hot that they actually caught on fire. May want to try doing a search of Won threads. Just a thought. Looks like you're covering all of your bases.

[BubbaPhish]

I have several won titanium heaters and have had to reset them several times due to temp fluctuations. Also anything from them over 300 watts in size is usually junk. I had a new 500 watt heater go bad in a month. The controller died, thankfully the heating unit plugs in to the controller seperately. If I ever buy a nice heater controller I will be able to use that large heating element as it has a standard 3 prong electrical plug. I have also found that the temp knobs are esailoy knocked out of position, a small piece of celophane tape wrapped around it solves that problem. Also make sure that your temp probe is away from any water returns.
Get your heater ruled out then I would look at the closed loop. I would take it offline and watch the temperature over a few hours. Some of those pumps can transfer tons of heat Does the pump have a fan built into it to cool the motor?

Kevin

[SptfireXIV]

Oh I had no idea about the Won heaters. I've switched back to my old heater for now, maybe that will help.

I would be perfectly willing to turn off the closed loop for a period of time if that wasn't my sole source of water movement. I may have to try it for a couple of hours just to see though. Thanks for the suggestions!

Jason

[phishguy78]

hey jason buy a real heater like the sera heaters i sell are good and havent had anybody complain about them i also use visi therm heaters from as i like them also

[SptfireXIV]

I think the heater I'm using right now is a Sera that I bought from you. I ended up buying a new one because it turns out that if the house gets really cold, it can't keep the tank warm enough. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that the temp goes down. With the fan on, I've kept it at 82.9, and I can handle that.

[dvmsn]

There is a lot of bad feed back on online vendor sites about those Won heaters. They all complain about the controller.

[SubmarinR]

noticed w/in this thread some discussion of heat from closed loop pumps. any particular info anyone could provide re that?

I am considering using a closed loop system for circulation in my 45 reef to actually cut down on heat generated by aging pwr heads and lighting.

currently i run 2 pwr sweeps and one *standard?* pwrhead w/ a smaller one running into hotb refugium along w/ a penguin dbl sided filter hotb as well
w/ 2X 96w pcs, one true actinic and one 10k
i have been experiencing higher temps since winter more so than last year.. my tank has been running at 79-83 during day and ive lost many soft corals recently - i believe due to elevated temps

ive since raised one light strip up off tank and taken out pwrheads and cleaned to put back in
also, i turned the heater *off*
my house stays a cozy 75-80 all the time, wife and i are a bit "cold natured" ;-)P

would like to use closed loop to get rid of pwrheads

any suggestions, advice, warnings??

thanks a ton

joe

[H2OLUVSME]

Originally posted by SptfireXIV
I think the heater I'm using right now is a Sera that I bought from you. I ended up buying a new one because it turns out that if the house gets really cold, it can't keep the tank warm enough. I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that the temp goes down. With the fan on, I've kept it at 82.9, and I can handle that.

Jason try using two smaller heaters. that way if one goes bad it cant fry your tank. the problem with most heaters, if they malfunction it usually gets stuck in the on position and not off. ive always ran two small heaters, because ive never had one last very long. ive used the visi-therm heaters, and now use the sera brand.

ive had about every brand that ive seen in pet stores and have had all of them go bad. right now i get enough heat from my pumps that i dont run a heater at all. one actually fried and ran my tank up to 85* the other day. i went ahead and took both out. i have a sera if you want it. i think it 100 or 150w. i also have a few other brand smaller ones, that i used on my 29, in my garage some where if you want to try some different configurations.