Hot lights/Summertime

[Viv]

I need a chiller and just can't afford it right now. I was wondering...if corals need at least four hours of light per day, does it matter how they receive those 4 hours? Can they get an hour of light at 4 different intervals? Does it have to be a certain light? ie. Can it be 4 intervals of actinic? Its so difficult keeping my lights on and temp down. I'm placing frozen liter bottles of water in the sump but I've already experienced RTN and I just know its from the heat...One coral lost all its orange color and is now cream colored (at least its not down to the skeleton) another appears down to the skeleton but still has polyp expansion...thus the lighting question, any thoughts, ideas?

[Gmoney]

sounds like bleaching on one of the corals... definitely too much stress with temp going up and then frozen water bottle bringing it down.. too much variance causing stress. I think if you changed your light cycle now to on and off it would stress them even more.

Try reducing your lights by an hour for a week or so.. assuming you have like a 10 or 12 hour cycle? Also, do you run your lights at night or day time? Also, what corals are you keeping?

Too help cool, have you tried evaporative cooling? Get a nice fan from a place like wall mart and blast it at the surface of your sump... this can help reduce tank temps, but you'll need to top it off with rodi water more frequently.. of course if you have auto top off it isnt a prob

[Viv]

Got a fan going, I know its the lights (got 3 400w MH) 4 96w CF, 2 white/2actinic- there are a lot of combinations of lighting that can be preformed as they each have their own ballast and plug...the MH, when on can raise the temp 2 degrees in 15 minutes, right now I just have the white 96w actinics on with the water bottles in the sump ( temp is reading 84) which is a helluva lot better than 86 and climbing! I only have a few acros, clams have loved the high heat and MH lighting (expansion and greatly improved color) I'm just wondering if I could give 1 hour clips of light throughout the day if this would help keep temps down and the corals alive, and if this is a good idea does it matter whether its blue actinic, white actinic or MH.

[Wiskey]

Can you get a bunch more fans blowing directally on the water itself? I have found that fans are very effective at lowering temp, provided the humidity in the house is under controal.

HTH,
Whiskey

[King-Kong]

You can always move the tank to a reverse daylight schedule.

During the day; lights off
during the night; lights on.

[pwest]

Can you vent your light fixture/hood so that air is sucked through it and then blown outside? I did this (see http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37800) and it was a huge improvement for me.

-Phil

[SPS(BB)]

My brother was getting tank temps at 84 last week, he added a fan to his sumpless tank and it cooled down 78 now with no swing.

[Gmoney]

what size is your tank? Maybe the 400s can be downed to 250 hqi?

[Viv]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Bought a few more fans to try and push some air around. Raised the lights 'cause maybe that will help also. Guess right now its wait and see...I'm just utilizing the compact flourescents right now to see how the fans do...so far staying around 84. With more fans added tonight I'll see how the temp is in morning and whether or not to put the MH on...move some of the corals to the bottom as they no longer really have that outer coating of skin to protect them from the light. I really hope they come back, I'm hoping that since the polyps are still there that with time the "skin" will replenish...either that or change my name to killer!