Temperature Spike while Cycling my new Tank

[Hank The Tank]

Hi All - I'm doing a fishless cycle of a new 15G Waterbox. This is my first tank in this reef hobby. Question: do the water temperature spike during the bacteria and ammonia cycling process? I dosed it with IO Bacterial and Dr. Tim's ammonia last night and ammonia got to 2ppm. Tested ammonia today and things looked like it is going to plan with ammonia dropping to 0, and nitrite now at 5ppm. My question is why did the water temperature remained high? My ambient room temperature is 79 but the water is 83.3 without the hood, and it was like 84.2 with the hood on. At first, I thought the new heater was "bad", so I unplugged it for the entire day and the water stood at 83.3 after i removed the hood. Is it because the bacteria is working overdrive and causing the heat? Wondering if anyone came across this issue. I tried Googling for an answer but didn't get a clear answer so I hope the R2R community knows right off the bat, we have the smartest reefers on the planet on this forum - right? Best Regards.

 

[Eric209]

What is your heater set at?

 

[Hank The Tank]

It was orginally set at 79 but this morning, water was 84 so I kept lowering it to the lowest 76. By afternoon, I unplugged it and the water temperature stayed at 83.3 but the room temp is 79.

 

[FreakPrism]

Are you running any powerheads in the tank? Also is your thermometer accurate?

 

[intricate_reefer]

The pumps create heat

 

[Hank The Tank]

Are you running any powerheads in the tank? Also is your thermometer accurate?

I am running a small wave maker. I will unplug it / turn it off to see if the temp reduce. It is a 15 Gallon so it won't take much to heat the water. Now what am I going to do to create more water movement if I can't add a wave maker in a 15G tank? Thanks for the advise. I used two different thermometer, and they are about the same

 

[Hank The Tank]

The pumps create heat

Unplugging the wave maker to see if the temp will reduce. Will report back later this afternoon. Thanks.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Unplugging the wave maker to see if the temp will reduce. Will report back later this afternoon. Thanks.

Yes, your wave maker and return pumps are the heat source. You are going to have to lower the ambient room temperature of the house or add a fan with a temperature controller. I have smallish tanks and we keep the house around 74 in the summer. Just with the pumps my temp gets about 79 sometimes. I have a fan hooked to my apex that will kick on a fan blowing across the water if it gets too high. If you didn’t want to shell out on an apex I believe inkbird and a couple other companies make a heat/cool temp controllers.

I’m also sure some pumps create more heat then others depending on thier size and if they are AC or DC. I’m not an expert but It may be worth looking into. Something like an eco tech mp10 wave maker may help a bit as the motor is outside of the aquarium.

 

[Difrano]

My house runs between 76 day and 74 night and my tank with out heaters runs between 79 and 77 so you are in that range, your tank even with everything powered off will never be below 80. Don't unplug the powerheads because you are creating false conditions that will create problems when you add fish and corals, you should not run the tank without water movement specially on an 14G your fish will die from oxygen starvation in a mater of 1 hour. fix the problem now with all the equipment in, you will have much less problems in the future. Some solutions:

• Lower your A/C temperature.
• Install a small fan on top of the tank blowing air over the water line.
• Install a chiller.

Cheers

 

[Hank The Tank]

Yes, your wave maker and return pumps are the heat source. You are going to have to lower the ambient room temperature of the house or add a fan with a temperature controller. I have smallish tanks and we keep the house around 74 in the summer. Just with the pumps my temp gets about 79 sometimes. I have a fan hooked to my apex that will kick on a fan blowing across the water if it gets too high. If you didn’t want to shell out on an apex I believe inkbird and a couple other companies make a heat/cool temp controllers.

I’m also sure some pumps create more heat then others depending on thier size and if they are AC or DC. I’m not an expert but It may be worth looking into. Something like an eco tech mp10 wave maker may help a bit as the motor is outside of the aquarium.

Thank you for the recommendations. The Eco Tech waver maker is just too much for my budget.

 

[MaxxuM]

Water can retain heat for hours or even days depending on volume. Give it at least 12 hours.

