keeping your tank cool in summer

[coralgirl365]

what do you all do to keep your tanks cool in the summer, short of buying a chiller? We don't have AC in my apartment Room temp in here is now like 85-90, and i've been topping off with RO ice cubes today! I've got a fan blowing on it too... any other ideas?

[pico1]

fan blowing across the surface. Open a window if it's cooler outside. The ice cubes will help too.

[darkwaterdevil]

my temp still hasnt gone above 81 with halides and no chiller

[Nuhtty]

what do you all do to keep your tanks cool in the summer, short of buying a chiller? We don't have AC in my apartment Room temp in here is now like 85-90, and i've been topping off with RO ice cubes today! I've got a fan blowing on it too... any other ideas?

 

 

Floating a frozen water bottle (closed and capped) in the sump can help. More fans. Shortening photoperiod.

 

Short of that you really need to think about a chiller.

[coralgirl365]

Floating a frozen water bottle (closed and capped) in the sump can help. More fans. Shortening photoperiod.

 

Short of that you really need to think about a chiller.

 

good idea, i don't have my sump up and running yet but my overflow box and pump should be here in like 3 weeks so i can get it going, then i'll definitly give the water bottle a try.

[seabass]

good idea, i don't have my sump up and running yet but my overflow box and pump should be here in like 3 weeks so i can get it going, then i'll definitly give the water bottle a try.

Keep in mind that without a chiller, your return pump for your sump should be external to reduce additional heat exchange.

 

Everything electrical (besides a chiller) will be adding heat, so getting your tank down below room temperature can be challenging. Frozen water bottles work, but you have to keep adding them, and evaporation (induced by fans, or more open surface area) can also help. However (without air-conditioning), you can’t even guarantee that room temperature will stay below 90°, so I would have to recommend a chiller for the most automated, reliable, and controlled cooling.

[happygolucky]

Take out your heater too, or put it on a timer to only come on for like an hour in the middle of the night. most coral reef animals can tolerate a change in temp from day to night-they do in nature, and certainly do in your tank already if it is overheating- and if it drops a little lower at night, then it will take a little longer to heat up in the day. An expert I know with a lot of experience says that 68 at night and 81 during the day is even fine. I havn't tested that personally, but I do know that my tank is unheated, and goes from a low of about 72 to almost 80 degrees every day with no ill effects.

[tinyreef]

what do you all do to keep your tanks cool in the summer, short of buying a chiller? We don't have AC in my apartment Room temp in here is now like 85-90...

get an AC for the room. window mount or similar.

 

if you're going to drop $200~$400 on a chiller you might as well get an AC ($60~$150) and cool the whole room while you're at it. that way you benefit and the tank benefits at the same time. it'll probably run much cheaper in the end too.

 

but if it still isn't enough after you get the AC (altho i doubt it because it's only a nano) then splurge for an iceprobe chiller ($100). at least then the temperature differential in the room will allow the iceprobe to function optimally. otherwise, it's trying to throw off warm water temp transfer into an already warm room's ambient temp, i.e. it won't really work well without an AC already cooling the room.

 

there's some diy options but imo it's easier/simpler to go AC and then iceprobe if necessary. again, doubtful if the room's AC'd, you'd probably only need a simple fan if the nano's still too warm then. hth

[pheallox]

find a way to set your sump up sooner the more water volume they slower the temp will changealong with all your other perams..and go with a mag pump my 9.5 make no noticable heat at all.

[pico1]

Don't they sell plug-in air conditioners at home depot and the like? You could plug one of those in and have it aimed toward the tank

[coralgirl365]

find a way to set your sump up sooner the more water volume they slower the temp will changealong with all your other perams..and go with a mag pump my 9.5 make no noticable heat at all.

 

thanks all, i think i am going to look into getting a portable AC for the room, then like someone mentioned i can stay cool along with the tank they aren't cheap but i guess it wouldn't be cheap to lose all my stock either

[mattnano]

thanks all, i think i am going to look into getting a portable AC for the room, then like someone mentioned i can stay cool along with the tank they aren't cheap but i guess it wouldn't be cheap to lose all my stock either

 

I just got my portable air conditioner, I have the exhaust going up into my attic. Without my AC my room was SOOO HOT and HUMID, the ac keeps my tank cool and my room dry. It has a dehumidifyer built in and pulls at least half a gallon of water out a day. I highly reccomend it althought it was like 300$

[coralgirl365]

I just got my portable air conditioner, I have the exhaust going up into my attic. Without my AC my room was SOOO HOT and HUMID, the ac keeps my tank cool and my room dry. It has a dehumidifyer built in and pulls at least half a gallon of water out a day. I highly reccomend it althought it was like 300$

 

yeah i am going between one of those or one of the window units for around 150.

