Heat issues

TORMENTOR · Jul 7, 2009

Well for the last month or so I have been going up and down the road to selling my system and getting out of the hobby due to, at the time, an uncontrollable heat issue with my tank.
My tank would reach temps of 85 when running my T5 lights for 6 hours or more (had them on timers). I would put bottles of ice water in the sump to bring the temp down but it would always go right back up. Sooooo I listed everything for sale in the classified section on this forum.

Well I am happy to say that I purchased a clip on fan for my sump on Saturday and since then my temperature only reaches 80. Yes I have to add about a gallon of ro/di daily due to the evaporation but that outweighs the heat issue by far.

I am no longer selling my stuff and am in it again for the long haul. I will have to buy an RO./DI unit now because the cost for the water and having to drive to get it and time it takes is becoming some what cumbersome.

I am sooooo happy to be able to run my lights and actually see my fish again.

Thanks for the tip Roshi.... It works great.
Rich

BlazinNano · Jul 7, 2009

Awesome! Glad you got it fix and are able to keep the tank. It makes me sad when people have to get rid of their tanks because of money or time.

AZDesertRat · Jul 7, 2009

People really underestimate a fans ability to cool by evaporation. I have not run my 1/4HP chiller since April 2008. Thats in Phoenix with a 100G system with 2x250w MH and 2x140w VHO runing 8 hours a day. The system stays 79-81 year round with only two 4",53 CFM computer fans in the canopy on a timer with the lights and a single 7" Wal Mart clip on fan over the sump on a Ranco controller that only runs part time when it reaches 81. My house is warm durring the day when we are at work and only cools off in the evening when we are home so that does not help the tank at all. Definitely cheaper than running the chiller 3 times a day for a total of almost 6 hrs to accomplish the same thing.

Evaporation is as much as 3 gallons a day but the electrical savings paid for my autotopoff system.