 

[Hank The Tank]

My house runs between 76 day and 74 night and my tank with out heaters runs between 79 and 77 so you are in that range, your tank even with everything powered off will never be below 80. Don't unplug the powerheads because you are creating false conditions that will create problems when you add fish and corals, you should not run the tank without water movement specially on an 14G your fish will die from oxygen starvation in a mater of 1 hour. fix the problem now with all the equipment in, you will have much less problems in the future. Some solutions:

• Lower your A/C temperature.
• Install a small fan on top of the tank blowing air over the water line.
• Install a chiller.

Cheers

I love your explanation on the temp of the water being always higher then the room. It's obvious now that I think about the pump and wave maker running in the tank warming up the water. I think my best plan of attack is to add a fan and oxygenate the water to keep the temp as low as possible but keep the wave maker running. Probably have to remove the hood and go with a netted hood and deal with more water evaporation. I don't have any livestock in yet and like you said, deal with it now. Thanks again. Do you think both fish and corals will do ok with 81 F water?

 

[GabeM]

I have been running from 81.2-81.7 for the last few months with no issues but the tank is mature.

 

[Difrano]

I love your explanation on the temp of the water being always higher then the room. It's obvious now that I think about the pump and wave maker running in the tank warming up the water. I think my best plan of attack is to add a fan and oxygenate the water to keep the temp as low as possible but keep the wave maker running. Probably have to remove the hood and go with a netted hood and deal with more water evaporation. I don't have any livestock in yet and like you said, deal with it now. Thanks again. Do you think both fish and corals will do ok with 81 F water?

Regarding the 81 F I would say most of the fish should be fine, I ran a biocube FOLWR and the temperature was always around 82 and no issues at all. Regarding Corals most soft and LPS should be fine, SPS may have problems but I am no expert in coral.

 

[Hank The Tank]

Thank you for the recommendations. The Eco Tech waver maker is just too much for my budget.

Thank you for the tip on the InkBird temp controller. They are only about $35. on AMNZ. I also found a $20. fan (Longafish Aquarium chillers) that the manufacturer says it will reduce temp from 2 to 3 degrees C which is about 3.6 to 5.4 F for the 2 fan model. Not sure how credible the claim is. If I marry the two things together, that may solve my problem for about $60.

Hopefully some newbie like me will be advised of the temp issue on a nano tank and bake this into their startup cost.

 

[intricate_reefer]

Thank you for the tip on the InkBird temp controller. They are only about $35. on AMNZ. I also found a $20. fan (Longafish Aquarium chillers) that the manufacturer says it will reduce temp from 2 to 3 degrees C which is about 3.6 to 5.4 F for the 2 fan model. Not sure how credible the claim is. If I marry the two things together, that may solve my problem for about $60.

Hopefully some newbie like me will be advised of the temp issue on a nano tank and bake this into their startup cost.

Just be prepared with a fan your tank is going to evaporate a lot more water. Having an ATO is going to be pretty ideal. Especially on a tank that small because salinity can change pretty quick with that low of water volume.

 

[ScubaFish802]

Hi All - I'm doing a fishless cycle of a new 15G Waterbox. This is my first tank in this reef hobby. Question: do the water temperature spike during the bacteria and ammonia cycling process? I dosed it with IO Bacterial and Dr. Tim's ammonia last night and ammonia got to 2ppm. Tested ammonia today and things looked like it is going to plan with ammonia dropping to 0, and nitrite now at 5ppm. My question is why did the water temperature remained high? My ambient room temperature is 79 but the water is 83.3 without the hood, and it was like 84.2 with the hood on. At first, I thought the new heater was "bad", so I unplugged it for the entire day and the water stood at 83.3 after i removed the hood. Is it because the bacteria is working overdrive and causing the heat? Wondering if anyone came across this issue. I tried Googling for an answer but didn't get a clear answer so I hope the R2R community knows right off the bat, we have the smartest reefers on the planet on this forum - right? Best Regards.

From my experience most heaters vary by a few degrees either way. It took me a week or so to dial in exactly where it should be set.

Example: I set the heater at ~73 and I get a consistent 79.9 degree tank 24/7 now.

I would dial your heater down a few degrees, not touch it for 24 hours and check it again and readjust as needed