Heat and Light

[sterling18]

I've got a question about the heat put out by a light.

 

I've got a Coralife mini light, 9w 10K and 9w actinic. It's on top of a 1g tank. I've got a sheet of lexan covering it and a little Red Sea Nano filter.

 

During the day, the tank holds at 80F but in the morning before the light comes on, it's at 76F. I am thinking about putting a heater in there to keep the temp at 80F at night when the light is off. But when the lights come on, will it heat the water more, meaning will it add 4 to 5 degrees to the water temp that's already at 80F?

 

TIA.

[rmhuntley]

if you set your heater to where it kicks off at or just below 80degF, then when the water heats up to 80 from you lights the heater shoulk kick off and remain so until the water temp drops below 80. hope this helps.

 

-Roy

[sterling18]

Originally posted by rmhuntley

if you set your heater to where it kicks off at or just below 80degF, then when the water heats up to 80 from you lights the heater shoulk kick off and remain so until the water temp drops below 80. hope this helps.

 

-Roy

 

Hi Roy,

 

My question is what if the water is at 80F when the lights turn on in the morning. Will it push the temp to 86F if the water is at 80 when the lights come on?

[rmhuntley]

Sorry, I misread your post. I would still say no. a temp flux like you're having now doesn't seem to be that bad. there are other posts on nano-reef, where temps flux that much(76-80) so I really wonldn't worry about it unless you have some specific need to keep the water at a constant temp. If youdo get a heater and the temp goes up to 84, you can always get a fan to blow air at the back of the tank glass to cool it down.

[nu2salt]

The temp. on mine runs 77 to 80 degrees & it's fine. I use a clip on 6" fan & a catalina 50W titanium heater approx. 6" long if your tight for space. Temp. dial is on the plug.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=55825

[sterling18]

Originally posted by nu2salt

The temp. on mine runs 77 to 80 degrees & it's fine. I use a clip on 6" fan & a catalina 50W titanium heater approx. 6" long if your tight for space. Temp. dial is on the plug.          

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=55825

 

Right now, I don't know if I should put a heater in there since with the light off at night it drops down to 76 but with the lights on it max's out at 82. That's during a 9 hour photo period.

 

My concern is if it's already 80 degrees and the lights goes on, it will raise the temp to 86 or higher and make some soup in there.

 

btw, nice setup. lots of color.

[rmhuntley]

I don;t think I would

[ninjafish]

I agree that you will be fine. Look at it this way, if your power went out, you would start to get concerned about your temperature dropping -> because your tank bleeds heat into the room. If your lights cause the temperature to be 80 that means that all of your equipment running together manages to maintain the temperature at 80 degrees 'despite' the fact that the tank's natural tendancy is to get cooler. Even if you warmed the water at night to 80 degrees, that energy wouldn't stay in the water for very long unless it was kept up by your equipment. I would expect that if 80 is the warmest you get during the day, than that is the warmest it will get, regardless of what the tank does at night.

By the way, I think its a great idea to bring your night time temp up and avoid the daytime change. Probably be more comfortable for your livestock. JMO.

 

- Chad