82 degrees without heater

[jajasonson]

My temp stays at 79-82 without a heater. My house thermostat is set to 72. Does this sound right or is it way off?

I have a 90 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. Is my equipment putting out that much heat? Here’s what I have:

Display:
ATI 6 bulb T5
2 jebao SOW-15

Sump:
Sedra pump (for euro reef skimmer)
1 Hydor Koralia 850
Sicce 3.0 return pump

I used to have 3 100w Eheim Jager trutemp heaters, but removed them since the temperature was so high.

My cheap digital thermometer and float thermometer have the same readings. Either they’re both wrong or my equipment is raising the temperature by 7-10 degrees! What do you think?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Ahh ok, I figured they use salt to keep the roads from freezing over

Saltwater has a lower freezing point...

 

[Twistedhalo]

My temp stays at 79-82 without a heater. My house thermostat is set to 72. Does this sound right or is it way off?

I have a 90 gallon with a 20 gallon sump. Is my equipment putting out that much heat? Here’s what I have:

Display:
ATI 6 bulb T5
2 jebao SOW-15

Sump:
Sedra pump (for euro reef skimmer)
1 Hydor Koralia 850
Sicce 3.0 return pump

I used to have 3 100w Eheim Jager trutemp heaters, but removed them since the temperature was so high.

My cheap digital thermometer and float thermometer have the same readings. Either they’re both wrong or my equipment is raising the temperature by 7-10 degrees! What do you think?

Could the air bubbler be heating the water? My air bubbler is really hot, I'm sure the bubbler has to be adding the heat.

 

[Twistedhalo]

Could the air bubbler be heating the water? My air bubbler is really hot, I'm sure the bubbler has to be adding the heat.

 

[CrabMech]

Could the air bubbler be heating the water? My air bubbler is really hot, I'm sure the bubbler has to be adding the heat.

That could be the problem. Aquarium air pumps are usually very low power so if it actually feels hot to the touch that suggests something is wrong with it.

Beyond that: every electronic device you put in your tank is a 100% efficient heater even if that is not its intended purpose. Skimmers, pumps, wavemakers, sterilizers, etc, all generate heat. This happens because of natural inefficiencies--motors and lights get warm--and also because what they are doing ultimately ends up generating heat via other ways, like fluid friction. Lights generate a lot of heat as well, though some of it goes into the air in your room instead of the tank. Whatever is heating your tank is one or more of the devices in or near it. If anything feels unusually warm like the air pump I'd check that first. Also check for any clogged pumps. Clogs will force the pump to work harder, making more heat, and can also reduce flow & surface agitation, which would reduce natural evaporative cooling.

Also, how are you checking the temperature? I do not trust infrared thermometers to be accurate enough for this. They depend on knowing the emissivity of the object they are measuring and that is never truly known and instead is guessed by the electronics inside the thermometer. Those kind of thermometers are OK for determining "hot or hot" but I'd consider their error to easily be +/-20%. I have a Fluke I use for work, that is a well respected professional brand, and yet if I try and measure a pot of boiling water it tells me it's 120C. So if that's the kind of thermometer which is telling you the tank is 82 degrees I'm not sure I'd trust it.