My fish tanks overheating?

Question

I have a 75 gallon aquarium stocked with saltwater fish. I have two 40 watt flouresant bulbs. The tank is in a corner of the house near a window but the air in that area is 78 degrees. My tank is at 85 degrees. Back at my apartment my tank was at 80 degrees while my house was at 74 degrees. Can anyone suggest a method to cool off my tank that doesnt involve a chiller.

Im looking for a permanent solution not having to run ice back and forth every hour.

Answer 1

Fans on the light hood to disperse heat is where I would start. 6-7 degrees above ambient is pretty high and higher than I would think the lights alone would produce. You must have a filter that cools using the tank water or produces a significant amount of heat.

There are a number of temporary measures such as bottles of ice to float in the tank or place in the filter, but I don't like those as a long term solution because you have to change them out several times a day every day and even then temperatures can bounce up and down quite a bit.

EDIT: Oh yeah...welcome back an I hope all your fish made the long move ok. You might add some heavy background material on the side that is near the window just in case even indirect light is increasing the temperature a few degrees.

I have seen this arrangement done as well... Use a small power head and several dozen yards of plastic tubing. Attach the tubing to the outside of the bottom of the tank in a few long slow loops then stash most of it inside a dorm room sized refrigerator (drilling holes and sealing back around the tubing of course) and pump water slowly through the entire system. Set the refrigerator to it's lowest possible setting and let it go. Insulating the bottom of the entire tank to prevent cooling loses would also be a good idea. The guy I saw do this claimed a 2-3 degree drop. He then used it to pump actual tank water through the system and claimed a 5-6 degree drop. Basically a homemade chiller, but since you can often get the little refrigerators used for under $100 it's far cheaper.

MM

Answer 2

I have a similar problem on one of my tanks that doesn't have a chiller. My solution works very effectively for me.
Go buy one or two of those computer fans or rip them out of an old pc. Check the voltage rating, usually 12volt DC. Then wire it/them up to a DC adaptor/ charger. Mount inside your light hood aiming at/across the water surface. You are not trying to extract hot air created by the lights, you trying to increase the evaporation rate which will lower the temp by up to 5-6 degrees. This will increase evaporation quite a bit so you will need to top up more often. Make sure you top up with treated FRESH water - not saltwater, as the evaporation will cause a slight rise in salinity and fresh water will lower it back to where it should be. Once again, make sure the fan/s are blowing and not sucking, or the fan/s will fill up with salt and corrode the spindles pretty rapidly.
This is completely harmless to the tank/inhabitants and I have been using this technique for many years with great success.

Best of luck!

p.s. Do turn the fans off at night or you will drop the temperature way too far.

Answer 3

Is the heater old or new? Old it's probably gone bad and you'll need to replace it. Try a good quality eheim heater, I know, more expensive but good quality. If new I wouldn't necessarily unplug it, just turn it down. Sometimes new heaters can take a few days to adjust and only small movements can swing the temp greatly. If new you could also take it back to the store and exchange it if you thought it's defective. Be careful when cooling your water off because fish are super sensitive to anything more than 4 degrees in a 24 hour period and they've already been through the stress up the uprising temp. Bring them down slowly with a 30% cool water change. Also, glass thermometers are the best. Stick ons are terrible. You can get a glass floater for a few dimes more than a stick on anyway. Good luck.

Answer 4

you did not mention if you had power heads running in your tank? Actually if 85 is the highest it gets, that isn't all that bad. My salt tank will run between 83-86 for the corals.

Powerheads set closer to the surface of the water are a more perm. solution to cooling the tank. Also, they do sell fan attachments for your hood. If not a clip on fish attached to the side of your tank will cool the lights.

Also, lower your heater setting. The temperature in the evening will drop while the lights are out, however your salt fish especially if wild caught are used to the cooler evening temps anyway.

Simple fans that run on a timer along with the lighting go a long way for cooling.

