tank warming up too much

[Krama]

I have a 120l tank, but with the cold spell and my wife wanting a fire on, the tank temp is getting up to 28 degrees and climbing. I have the start of a mini reef. My question is, how do you keep it cool.

[skippy]

Find yourself a chiller

If it is getting too warm now, it will be worse in summer, especially with a 120 litre tank. What lights are you running? Can you vent the heat away from the tank? The cheap option is plastic milk bottles with frozen water in them. If you have a sump, stick them in there, if you don't in the tank. Doesn't look real flash but it will cool it down :lol:

[slappers]

run a fan across the top of the tank that will take it down a weeee bit

[Krama]

I am starting to think like most people who start out that I need a bigger setup, but I am getting a little bit swamped with all of the alternative and types of solutions for a larger tank. Cost is a limiting factor. But thanks for your response, very simple but I am sure effective.

[skuzza]

If you have a sump put frozen coke bottles full of water that is in there. I used to do this on my first set up and it does work well.

[trinity]

I have a small fan mounted on a bracket that skims across the top of the tank (160ltre tank), during the summer months I will have the big pedestal fan going aswell pointed directly at the tank( this worked well for me last summer) . Hope to get a chiller sometime but only if the finances allow.

[skippy]

If you are looking at a reef system, a bigger tank will be more stable (goes for any tank I s'pose) and realistically the equipment you will need for a small tank will be pretty much the same as a larger tank, probably just a bit smaller. Although some people have stunning success with small and nano tanks - check out Fays nano.

I started out with a 190 litre setup, pretty basic really. Canister filter, heater, couple of Aqua 1 fluoros and a Berlin air skimmer. I prefer lots of rock and sandy bottom (said it was my preference so lets not get into a debate about the pro's and con's of sand and bare bottom tanks here )

In the overall scheme of things, the set up cost for this was relatively minimal once you start to stock it. Think hard about where you want to go with the tank before you leap in with both feet, hard I know but it will save some $$$$

Am running 370 litres now but always wanting something bigger (1000 litres sounds good )

Bottom line is start out where you are comfortable and build from there (does this contradict what I said above ) T'is much fun once you really get bitten

[cookie extreme]

if you have halides run them during the cooler part of the day. like early in the morning and late in the evening.

[puttputt]

I prefer lots of rock and sandy bottom (said it was my preference so lets not get into a debate about the pro's and con's of sand and bare bottom tanks here )

haha, wheres layton when you need him. You wait, Skippy of the north, I'll convert you to Acros

[chimera]

get the same problem, in WINTER - have to run my chiller more power costs. am going to ventilate the lighting hood this weekend to extract the hot air more. you can effectively use fans off dead computer power supplies for this (12v)

[puttputt]

extract the hot air more

Shawn bites his tongue.

[tee-em]

Seen some mods to take old dehumidifier and turn it into chiller.

Apparently quite efficient and designed for extended run periods.

For someone like Chimera that has direct access under the house, would be interesting to check soil temp 0.5m or so down. A huge cool heatsink under there. My house much lower, very cool and drafty. Seen another article on running tank underground cirulating cool water and using it as a radiator to extract heat. Hey would be huge project due to your volume though, just a thought for those that can run the calorific values and stuff like that.

[raeh1]

A $10 fan frm the warehouse will drop the temp quiet quickly, but will cause more evapration. Cheeper than a chiller though.

my "o" key is not working prperly. :evil:

[wasp]

I'll go with that, now that I have 2 fans hooked to a temperature controller the chiller hardly ever comes on.

Does increase evaporation but it is certainly affordable. A temp controller is not essential an eight dollar timer from the supermarket can do.

[chimera]

chimera wrote:

Shawn bites his tongue.

my "o" key is not working prperly

:lol:

my biggest issue is coz the tanks an inwall in a separate room that's not ventilated. most tanks are open in the house (although would likely add more to condensation issues?)

just setup a fan to come on when the timer for the lights comes on

[kevan]

Saw a couple of tanks in a book that Duke loaned me were they pump water thru a pipe that is buried undergroun and this is supposed to cool tank down (would be cheaper to run than a chiller )

[shaneo]

I run fans on a temp controller and it works mint, and we keep our place real toastie. I had the fan disconected to modify my hood for a day and sure enough the temp came up.