Detailed form submitted: juan R

J

juan R

Joined
4 Aug 2011
Posts
148
Reaction score
3
Location
Pretoria
Detailed help request​
Are you experiencing any problems in your tank?
Yes ​
Brief Description
increasing temp in tank ​
Tank size
1500mm 650mm 650mm ​
System Volume
600l ​
How long has your tank been running?
2 months ​
What livestock do you have?
2 foxface
2 sand sifters ​
Water Parameters
10.9
dont know
dont know
dont know
8.3
0.025
2.0
0
1.023
26 ​
What lighting is over the tank?
4 by T5's at 54 watt each ​
Pumps and equipment
3 compartment sump with skimmer in 1st comp, mech filter in second and live rock with return pump in 3rd ​
Maintenance
i am currently doing a 15% water change weekly and i am buing synthetic salt water from my lfs. i have not changed any of my lights globes or tubes as they are still new. ​
Other info and photo's.
I have noticed a slow increase in temp and i am worried that it will go too high. i am sure that it is caused by the lighting because it seem to come down over night when the lights are off. my heater is se at 24 degrees but the display thermometer is showing a climb up to26.2 degrees and the it goes down to 25.5 over night. wiil the lights make it go beyond the safe 28 degrees? Please help.....:( ​
 
is the rom well ventilated/ is there a canopy on the tank? if so is it able to allow hot air to escape?

fans are generally an easy way to reduce heat and what you have described seems cotrollable with the use of them...

can you post a pic of the tank so we can better assess and see whats happening..
 
yes i di have a canopy over the tank, maby that is the problem although there is a opening at the back but not sure if that is sufficient. I have checked the thermostat and the light is of which means that it is not heating at all. I will take some pics tonight and post them tomorrow.
 
If 4 X T5s are heating it now then you will have serious issues in summer. Try and get 2-4 PC fans and let it blow over the water surface, under the lights. I run 2X 250W halides and 2 54W T5s over my same sized tank with 5 PC fans blowing over the water surface and that keeps the temp in check. But your evaporation will also increase so topups are needed more frequently.
 
hi, i agree with les, try adding some pc's fans over your sump or even a normal fan to help cool the water.

a temp increase is ok if its done gradually, i have a tank in my garage that can hit 32 degress, but its over hours.

but try to keep water between 24 and 26
 
its worth mentioning that if you run fans you will increase evapouration.. so be consious of your salanity...
 
thanks, i will give it a bash. if i dont put any fans in will the temp carry on increasing or will it reach a certain level and then stop?
 
I have also found that a lot of heaters are inaccurate.
 
I suppose there could be fault with both. I have found the Jager heaters to be the most accurate. They are expensive but worth it. I want to take my digital thermometer home to test it against my tank one to see which is inaccurate. Another reason for temperatures rising could be too many heaters. I used to have very hot tanks in summer till I yanked out all the heaters and put in a Jager. The temp dropped and was rock solid. Currently I am running with 2 x 300w Jagers for a 600 litre tank and the temp is always 26.7 degrees. I'll pull one out when it gets hotter to save electricity
 
Thanks Tony, i will also check my thermometers and make sure i am getting an accurate reading. Do you run any fans over your water?
 
Morning Guys, Yippeeeeeeee, i have solved the problem. When i got home last night i opened the sliding doors on my sump and i could feel the hot air coming out. I also opened the glass covers over the DT and emediatly the temp dropped to 24.5 and seems stable.:lol:
 
Are you sure your thermometer isnt set to read the outside temperature? Some makes can do both. I find it strange that the temp dropped as quickly as you said
 
juan R said:
Morning Guys, Yippeeeeeeee, i have solved the problem. When i got home last night i opened the sliding doors on my sump and i could feel the hot air coming out. I also opened the glass covers over the DT and emediatly the temp dropped to 24.5 and seems stable.:lol:
Click to expand...

i would remove these for 3 reasons

heat retention
to allow evapouration
and
to allow the light to penetrate better (you loose a hell of alot of light due to the glass and even moreso when it gets dirty..


i personally prefer the evapouration from the DT surface and keep my sump covered with glass.

my kids have thrown allsorts of goodies in there in the past (incl my cellphone) so i cover it for their and my appliacnes protection:lol:
 
Thanks leslie, I will deffinatly do that. Tony, my temp came down by 1,5 degrees over a period of 13 hours. I hope it is not reading the outside temp. My thermometer is a submerged digital unit, it does not have anything out of the water. The temp was sitting at 26.1 when i spoke to you guys yesterday and after i did all those adjustments it came down overnight to 24.5 and seems to have settled there. i will check again when i get home this arvi and will keep you guys posted. Thanks again for all your help and advice.
 
Oh, what testing kits do you use? I have the ones from red sea and i have heared bad reviewes, what is your opinion?
 
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