how hot is too hot?

Freezing water in a water bottle works for me. On hot days I will place one in the tank during the afternoon. It lasts a good 3 hours. Which is usually enough for the very hot hours. I am sure the larger the container the longer it will last after the water is frozen inside. And its reusable!

I also change my lighting hours. I will block out the sunlight during the morning (to increase dark hours so the fish don't get stressed out by the constant light) and turn the lights on when it has cooled off during the evening.

As for too hot. I have had my fish survive 90 degree temps (only for 8 hours though). Fish are usually very hardy against temp changes, its most likely the corals will go first. I also have had a constant 83 for a week in a row one time with no horrible effects.

Luckily, its way easier to deal with too hot rather than a broken heater when its too cold. As I found out the hard way.
 
schigara said:
What temps does everybody keep their houses at? I always see these posts about summer temps and tank temps and just don't understand.

I like to stay cool just as much as my fish do and I keep my thermostat set at 70 deg all during the summer. With one fan over display, it's easy to keep my tank at 77 with halides and T5 actinics running.
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WOW, I only wish I could afford to keep my a/c set on 70! Are you in an apartment or house? How much is your electric bill? I keep my a/c set on 76 during the day and 74 at night and my electric bill still pushes $300 every month of the summer. Which in Houston is from April to October. :silly:
 
Agreed Annette. Last summer during a heat wave my tank got up to about 92 degrees one day, I lost quite a bit. I bought an AC unit but I keep the house cooled to only 80 degrees to save power, since thats where the tank temp is anyway.

Salty, putting a fan blowing directly across or on the water in the sump will help keep the tank temp down. It will also cause a lot more evaporation (this is the mechanism that regulates the temperature) so if you don't have an auto-topoff system, keep an eye on the water level and top off accordlingy.
 
A 1200sq ft house with a 5 ton system. It's quite efficient. Bill is about like yours. In the 300 range during the summer.

AnnetteG said:
WOW, I only wish I could afford to keep my a/c set on 70! Are you in an apartment or house? How much is your electric bill? I keep my a/c set on 76 during the day and 74 at night and my electric bill still pushes $300 every month of the summer. Which in Houston is from April to October. :silly:
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oh the size of the a/c is probably the thing. We had our unit serviced and were told that it's really too small for our house. Builder was saving money, I guess. I don't remember the tons, but our house is 2400 sq feet, so keeping the bill under 300 is our goal. Let's just say, I'm home with the kids all day and we don't wear many clothes or turn on lights during the day. :silly: And at night, the fish tanks serve as lamps. :grinyes:
 
If your tank is close to an AC unit, you could wrap some tubing around the cooling coils and pump water through it when you have the AC on... Practically like a free chiller since you'd probably have AC running on hot days anyway, though not quite as efficient for cooling the tank.
 
I have been hanging around 80 -82 degrees in the summer. Dropps to 78 in the winter.
 
How much heat are you putting INTO the tank? I know you said the lights were kinda close but is your return pump submerged in your sump or is it external? If submerged, that would add a fair amount of heat to the water.

Also, are you sure that you don't have a heater stuck in the on mode?

Aside from all that I would just keep rotating a few frozen 3-liter bottles in and out of the freezer and keep a few fans on the water surface.

Good luck
 
yes the return pump is in the sump. no the heaters are not on. im thinking the 2L's and fan's on the sump may be the way to go. evaporation is a concern but i can set up an auto top-off. the temp was just above 85 in the tank today and that is not good. i really don't want to start running the AC as i have 2 separate units, one for upstairs and one downstairs and i don't need it running downstairs yet. if i run it upstairs and have the windows open downstairs that's kinda dumb...
 
Try keeping the surface of the water in motion, not turbulent but a good bit of ripples and use a fan on the display and sump. The waves get you more surface area for the fan to cool. Also getting the ambient temp. in the room down is the easiest way to get the tank down. If you don't want to run the A/C try the fans, but when you really think about it a chiller might save you more money in the long run.
 
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