water temp ????

[RAYRAY]

I had my first water temp spike of the season and it isn't even summer yet. What temp is "high" for a tank ??
My temp usually stays right around 78/79 during the day and around 76/77 at night. Yesterday was hot and muggy here in South Jersey and my tank hit 84.5. I turned all my lights off and it slowly went back down to 80. It cooled off after a good storm last night and today the tank was back at normal temp. I picked up a little clip on fan to blow accross the top of the tank. I am hoping this will help !!
Thanks

 

[NewbReefer]

mine will hit about 81 during the day, how close are your lights?

 

[cumminz]

I think 84 is way too high. I did read somewhere sometime that in this business, it isnt a certain temp/salinity, but it is more of a constant temp/salinity than an exact one

 

[RAYRAY]

I have a DE MH 150w lamp hanging about 8 inches above the tank. My temp has been very stable like I said but with the summer comming I want to make sure it stays that way. I do run central air so I guess I should be ok.

 

[NewbReefer]

you don't want your tank to change more than about 2 degrees from night to day. Is there anyway you can raise your light up to about 10 or 11 inches off the tank? to see if that helps.

 

[Bifferwine]

84 is too high. If your tank always stayed between 82 and 84, it wouldn't be too bad, but swings between 76 at night and 84 in the day are too large. You want to minimize swings. Ideal temps are between 76 and 80, but that's not practical for everyone. Just try and keep it as stable as possible.

 

[simpleman]

I had the same thing happen a couple weeks ago when it hit 102 here and my AC died. I threw ice packs in the tank to cool it down. I think 78 is ideal.

 

[yote]

Like Biff said,its the big swings that can be bad.Just keep a fan blowing between the light and the water surface,and that should help keep it stable.

 

[RAYRAY]

Thanks everyone. LIke I mentioned, The temp is usually 78/79 dunring the day and drops 1 degree at night. I did add a fan so that should help. I just wanted to know how high is too high so I know if I don't run my ac all summer long I know what I can expect. Thanks again

 

[sen5241b]

Thanks everyone. LIke I mentioned, The temp is usually 78/79 dunring the day and drops 1 degree at night. I did add a fan so that should help. I just wanted to know how high is too high so I know if I don't run my ac all summer long I know what I can expect. Thanks again

I've had the same problems lately. Placement of the heater can affect the temp. Also, its amazing how a small, inexpensive fan blowing on the water's surface can do a lot to cool the tank.

 

[fatman]

Draw air across the surface or the water rather than blowing air across the water. The fan can pull heavy moisture laden air better than it can blow light air across the water. Blow cool room air at your tank glass walls. Your tank will definitely behave a lot better once you start using the central air.

 

[RAYRAY]

well the tank has been stable at 78 for the last couple of days. I run the fan until the lights go out and turn it on in the morning. So far so good! thanks for all the input!!

 

[fatman]

Glad it helped. A lot of heat can be removed rom a tanl through evaporative cooling, and itis a lot cheaper than a chiller. Please realise though that your evaporation rate will very likely increase so keep a good eye on your water level until you see the new normal amounts of top off water needed.

 

[RAYRAY]

you were not kidding about the evap. It was like night and day. i usually top off once a keek, now it's twice a week at least!