Tank Temperature

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

Lately, my tank's temperature has reached 85%.  How can I keep it cooler.  The room temperature is only 75%.  A few facts:
- Tank is in a built in cabinet in the basement
- Tank is about 200 gallons
- Florescent light above (about 2 feet from water).

A few additional comments:
-I opened pullout doors above the tank
-I moved the tank lids off to side thinking this would let out heat..but tank water still remains hot.
- Just did 20% water change with water around 75degrees...lowered the tank water to about 80.1 degrees.

What else can I do to keep water in acceptable range.
What is an acceptable range
Note - I just lost a scooter blenny (not sure if it was related to the hot tank water...but the other fish in tank seemed to be stressed as well..but are doing better after the water change.


ANSWER: Hello Craig.

Do you have a sump?  And is the 'tank lids', are those glass?  If so, remove them forever.  They not only keep heat in, but they block light, about 30% to be precise, when the glass is clean. more if the glass is dirty.

Get some desktop fans from home depot or office store, and place/mount them abve the tank  so the fans blow ACROSS the water.  This will increase the amount of evaporation, and evaporation lowers the temperature.

You should be able to keep the temperature down with your lighting the way it is, but if you had more intense lighting, (like metal halide), you might need more fans or even a WATER CHILLER.  (like an air conditioner for fish, so it is a water conditioner.

These are not cheap and they cost a bunch to operate...


Also, i reccomend having some frozen water bottles handy.  I use two liter soda bottles.  I freeze them ahead of time, and when the temerature starts to raise, and i am home, I will use these bottles to minimize the amount of time my chiller comes on...

IT isnt really cost effective in the long run as you end up using more electicty for the refridgerator  but it seems better when i dont see the water chiller click on...

good luck and please let me know how things work out for you.


bill



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Bill,

thanks for quick response.  I went to target and bought a 4inch fan that I mounted as you recommended (in corner so it blows across the water).  Assume I should just let it run continuously...or until the outside cools down.

Also, the lids are acrylic....should I lose them as well??

BTW - you helped me a few months ago when my tank crashed and I lost all my fish.  As you can tell, I am back at it and will continue until I get this right! ;-)   I do appreciate knowing you are here to provide guidance.

Thanks for all you help,
Craig

Answer
Hey Craig,

glad to hear you got the fan setup quickly.  this will help.

Be prepared to add FRESH water daily to replace the water that evaporates.  (or your tank water will get more 'salty', Higher salinity

And yea, glass/acrylic, it dont matter, they all block light to some degree or another.

and glad to hear you are perservering thru your earlier troubles, hopeflly you will start off on a better foot this time around


you can check out my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com

It has a live chatroom where you can chat live with me and / or anyone else who maybe online at the same time

Please understand that the forum is new and there maybe timees when no one is online, but please be patient as folks log on at different times of the tday..

You can also create a blog to keep a journal of your reef build and get feedback from other reefers.

hope to see you there


bill