nano running too hot

[CraigRoss]

I just recently purchased my first Nano tank and am new to the reef keeping hobby. It is a JBJ 12gal DX with 2 24watt pc's. The tank has been running for several days and looks great with my live rock but for some reason it is running too hot, about 84F. Both fans are running fine and the ambient temp in the house is about 78F. Is this normal for this tank and what can I do to lower the temp.

[stoney waters]

Here are a few options.

 

Prop the hood open a little.

 

Run lights at night when ambient temps are cooler.

 

Run AC in room.

 

Install a chiller.

[gats]

Just for grins.....Leave the lights on, turn off your heater. Monitor temp. If temp goes down, back off on your heater. Maybe it's not calibrated just right. I have mine set at 77, but my temp stays at a constant 80. I'm running a fuge light in back. Wish you luck.

[stoney waters]

Oh, and yes, this is a common problem. Many people have encountered this problem. I believe that the pumps generate as mutch heat as the lights do. I added a second pump and had to install an iceprobe to keep the temps down.

[CraigRoss]

I keep my house pretty cold and checked the temp when I woke up and it was at 82F with the lights off. My 55gal fresh water tank stays at 78F constanly and the heater never even comes on. I am not running a heater on the nano and can't figure why it isnt the same temp as the fresh water. I read that the stock pump in the back will generate heat so I just switched it with the other powerhead (minijet 606) I was using to circulate the tank. We'll see how it does without the original pump. Thank you all for your feedback and would appreciate all the help I can get. Also, is this temp too high to keep my corals? My LFS said to raise the salinity to 1.026 to accomidate the higher temp. What do you think?

[neanderthalman]

Half of the time your LFS is a little off, the other half of the time, they're dead wrong. Hydrometers are calibrated for a temperature of 80 degrees F. You should keep it simple and only measure your salinity when the water temperature is at 80 degrees, or very close. I don't think a refractometer is affected by temperature, which is a significant advantage. If you want to cool your tank, increase airflow to the OUTSIDE of the tank. Point a fan at it. Works like a charm, should bring it down by a few degrees, which is all you need. If it cools it too much...add a heater with a thermostat to keep temps constant.

[stoney waters]

I am not sure about the salinity thing, but if you were using two pumps and switched back to one,that might ease your temp problems.

84 degrees is nearing the borderline point. Your corals should be fine. But I wouldnt let it get mutch above that for extended periods of time.

[CraigRoss]

Good ideas. We'll see how the pump works out and I may have to point a fan directly at the vents on the side of the tank. Maybe I'll have to somehow add another fan directly above the lights. Do you think removing the splash sheild for the lights will help the two fans remove the heat better? I would like to have a powerhead in the tank to direct current to the corals but if they generate that much heat its probly not worth it. Being new to the reefkeeping hobby it sure is nice getting all this help from people who know what there talking about rather than talking to the LFS. THANK YOU!!!

[gats]

From your first post, it sounds like you don't have any coral or fish. If this is correct, start experimenting. IMO, 82 degrees is probably OK, as long as you don't fluctuate your temp. Check out the below post. This guy took a long time in setting up this thread. Hope it helps.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=54602

[CraigRoss]

great thread, thanks for your help.

[CraigRoss]

It's interesting to me how people can modify there nano's with lighting upgrades, refugium lights, heaters, and multiple powerheads and still my plain jane nano runs hotter than theirs. Even with my A/C blasting cold air. However on a positve note, I'm starting to see all sorts of different kinds of pods and a wierd little slug like thing crawling around.

[Web Guy]

My new tank is also running around 82-83. I had installed a powerhead in the inside left of the tank. Today I took that out and installed a new rio 200 for the main pump and took the stock pump and moved it to the bottom of side 1 in the back to get more water pulled into the back filter area. I want to see if my powerhead that was in the left corner of the tank in the front was getting the tank hot. If it still stays warmer I will pull the stock pummp out and only run the new rio 200 in there to see what temps it gets then. Will keep playing with it during the cycle.

[Nickeleye]

My tank is running most times at around 80 degress as I have the heater set to that. At times during the day the temps can get up to around 82 if the ambient temp is hot enough. I'm running two minijet 606's and 72w of PCs.

