SmartaZaWhiP Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Hey all, As some of you many know, I have a 7 gallon mini-bow. I have a Montipora Capricornus, pink tip Acropora, and brown acropora as well as many mushrooms and zoos. I live in Texas were even with two a/c units on my condo, I am having issues with my tank temp. I don't have a cooler, but do use a fan to blow over the tank. I don't turn the lights on (65w true actinic PC, and 32w 10K PC) until the night when temps are cooler. My house temp is still a HOT 77 degrees, and I can't seem to get my tank temp below 84 degrees!!! I hate it because I now see my two acroporas developing tissue necrosis. My Monti cap is doing fine as well as my other corals and fish<---six line rass and yellow goby. Other than the fan running over the tank to cool through evaporation, do any of you have any ideas as to how I can cool the tank?? or do you think I should just go to a larger tank for temp stablity I.e. 20H? Thanks for your help in advance! Link to comment
Chrash236 Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Look at the microchiller on www.marinedepot.com if you look at the thread I posted it talks about Iceprobe Coolworks and It looks like I will be buying one of those. Hope this helps Link to comment
kennerd Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 84 is a bit extreme, but my 65 runs in the 82 range during the day. the key is to maintain a gentle temp swing, especially in a small volume tank, where temps can change rapidly. What is the tank temp @ night or early AM? If it's dropping down to the mid-70's @ night, that's too extreme of a change. You may consider raising your nighttime temp via heater a little higher (79-80) to keep the swing more in check. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 the microchiller works great for a tank that size but a fan should keep it cool. I have a fan blowing the air conditioned air onto my 26 (twin 150 watt halides and a 55 watt powercompact) gallon and the heater flips on all the time. If you can't get the fan to keep it cool, either plop down the cash for a microchiller (get the controller too) than you might want to consider the Dave ESPI ghetto cooling method. Ice in a bag or frozen bottles of water (half filled so they don't burst) Link to comment
SeaMountain Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 Agree. Temp stability is a key factor. A 7g is very susceptible to a wider temp swing then higher volume tanks. My 10g was doing fine with a fan until we hit some record temps for a couple of weeks. Fortunately I planned for it and had an IceProbe ready to go. Call me absurd, but I think the amount of corals and livestock many of us invest in - not even taken into account the amount of time expended on this $$$ hobby - another $150 is a very small price to pay to maintain a decent temp and not to lose everything you have already invested in. Or do like some and "AAAACK!"... Drop a frozen bottle of water into the tank! Link to comment
kennerd Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 You're absurd, UMW. How is your canopy / hood set up? I would recommend raising it up a little but, and let the fan blow across the top of the water and below the lights, thereby removing the heat as it works toward the water surface. I have a 150 halide on my 10, but it's raised up, and I run a KMart $10 clip-on fan across the top and the heater clicks on all the time to maintain the 79 degree mark. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted August 7, 2003 Share Posted August 7, 2003 if the lights aren't lifted off the frame, the fan is a nonfactor. That was my problem with the 7. Link to comment
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