AC out for 3 days with temps of 100 degrees

[Lavey29]

If my tank doesn't go much above 82 this weekend (with whatever I end up trying), I'll consider it a huge success.
I wish myself luck,,, we'll see...

I was expecting higher Temps but it did not go up very rapid at all. But I was busy dodging missiles my wife was throwing at me because the ac was out.

 

[Reef-_-Noob]

Mine went out last summer tank hit 83 84 85 things started to go south but got the ac on after 3 days and survived. Down south heat. This year is hotter tho

 

[Jcantrell]

Put a fan on the tank and use evaporative cooling. Rotate floating frozen bottles of water. And what dude ahead of me says. You can buy one relatively cheap on Amazon.

I definitely agree with you on floating a cold bottle of water in the tank. That was my very first thought.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

Where in Cali are you at? I know I have seen a couple chillers on offer up for cheap. You can do that and a canister filter for a pump since a canister has all the plumbing bits you need.
You can buy a case of TJ's large water bottles freeze and rotate one out every half hour. Clip on cooling fan, that is a couple degrees. Or... I have seen a suspended box fan and that will super cool your tank. but evap will be a pain.

 

[bluemon]

82 is perfectly fine as long as you keep the dissolved oxygen high.

Best of luck to you. If it REALLY hits the fan, go lights off for the hottest part of the day. Better one day of blackout than hitting 85+

 

[Joj]

I’m in so cal and my tank is in the garage. Temp hits about 95 in the garage and I have a 6 in clip on fan that comes on when temp is higher than 80. It keeps everything under 82 with no issues (have to top off my ATO a lot but everything is fine for my nano 10g nem tank and 500g fowlr. You should be okay.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

California - Chillers - Drygoods - JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10 HP

JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10 HP. $100. I have not used it in approx 10 years. I assume it works as I had no problems with it while in use. I only have the 3/4" hose barb connections. Located in So Cal, Claremont, 91711. Please DM me with any questions. Thank you!

www.reef2reef.com

 

[BaliReefBox]

get a 100 mtrs of 1/4 black tubing an ice box put the coil into the ice box and recirculate your tank water thru the "chiller" keep the ice up to the esky and your all good...OLd fridge put the coil in there and run the fridge

 

[Koh23]

Sorry to hear about your problems.

About 13 years ago i lost almost whole tank to similar situation.

If money is not issue, just go and buy chiller. Fastest, safest way. And great investment. If it is, i know your situation, frozen bottles, any 40cm fan placed above tank is good solution.

Yes, logic suggest that you turn off all pumps, lights, any equipment, but DONT do it. In warmer water, circulation and oxigenation is very important, yes, all equipment maybe raises water temperature, but, on the other hand, stress from warmer water is enough, no need to stress tank more with turning of lights or other important piece of equipment.

In this hobby, hardest part is to understand and implement that even backup solution needs at least two backup solutions. It all cost a lot of money, its not easy to have almost all equipment in double, but some thing are must have. Spare heater, spare pump, any form of spare light, and yes, way to cool your tank if house ac goes down.

Sadly, me first dont have all of that, so.... I guess, advice is good, but implementing that advice is complicated.

 

[EricR]

Thank you to everyone for suggestions. I think I'll be OK but time will tell. (((Dealing with lots of other stuff not related to the tank, as you might well imagine)))

AC installer stopped by and loaned me a portable AC unit for the weekend so that's cool.
It's keeping the downstairs house thermostat (((close-ish to the tank))) around 80 with outside air of 99 and I think everything is stable. (Upstairs is 88 but tank is downstairs).
Tank seems to be stable around 79 so that's awesome (((assuming that holds up but we'll see)))

Tank lights are OFF but I might consider running a short photo period in the evening over the next couple of days if tank temperature remains stable.

 

[revhtree]

@EricR how's the tank?

 

[EricR]

@EricR how's the tank?

Managing OK so far but AC still out. Should be replaced by tomorrow so will update after that.
Thank you for asking.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Managing OK so far but AC still out. Should be replaced by tomorrow so will update after that.
Thank you for asking.

At least there is a slight break in the temps, but now the humidity is insaneo like the south (which imho is even worse) if your in the Los Angeles area anyway. Hope it all works out tomorrow for you.

 

[EricR]

Thank you all for the advice given…

Final status update:
- New AC system installed and functioning so all regular tank-related equipment set back to normal schedules
- Nothing died so that’s good
- Most corals (softies only) look pretty decrepit but should be fine
- PO4 spiked from 0.08 ppm to 0.21 ppm …sheesh — New ALL TIME HIGH!
- NO3 didn’t budge much from 9.6 ppm to 10.6 ppm (((fine for me)))

Synopsis = 3 days of:
- Temperature worked out better than I had hoped for:
- AC company loaned me a portable unit that helped quite a bit (at least for the area near the tank)
- Max tank spike was 83 but that was early on for a short time (((ice bags before portable AC unit)))
- Max sustained tank temp was around 80 = awesome (((I normally run at 77)))
- NO lights for first 2 days — may not have been necessary but seemed reasonable to me