Help cooling down my tank?

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aquaman183

Member
Okay, so I finally got around to buying a couple of thermometers..I hadn't before because my tank is only about a month old now, has some clean up crew, and a damsel, nothing I really care too much to lose. Anyways, the temperature is 84 degrees. [emoji32] Initially I thought my T5 light fixture was the cause of all this heat..but I'm not so sure..I looked at the temperature this morning before the lights came on and it was 82 degrees, so that sounds to me like the lights are only adding 2 degrees to the tank..now I have a freshwater tank set up right beside this one, and that tank is always about 76 degrees, so I would think the saltwater tank should be around this temperature when the lights have been off for awhile. My question is, do you think something else could be causing this extra heat? Like the return pump or the protein skimmer pump?
By the way, the tank is a 40 gallon breeder, with about 20 or so gallons down in the sump area.
All help is appreciated, thank youu!
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
To temporarily cool it down you can add a fan and direct it to the surface of the water. Yes, pumps can add heat. You may want to consider changing out one of them and see how that helps. Alternately, you can run the tank w/o one of the pumps and see how much the tank cools down, this will help to determine if one of the pumps is adding more heat then the other (note when you do this turn the fan off so you don't get it interfering w/the temp changes).
 
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aquaman183

Member
I didn't mean that to sound as harsh as it did...I read that article nano, I'm guessing that you're saying 84 degrees is okay?
And I will look into turning the pumps off separately to see if any changes occur, if I need to get the temperature down, could I take the pumps out of the water, and just have piping submerged?
 
A

aquaman183

Member
I'm going to block the bottom part of the divider in the sump up so the water makes a water fall from the first section to the second. This will make it a little louder, but will expose the water to more air, which I think will help cool things down a little bit.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
http://www.marinedepot.com/JBJ_C_Br...Lighting-JBJ_Lighting-JB1311-FILTACAF-vi.html

a cooling fan like the above should lower the temp a couple degrees... I run my tank at 81F, many run tanks with in a couple degrees of this

Over all reefs, the average lowest temperature observed was 76.4°F, and the average highest temperature was 86.4°F. One way that these data could be interpreted would be to say that for most corals and coral reef animals, the best conditions would be between 76°F and 86°F, with the average being about 82°F.
 
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aquaman183

Member
Okay, i'm going to try and get the tank down a couple degrees first. Does the return pump have to be submerged, or can I have it out of water with a pipe that is submerged?
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
The best solution (IMO) is to add a chiller. It's costly but it's worth it to me to see my tank temp stay where I want it to stay without fluctuating so much. My pumps are my heat issue...I use the same type of pump to mix my 10 gal WC water & if the bucket is covered the newly mixed water gets very warm.
A small chiller could solve your heat issues. Something to think about. :)
 
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aquaman183

Member
Hmm, I'll look into that too, it's just, I feel like I could maybe do a few simple things first..like get the return pump out of the water, is that okay to do?
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
Stability is the main thing, you want the temp swings to be minimal, less than 2 degrees is ideal, I run my tank between 77.5-79.0.

The T5's and pumps both add heat. Even on my system with LED lighting, an external return pump and 2 Vortechs for circulation (pump motor is mounted outside the tank on Vortechs) the tank runs about 3-4 degrees warmer than room temp. The only items in the water generating heat are the skimmer pump and the UV sterilizer.

Fans are good for evaporative cooling, I run one over the sump connected to an aquarium controller and it's good for 2-4 degrees of cooling usually depending on factors like relative humidity. An ATO is a must to replace evaporated water if you run a fan.

I run a chiller as a backup to the fan for those really hot days. Here's another spin on using chillers, it's basically like hooking a window A/C unit up in your room but with the cold air blowing outside and the hot air blowing inside. It's a heat exchanger and the tank gets cooler while the room gets warmer. Progressively the tank gets warmer quicker, forcing the chiller to come on more frequently, making the room even warmer - and the cycle continues... All the while your tank temp is going up and down more rapidly.
 
Ratpack

Ratpack

Active Member
I haven't seen it asked, but are there heaters on both tanks? Are they controlled by a controller or just the built in knob? That would be my first avenue, check to make sure it isn't heating the water too much itself. The pumps and lights do add heat, but the heater would be the item that could really add heat quickly. If you don't have them on a controller, I strongly suggest getting one. My tank maintains 80 degrees all year.
 
B

bullet

Member
I'm not sure if you have corrected your heat issue but I had the same problem when first starting our tank I had to turn the knob on the heater down to 72 degrees and that helped a lot when summer rolled around the tank started running high again so after leaving the top ope which only helped a little bit I bought a used dorm size fridge 1 inline pump and 150 ft of 5/8 line that fit the inline pump. What I did was drill two holes in the side of the fridge about 1 ft from each other then removed the shelves and coiled up the line inside of the fridge and had hone length going into the back of the tank on one side to remove the water that was warm and a another on the other side for the returned cooler water near the bottom by the return pump so water would mix a little before going back to tank temp went from 86.2 down to 80.3 during the day and 79 at night on average the whole set up cost about 175.00 the hose $ 40.00 came from plumbing supply house, the inline pump $ 45.00 from the LFS and the fridge $50.00 from craigslist then some misc. stainless hose clamps and pvc fittings, and the hole saw kit for drill 20.00 it worked for us I little gehto but a lot cheaper than a chiller
 
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aquaman183

Member
That's a very interesting idea, can you still use the mini fridge for its intended purpose?
I have the tank running around 82 degrees right now, but I still need to lift the light fixture off the tank, I think that will help some too.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
aquaman183 said:
That's a very interesting idea, can you still use the mini fridge for its intended purpose?
Click to expand...

No, you cant continue to open and close the fridge all the time and the use of a mini fridge as an chiller is highly debatable in terms of actual cooling capacity and energy efficiency, not to mention longevity since the fridge compressor was not designed for that type of duty.

Here's a read for you. I don't think these are all absolutes but the author does make some good points: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cap/raid/chillers/dormfridge/
 
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