Cooling an Aquarium

[Riven02]

Well I upped my lights to 126W over my 45 Gal tank using CFs. Well now the heat from the lights is raising my tank temp to much. I keep the tank at 80 deg. but it is raising to 85. (Might go higher I unplugged it at 84 and it continued to raise to 85 before falling.)

My thoughts so far;

Raise the lights off the top a little to allow air to circulate between them and the cover.

Raise the cover off of the tank a little to allow air to circulate between the water and the cover.

Install comp fans in the fixtures.


Does anyone have any other ideas? or have tried any of the above idea with good or bad success? I want to keep this cheap but also dont want it to look real bad.

 

[J double R]

all 3 of those ideas will work and should be all you need.

 

[tottenchris]

I add fans to my hood. I built the hood myself so I had plenty of room, so you can't see anything. Also I used 5 inch fans from walmart that just plug into the wall. It works great. Good luck!

 

[Riven02]

all 3 of those ideas will work and should be all you need.

You think I need all 3? or can I just do one of the 3 and be good?

 

[J double R]

You think I need all 3? or can I just do one of the 3 and be good?

i would either do the fans in the fixture, or the removal of the cover.. probably both of those, but if you lift the light off the cover, i wouldnt use the cover anyway.

 

[Riven02]

I am going to show my newbieness...... but..... if you completely remove the cover how do you keep water from getting on the bulbs and breaking them? I mean like the light spray that the filter creates and such or when fish splash? Will they not break like incadecent?

 

[J double R]

youll find that flourescents won't break with water splash.. but its still never good. a lot of setups that have no cover also have no splash, ie. canister filters and such. if you have an HOB it may be a good idea to use a cover.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

fans are your best bet. also leave the tank open. i have open tanks on most of them. as long as you dont have fish that will jump it should be fine.

 

[aquaman#1]

You could get a plastic bag and fill it with ice. That should cool the tank.

 

[abh19]

The fluorescents might not break because of water, but you should probably try to keep something in between the lights and the water because if water can get at the bulb, it can probably get into the electrical contacts, which would not be good.