Most aquarium literature will state that marine aquariums should be kept between 75° to 83° F, and this is the range that will be addressed. It is important to understand that each situation is different and the temperature of an aquarium depends on many factors including: the size and shape of the aquarium, the ambient room temperature, the type of lighting, the distance of the lighting from the water's surface, the presence of large water pumps, and the surface water movement of the aquarium.

With so many factors affecting water temperature, it may be necessary to "experiment" with various cooling options to find one that works best for your system. Before taking action to counteract a heat related problem, perform a check of your aquarium system and make sure nothing is malfunctioning or incorrectly configured. Is the heater set at the right temperature? Is the thermometer you are basing your aquarium's temperature reading on a high quality device? Many consider the very inexpensive floating glass aquarium thermometers unreliable. It seems that electronic thermometers like those on Ranco controllers are usually accurate. Are the powerheads functioning normally with their output directed properly?

One common source of heat in our aquariums is powerful lighting. Accordingly, the light fixture, canopy, or hood where the lighting is located is the "hot spot" that will be discussed first. For this factor, fans that are run on a timer with the lighting and fans that run on temperature controllers which turn them on when the temperature gets too hot are useful.

For a strip light fixture resting directly on a glass top, a simple medium-sized tabletop fan mounted so that it blows air across the light fixture may take care of any heat problems. If a tabletop fan can't relieve the heat, raising the strip light up an inch or so by placing small blocks of wood under each end may assist in lowering the temperature. Caution must be used here - the author is making the assumption that most strip lights contain either normal output (NO) fluorescent or compact fluorescent bulbs. If wooden blocks are necessary to permanently prop up the light fixture, they may be painted to match the strip light or the aquarium's trim. I recommend using paint marketed for the exteriors of outdoor cooking grills. This paint can handle high temperatures and, to an extent, exposure to saltwater.

If your aquarium has a wooden hood or canopy that houses the lighting and has a heat problem, there are a few options. Glass tops over tanks reduce the amount of water that can evaporate and thereby increase the temperature of the aquarium. Removing the top may be a quick solution. If there is a concern about the animals jumping out of the aquarium, eggcrate available at hardware stores can be used to cover the top of the aquarium or the open back of the aquarium. If the heat problem isn't being caused by the greenhouse effect, try using fans to ventilate the hood.

You can find DC (Direct Current) fans (the kind used to cool computers and electronics) and the AC (Alternating Current) adaptors necessary to run them inexpensively from numerous reputable dealers. Computer websites like Xoxide have a large selection of DC fans that work well. Note that attaching one of these fans to an AC adapter will require some electrical knowledge. Direct current fans that move air at speeds of around 85 cfm (cubic feet per minute) are available for around $10

Answer 5

take some empty water or soda bottles and clean them really good with just water. Fill them up and freeze them. you can safely put one in whenever the tank starts to overheat. Because it is a closed bottle the water wont contaminate your tank but will slowly cool the water as the ice inside the bottle melts. This is not a permanent solution, and should only be used when tank is really overheating. You should consider moving your tank to a cooler location if at all possible. I know you don't want to run ice, but until you can move the tank the is the quickest way. If it is going too fast consider 2 liter bottles, they last longer.

Answer 6

When my fish tank overheated it was about 85°F. I put my fan on high and ran it on the tank all night. It dropped to about 68°F but also the house got colder because it was now night and my tank is only 10gals. Put a fan on it and see if you can go to a pet store and find a water cooler for it.

Answer 7

Wow vast inner tank Diff. you can use wall mount small fans that rotate to blow over the surface water if this won't harm fish. also change bulbs to moonlight low wattage bulbs submersible that would also help. Get blinds that darken your room a bit more.you don't have a heater in the tank.?

Answer 8

You don't need that high of wattage for your fish tank, two 20 watt each tube would be plenty. you are also inviting alot of extra algae into your tank.. maybe you have lights on too long also. Thirteen hours max is what your lights should stay on.

Answer 9

Fans, evaporative cooler, run the air lines through a bucket of ice.

Answer 10

Computer fans, by them at your local electronics dealer or rip some out of an old computer, buy a adapter charger for it and away you go.