Chiller

[Melissa]

Well, gang,
It looks as though I might need a chiller. I ran the lights yesterday for about 6 hours and the temp was at 89 degrees with four fans running.

With no lights on, the temp is around 80 degrees.

I keep my house around 76 in the summer, so I guess that's the issue. I'm not sure if putting glass between the tank and the lights would make the temp rise or fall. I could leave the canopy open, but then the water surface would be open for jumpers.

Any ideas?

Melissa

[MyReef]

Before you decide on a chiller, get a few fans blowing over your sump or tank if at all possible. You will raise the temperature if you enclose the top with glass...you won't get as much evaporative cooling.

I brought my 400 gallon tank down about 7 degrees with the use of two fans strategically placed.

[rcassidy]

Melissa, Glass between the lights and the tank will substantially increase the heat into the tank. Try removing the glass.

Ryan

[jesspaul]

You might try running the lights at night if the house is cooler.

I don't know how you canopy is set up but when I mounted my lights, 5 VHO 110W over a 90, it got real hot so I put two old computer fans, one on each end and left a slot at the top to let the heat out. Fans on the lights made a hugh difference. If you scavange an old computer to get the fans it will have a 12v supply to run the fans also.

[Melissa]

Thanks everyone! I don't currently have glass between the lights and the tank. I didn't know if that would help or hinder cooling the tank. So now I know that it's not an option.

I lowered the thermostat at home to about 75. We'll see if this helps any.

I've just added the LR last night. Tonight I'm going to run the MH for about 3 hours for the rock and I'll monitor the temp to see how it does.

Jess,
There are two fans in the canopy running and two in the cabinet over the sump/refugium.

The good news is, the rock is beautiful - absolutely beautiful. There are all sorts of things on it. I even saw a feather duster open this morning. Photos of the rock coming soon.

Melissa

[flaunt]

I'm feeling the woes of heat problems myself, so you're not alone. Are you using overpowered pumps? That's the issue in my case, and I solved it only by making copious use of fans. If you have any external pumps that feel warm to the touch then you might also consider putting fans on them. The only problem with fans is that you then increase your evaporation by a huge amount. This system I just set up is about 30g total capacity and I lose a whole gallon of water a day to evaporation! That's insane. I'm thinking about getting a couple of iceprobes in hopes that doing so will enable me to use a glass canopy to reduce evaporation, but I don't know that I'll get much benefit having 30g of water to cool.

Good luck.

[mantisshrimp]

Yeah I only have two 4 inch fans on my cube. It evaporates close to two gallons a day!On my ten gallon it only evaporated a gallon a day.

[flaunt]

Man a gallon a day on 10 gallons... now I don't feel so bad It still sucks though. Does anyone think it would help in the least to do something silly like wrap some 1/2" ID hose around a pipe and blow air from the room through the center of the pipe (while pumping aquarium water through the hose, obviously)? I've seen some metal materials for sale on mcmaster-carr's website that are supposed to be great for conducting heat...