Confused About temp

Ya, bottles don't last long, that was the reason my freezer was full of them and my roommate never happy about it. Like I said, 8 bottles at a time in my sump lasted 15 minutes and dropped 1.5 degrees. Then the temp would quickly rise again, so on hot days I would have to switch out bottles every 20 minutes for hours.. hense the 40 frozen bottles. Definately got old after a while.. I did it for about a year on my new tank before I had to put a chiller on it. My house gets real hot during the summer and I did have a tank crash due to heat back in 2002 and learned my lesson after killing all my corals and my first potters angel.
 
Yep. Our house is newer and pretty modest. But, it is not all that well built and gets hotter than 19 year old las vegas stripper during the summer. If we try to cool it too much we run the electric bill through the roof and contribute to the untimely death of polar bears... I think in the long run a $300.00 chiller will be more cost effective than adding another $100/month in AC bills over the summer.

The strange thing is that even without the lights and 65 degrees outside, the tank still sits above 82. Could my pump be adding to the heat equation in any real significant way? I know that a maxijett uses less power, but haven't found the right one yet.
 
You might have a faulty heater...look into that.
 
Yes, DO NOT rely on the markings on the heater to be correct. I have never found a heater yet that matched the water temp with what the heater was set at. Also, make sure you get a GOOD electronic temp probe. There are some decent ones for around $20 if you don't have one already. My "Tom Aquatics" $20 one I got from MarineDepot about 5 years ago is good (just read reviews, not to favorable, but mine has worked great and it doesn't stop reading above 82 like it seems to indicate), although it is exactly 1 degree hotter than the true temp. I use 4 different probes to test temperature.. a digital meat thermometer, IR handheld sensor, temp probe on my Reefkeeper2 that actually controls my heater, and the Toms digital one. Never can be too safe when it comes to temps and always good to verify your readings are accurate.
 
I have unplugged the heater just to see if that was causing the issue. I double check the thermometer (with an identical one so who knows...). I will look around for a maxijet. Could the Koralia be adding any heat? it is the nano version.
 
No, koralia nano takes what 2 or 3 watts? Definately not a source of heat. Ambient temp in the room and lighting are usually the biggest factors for heat unless your running very large pumps or powerheads.
 
With today's powerheads, most heating problems are due to poor ventilation, return/closed loop pumps, as well as ambient temps as Ace pointed out. My tank stays cool enough year round (in my climate even) that I need to run a heater to keep temps above 77 F.
 
Nope just the stock pump and the koralia. The ventilation on the hood is horrible. Barely open in the vents (I opened it up a bit more with the dremel and added another fan. Still it is over 82 right now. Will be going the chiller route for sure. Just have to make it another week.
 
Does the lid come off on those? Just wondering if you could unlatch the hood and put something like little pieces of wood, broken paint mixing sticks in the 4 corners diagnally then rest the hood on that so there is just a small gap around the top of the tank and canopy. Then you can put a house fan next to it blowing into it and it will really cool off the tank in a hurry. If you could get it higher, like 2" above with the fan blowing you wouldn't need a chiller with that lighting. Paint mixing stick was just an example. Most light fixtures come with legs to stand above the tank, so anything you can find that would be stable and work is good. I am thinking something like really dense thick foam pieces that will press into the corners to hold it steady would be good idea if you had something laying around like that.. but macgyver it.
 
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