[Web Guy]

How many Gallons per Hour and Liters Per Hour do your 606's run? I bought a Rio 200 and I am trying to figure out how many Liters Per Hour it pushes. I know stock pushes 400 marked on the box for Liters per Hour.

[Web Guy]

Ok removed my power head in the left corner. Only running a rio 200 for the pump for the filter and the stock pump is behind the grate. Same temps... I adjusted my heater a little up so at night it did not drop too much.

[Chronicles]

I had to turn my ebo down to 75, this would make the tank drop to 78 at the lowest. Temps range 78-80 with mini606 + 13w fuge light

[Web Guy]

Then why is mine running at 82-83 all of the time. Unless at night it gets cold. I have now turned my heater up so at least at night the temps don't fluctuate too much. My room temps is around 76 or so. I am running stock lighting, rio 200 for pump and stock pump behind grate.

[Web Guy]

Can I upgrade the fans I guess to cut back some of that? What fans are a direct replacement for the stockers but with more flow?

 

Ok I took out the new rio 200 and put in my maxijet 500 that I had from some time ago. I am still running the stock pump behind the grate, so I will see what my temps are tommorow running with this set up. I only ran the lights today for about 8 hours and my temps were 83 or so. I need to get a digital thermometer so I can read it easier. Which ones do you guys use?

 

Ok after reading some more I took out the stock pump. So I am running the maxijet 500 for the pump filter and I am running the rio 200 behind the grate. It looks like my temps are dropping, will see.

[CraigRoss]

I spoke with jbj and they said that the problem with the heat is not the pump, but aiming the outlet nozzle at the water surface. Apparently the lights heat up the water surface and that mixes with the rest of the water in the tank. I added both pumps back into the tank and redirected the nozzle to see if this is true and so far Im at 80F. Well see whats happens overnight.

[trumph]

Try what "gats" said...turn your heater off or at least down. I have a 24g with another powerhead which was running hot 'til I checked my heater. It was an older Visi-therm from my Freshwater days and it is way off. I now have it set at 73-74 to keep my temps at 79-80. I first noticed the problem when I moved the heater to the middle chamber to keep it away from the heat being generated by two powerheads in chamber 3, figured that it would never come on being next to them and wanted to move it into the incoming stream of water. Just like a thermostat in your house, don't put it next to the heater or the rest of the house will be cold. Well it started coming on and staying on! I just picked it out of the water,(reading 84F!)grabbed it and it was hot. Anyway now my temps are steady 79-80 w/o fans mods or any other cooling. Stock 72w lights also.

[Web Guy]

I will first try aiming the outlet nozzle away from the top surface. I can't beleive that would make a difference. But hey, worth a shot. But why in the world would I want the top of the surface of the water to not have movement? Just the opposet of what I was taught! All of my other tanks have always had great current on the top of the tank for oxygen purposes and more.

 

It's not the heater, I had this all set up in another tank ready to go before I bought the nano and decided to sell the other POS tank that was just bought.

 

I also went ahead and turned the heater down a little.

[dga]

try moving the powerhead to the top (above the water line) as i did with a extension tube to your inlet so as it still draws water from the bottom. if mounted correctly you may be able to lower your temps by 2 degrees as i did. the powerhead will be over half way above the water line, thus not convecting its heat to the water. this worked so well for me i was able to install an additional powerhead. the stock powerhead will not work, but any small powerhead with a round inlet tube will work. (i use a hagen 301)(175gph) combining this method along with the cassette skimmer should reduce your temps.

[DHodges34]

I just got a small table fan for 8 bucks and have it aimed at the tank, it dropped temps 3 degrees for me.

 

- Daniel

[Web Guy]

Today I am running it with the rio 200 unplugged and the maxijet500 running on the filter. I also turned down the nozzles to not create so much top water disturbance. As stated in the other post. Will see how they hold today. So far I am down in temps. Just turned the lights on so I will watch it today. If it does not rise I will turn on the rio 200 pump and see what happens.

[Web Guy]

Oops Double Post!