 

my poor cleaner shrimp got too warm and died this morning i have bags of ice floating in there now that seems to help a little, hopefully the rest of the tank will make it until i have time to go get an ac

[fishguy13]

Well duh chiller or make a DIY chiller out of a fridge

[olivia640]

Definitely buy an AC. On Sunday morning my room felt like the sun was sitting on my windowsill and my tank was close to 90 degrees before I turned it's light on. I put my AC in the window and in about 2 hours my tank's temp dropped to about 82 then eventually settled back to it's normal 79 degrees.

[happygolucky]

ok, you guys say that your tanks are super hot in the morning, but nothing has started to heat the water up yet. the lights are not on and it's not as hot outside then as it is at four or five in the evening. ditch the heaters, and the tank will not be at 90 when you wake up. dropping a little at night, and then raising to an acceptable level in the day is way better for your animals than staying at 90!

[rchan11]

The most economical way is to use computer fans to cool your tank.

[olivia640]

ok, you guys say that your tanks are super hot in the morning, but nothing has started to heat the water up yet. the lights are not on and it's not as hot outside then as it is at four or five in the evening. ditch the heaters, and the tank will not be at 90 when you wake up.

 

Actually it was super hot yesterday morning, almost as hot as it was at four or five in the evening. It was the heat in my room that was heating up my tank not a heater since the tank doen't have one.

 

dropping a little at night, and then raising to an acceptable level in the day is way better for your animals than staying at 90!

 

Yeah, that's what my tank's temp usually does.

[MJD]

I just top off with cool water.

[coralgirl365]

I don't use a heater in there at all, my room stays plenty warm enough even in winter. yeah i think i am gonna go with one of those window ac units. anyone have a recommendation for a good easy to install/uninstall one? do most of them have something where you can set the temp and it will automatically turn on and off to adjust, or are most of them where you turn it on and off manually?

[masterbuilder]

Finally someone agrees with me that its just as easy and about the same price to cool the whole room as it is to buy a chiller for non-MH lamped nano's.

 

Try Sears, Lowes or Home Depot for your A/C unit. Ask them to show you the ones that turn on/off automatically. They are more expensive but will save you $$ in the long run. Also, make sure you tell them the size of the room your cooling. Having one thats too small will actually will cost you more than you will save by not buying one big enough in the 1st place. Let us now how it works out.

 

Mark

 

p.s. enjoy your cool summer

[coralgirl365]

Finally someone agrees with me that its just as easy and about the same price to cool the whole room as it is to buy a chiller for non-MH lamped nano's.

 

Try Sears, Lowes or Home Depot for your A/C unit. Ask them to show you the ones that turn on/off automatically. They are more expensive but will save you $$ in the long run. Also, make sure you tell them the size of the room your cooling. Having one thats too small will actually will cost you more than you will save by not buying one big enough in the 1st place. Let us now how it works out.

 

Mark

 

p.s. enjoy your cool summer

 

well i do have halides, but i think if i can keep room temp at around 75 that should be good enough at least that is what i keep it at all winter and the tank is fine. plus if i make the case that it is for the whole room then i can get my fiance to go in on the unit with me to save me $$ I'll be going out to HD sometime this week i'll definitly let everyone know how that turns out.

[masterbuilder]

fiance? now is the perfect time to strike. roll those eyes and say how bad you NEED one. if he is worth keeping, you will have one by noon.

[coralgirl365]

fiance? now is the perfect time to strike. roll those eyes and say how bad you NEED one. if he is worth keeping, you will have one by noon.

 

lol yeah thankfully he is relatively supportive of the aquarium fish hobby since he is a game fisherman so he likes fish related stuff. he even wants to buy me corals sometimes, unfortunately he always goes for ones that are agressive or unsuited to my tank like torch and rbta's or fish that get too big like yellow tangs. and he doesn't like zoos and acan because "they don't have long tentacles" so therefore they are boring i'm in the process of trying to convince him that i need, really NEED a 300 gallon in-wall with dedicated fishroom after we graduate from grad school and make some money. i figured it is going to take so long to convince him that i better start now in the meantime i will settle for splitting the cost of an air conditioner.

[coralgirl365]

just an update to wrap things up, i got a window unit from target for 175, it seems to be working well. my room temp is down to 77 so far and my tank temp is still in the high 80's but at least it's not 90+ anymore. total death toll after 3 days of 90+ is 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 sally lightfoot, and possibly 1 scarlet hermit and probably my sun coral hopefully i'll have things under control from now on though with my new AC