justin81 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 9:30am to 1:30am??? I suggest 8 hour cycles in small tanks. Maybe try 1:00pm to 9:00pm. Thats how I run mine with actinics on 30mins before days, and days shutting off 30 mins before lights out. This really cut down on my algae growth. Link to comment
twan Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I think your lighting too much. I have my actinics on for 12hrs and daylights for 10hrs (on 1hr after and off 1 hour before). Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 ummm start tomorrow i'll cut back on 2-3 hours. i like having the lights on at night while i study, although it is very distracting... im still trying to find out what's wrong with my chiller. came home today with temps at 81 but i noticed that the hater was on... so maybe it's because of my fualty heater. i turned off the heater and i will be minitoring to see if temps drop. Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 81 is totally fine. Mine is 80 by night, and lately about 81.9 by day. What's your heater set at? You might just need to kick it down a couple degrees is all. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 i know for a fact that my heater is not working correctly because i have to set it at 74 for it to turn off at 79-80. and with temps lowering in cali my tank was running 80 without having the chiller on. maybe chiller is working fine, but the heater that is causing the temp to rise a bit? Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 If your heater is faulty, then so is mine. I have to keep mine at 73 to keep the heater from going on above 79 degree actual temp. If you read back to the ICA thread, once I got the ICA working good for me, I noticed my tank at 85.8 one morning with the heater STILL ON, and it was set to 79 on the dial. I kicked it down to 71 and all was fine the next day, then I kicked it to 73 so that the tank won't drop too cold in the morning before the heater kicks on. Even though the main display is at 80 or 81, the cooler water in the back chambers will hit the heater first before anything else, so the heater get's "confused" thinking the tank is colder than it really is because say 75 degree water is hitting it instead of 80 degree water, thus it turns on until the water in the back hits 80 (which might be impossible since the ICA is ALWAYS chilling) thus why that morning the heater was still ON with a main display temp of 85.8! As long as your heater is turning off at the desired temp you want it to, don't worry about what the knob says since to be honest, most heaters probably won't kick on and off at the exact temp on the dial. It's all relative to the heater size/wattage, and size of the tank. Then factor in the cool ICA chilled water hitting the sensors first, and that's why you need it set to 74 to keep the tank above 79. Some heaters like the EBO Jagers allow the user to adjust the dial so that you can make what's actually 74 when you first get it, 79 to reflect your exact tank's nature. This is because no heater is that accurately calibrated and to accimidate for your tank's requirements. I feel like that post is all blah blah blah now, lol! Hope some of it makes sense and helps you out. Link to comment
twan Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 i have to set it at 74 for it to turn off at 79-80. same here Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 okay now something is really messed up in my tank, temp is at 86....... i unplugged the ICA unit. and heater tomorrow (Friday) i will plug the ICA with no heater to see what temp is and then saturaday plug heater with no ICA my 70 watt mh set came... but i cant install it untill i get this problem fixed...... if i cant get problem fixed then i'll contact nanocustoms to see if i can exchange for a new unit... and if that doesnt work then maybe i can get a refund.... Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Did you try adjusting the heater down a bit or running the ICA without the heater on? Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 13, 2006 Author Share Posted October 13, 2006 last night i had heater off and the temp still didnt seem to lower. so im going to try like a process of elimination. have only one varible on at once. i checked to see if my water was even pumping from the microjet but that seems to be wroking fine. so tomorrow will be ICA + my normal lights on and the day after heater + normal lights Link to comment
twan Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Also check your readings with a 2nd thermometer before you go crazy. Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Also check your readings with a 2nd thermometer before you go crazy. This is true. I have 2 running on my tank, a CoralLife which is pretty inaccurate, and a Tom's Aquatic that is more accurate plus stores the highest and lowest reached temps until you reset it. Great to monitor peaks while your away at work or on a trip. Also good to see the low at night while you sleep. But you're doing it right, try one thing at a time, process of elimination. Some things to try. I know you already cut the vent slats and checked the direction of the fans, so that's all copastetic. First thing I'd do is get the temps down to normal by propping the hood up about an inch with something and putting a fan at the level where it's blowing the air both THROUGH the opening of the hood, and also across the top of the hood to dissipate the heat from the ICA at the fan vent it's under. Temps should drop fairly quickly. I know big temps shifts are bad, but with my initial ICA woes, I got shifts as much as 9 degrees in a 12 hour