Excess Tank Heat in Summer Weather

[wpeterson]

We've been running our two tanks with great stability for some time now in terms of both temperature and water parameters. However, this week with the recent hot weather, or newer 22gal nano reef has been running hot when the temperature in the house rises.

The 22gal tank is an all in one reef system, with the following:

• Aqueon Pro 100watt Heater
• Vortech MP10 powerhead
• Eheim 1000 return pump (250ghp)
• Media Reactor w/ 125hpg pump

Our larger 29gal tank has almost the same setup and is not experiencing any heat issues. When the temperature in the house is 70deg F or lower, it behaves fine. It was 75-80 degrees today and the temperature was 82deg briefly (up from the 79deg setpoint).

Any ideas what could be causing so much heat in this tank? Likely a pump putting off excess heat? All advice appreciated.

I have used a fan to lower the temperature with increased evaporation, but don't have a controller to automate the fan control.

 

[dz6t]

Check the heater to make sure it is not stuck

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Do you run a canopy on either tank?

 

[mnavick]

7g although small is still a good amount of water (close to 50lbs I believe). Smaller tanks will heat up much faster with the coming months especially without central a/c in the house (or in an a/c'd room).
Open top with a fan blowing across always helps (but as you experienced, more evaporation).
In extreme situations a frozen plastic soda bottle (2L or 12/16oz) placed in tank will help.

Positive thing is a chiller for a smaller tank is relatively cheap (especially used).


Others posted while I was typing......yes, check your heater and then might want to invest in a controller

 

[wpeterson]

Both tanks are running open top with a BRS clear mesh 1/4" netting/screen. They should have a similar water volume due to 5" deep sandbed in 29gal tank. There is a high volume of water movement and good surface flow, which has provided solid gas exchange (and I had hoped evaporation) in both.

I will try lowering the heater. If it were stuck, I would think it would overheat the tank regardless of ambient temperature in the room. I haven't changed the heater setpoint in months and it keeps the tank very even until two days this week when the ambient temperature was 75 degrees or above.

 

[Marshall O]

What are the temperatures of each room they are in? If the nano's room temp is higher, I would expect the tank temp to also be higher.

 

[reefstarter]

I agree with using a controller 100 % could be an inexpensive one that just does temp by shutting down the heater when too warm in tank or something mid range like a reefkeeper that right out of the box can control heater and fans and chiller and lights . IE shut off heater and turn on fan when needed or activate the chiller and shut off the light if it gives off too much heat . I love mine

 

[wpeterson]

Both the 29gal and 22gal are in the same room, about 5 feet apart. Same ambient temperature in the room. This is why I'm trying to isolate which component in the 22gal might be misbehaving.

 

[22engine]

This is the one reason I got a controller. To make sure my heater shuts off. I was going through the same as you. Came home from work and temp was up to 82. That day I put the AC in the window and everything is back to normal. Hate to run it but a few dollars in the electric bill is cheaper than what I have in the tank haha. I would suspect heater if you usually don't have a problem. I have a RKL and the only thing plugged into it is the heater.

 

[jason401]

Any chance you can dump the 125 gph pump for the reactor, and run a manifold off your return to power it?

When I was running smaller tanks I always had to have ac running in the room.

 

[wpeterson]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I lowered the setpoint on the heater and the tank has been stable at ~ 78.5 for 24 hours.

Ambient temperature is ~ 70 degrees in the room. If it gets hotter today I'll try to isolate what's leaking heat.

The small return pump seems like a good target, though I have one powering the same media reactor in the 29gal and 22gal.

 

[BlackSmith]

During the summer I set my controller to turn my heater off once temps in the tank hit 76f. With a 250w MH on a hot day my tank will hit 81f. Any higher and my MH will shut off. Having said that high humidity will prevent the temps from lowering as fast as I would like. I have no chiller and have not installed my AC yet.

 

[wpeterson]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think the key here was massive (90%+) humidity combined with the heat this week.

I have an AC in the room and I may keep the heater setpoint lower and turn on the AC as needed to combat the heat/humiditiy.

 

[wpeterson]

My goal was to average 79-90deg in this tank with an original setpoint at 79.5deg.

I've lowered the setpoint to 78.5 and with extra ambient temperature, it's varied between 78.5-80 over the last few days which seems closer to ideal. This seems to work up to saw 75 deg in the room and I'll likely run the AC above that.

Hopefully this can be managed with a lower default heater setpoint.

 

[wpeterson]

More follow up with this week's hot weather:

* Lowered heater setpoints to ~ 78.5 deg => Lower temps overall, but small tank still getting to 82 on hot days
* Added a variable speed fan on the mesh-top over the tank and temps now under control

Here's a link to the fan I added to the smaller tank to increase evaporative cooling:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009OXZ0OU/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1