period once, so you should be ok with 4-5 degrees this once. I'd say pull the fan and close the hood once the tank is at 81 or 80. Before cooling the tank with the fan though, feel the top of the hood on and around the ICA fan vent with your hand, it should be warm from the ICA. If it's not, then the ICA probably is not working. Also check the water coming out of the ICA, it should be slightly cooler than the rest of the water. After doing that, unplug the ICA water pump and open the tank hood all the way (or as much as you can) and after about 10 minutes like that, touch the plastic water block of the ICA where the hoses connect to should be significantly cooler if it's working properly, this happens with mine at least. After you do those 2 things (to make sure it's working properly) then cool down using the fan technique I described above to get the tank to the desired temp, then true running your tank with the ICA on tonight with NO heater, and then through tomorrow lights on, and then finally with the heater plugged in. Good luck!! Lastly and most importantly, check the ICA power supply. I had the original one I was sent die on me and stop working. If there's no green light on, on it then it's dead and the ICA won't be working for sure!! Also be sure the TIP adapter to the power supply is plugged in right and the "+" lines up with the "TIP" at the jack plug part. And of course make sure the ICA fan is working and properly. Link to comment
twan Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Phixion please post a link to the Tom's Aquatic therm you speak of. Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Phixion please post a link to the Tom's Aquatic therm you speak of. Pet Solutions is where I ordered mine from a while back. But Marine Depot and Dr Foster & Smith should sell them too, and I've seen it at Petco before too if I remember right, and PetSmart might have them too as well. Link to comment
twan Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Thank you sir! I like its peak record function. Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 Thank you sir! I like its peak record function. Same here. I don't use the alarm feature though because I know at times mine will peak at 82.1 thus setting it off constantly. But good if your tank never peaks 82 degrees though. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 thermometer off, ica on temp at 86..... so there's no need to test heater tomorrow , but rather with everything off except lights. and we'll see what temp it is. but i have a feeling that's it's the ICA, although the water block on the the ICA feels cool? always a possibility that there's something else causing the problem. i dont think the thermometer is wrong because when i stuck my hand in the water it felt warm... but i will buy another one just to make sure.... im so happy that the firefish and the sixline are very hardy. they show no signs of stress yet. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 im going to continue my testing tomorrow by turning off heater + chiller, but the problem MIGHT also be the actaul pump i am using for the ICA. i am currently using a mini-jet 606 i turned off the mj606 power head and disconnected the tubing that was connected to the ICA. a bit of water that was left inside, poured on my finger and i can tell that the ICA was working, because the water was MUCH cooler coming out of the ICA than the water that was in the tank... Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 I doubt it's the pump, the MJ 606 is the same wattage give or take 1w from the 404. I still doubt it's the heater, but keep trying things without it plugged in. I wouldn't disconnect anything from the ICA though. Just cool the tank with a fan, and then go from there. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 heater, ICA, both fans are working fine, no changes to lighting... is there a chance that something can get stuck in the pump causing more friction thus causing more heat? i really think the pump is the problem, becuase i disconnected the pump about 20-30 mins ago and temp is droping. went from 86-85. i'll update again at about 9:30 and post temp Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 That's strange... I could be the pump, but i doubt it. Can you take it out and inspect it? I'm sure a cover to it slides off the get to the impeller, in fact I think the end slid off of my 404 when I installed it, lol! I put it back together of course, but if you can check it out, that would eliminate one possibility... FWIW, my temps RISE when the pump is off, which they should since NO water is being pumped through the water block. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 14, 2006 Author Share Posted October 14, 2006 www.aim.com haha that's not a bad idea matt if you have aim just im me "quy nquyen" Link to comment
Phixion Posted October 14, 2006 Share Posted October 14, 2006 lol, will do. Thanks for the tip Jin. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted October 15, 2006 Author Share Posted October 15, 2006 yesterday with ICA + pump off, temps was constant at about 79-80 today i went to the fish store and got 3 lb of LR at 3 dollar a lb, and a digital thermometer. today i decided to turn the heater + ICA + pump on and temps seem to be constant at 79.7 degrees.... perhaps something might have gotten into the pump and cause some friction thus leading to higher temp?, because yesterday i took the pump apart and cleaned it. as im writing this post temp has just dropped to 79.5 and the heater has just kicked in. point of equalibrium ? Link to comment
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