Just How Much Heat Come From PC Lighting

[jayghmi]

In a pinch I have stuck ice cubes in a zip lock bag (properly sealed) and through it in the tank. I like ice cubes because when they are melted you just replace them versus the blue frozen things you may throw in a cooler.

 

[wantvws]

I'd say my lighting is about 5" above the water level with a glass top.

I ended up removing the glass tops on my tank because I could not get the temperature down below 82-83 when I started running the lights full time. I have a 72" 4x96w fixture, and it sits about 4-5" above where my glass tops used to be. You might try removing the glass if you haven't already.
Then my evaporation went from 1/2g every two days to 1g a day. But the tank stays cool.
Hope this helps!!
Robbie

 

[wcolwell88]

I ended up removing the glass tops on my tank because I could not get the temperature down below 82-83 when I started running the lights full time. I have a 72" 4x96w fixture, and it sits about 4-5" above where my glass tops used to be. You might try removing the glass if you haven't already.
Then my evaporation went from 1/2g every two days to 1g a day. But the tank stays cool.
Hope this helps!!
Robbie

I've also heard a lot about glass tops holding a lot of heat in the tank. I'd remove them, if your worried about fish jumping you could use egg crate.

 

[tankanator]

I would say the pumps are the ones causing the heat, I'm running 5 pumps in my tank and my temp spiked up to 87 degrees, I'm planning on getting a drop-in chiller no pump required. For now I have a floor fan on a chair blowing over the top of the of the water and what a difference it makes, my temp is around 79 to 80 degrees. Good Luck

 

[Subliminal]

Get one of those fans that are like 6 inches and made to clip on to a bed's headboard. Take that glass out, and stick it on the back of the tank.

Add water as necessary.

Also, what temp do you keep your room at?

With metal halide lighting, the fan mentioned above, and 3 powerheads, my tank stays at 78 degrees and i keep the AC in that room on auto @ 72.

Good luck! You get that temp down and your tank is going to be a whole nother beasty!

 

[wferr337]

I say the lid. I have PC lighting only 2 65 watt bulbs. My tank was running 82 with the glass top. I removed the glass top left everything the same and the tank went to 78

But I do live in FLA with the ac on 78 most of the time so it just came down to room temp.

It is the Green house affect with the glass top light gets in turns to heat and can not get back out

 

[Amphiprion]

The glass top inhibiting evaporation is likely holding much of it in. As far as efficiency goes, PCs put out an equivalent amount of heat on a watt per watt basis as T5s or metal halides. The only difference is the amount of surface area available to dissipate that heat, which is radically different for each type of bulb/tube. Obviously sources with less surface area will have a much more concentrated amount of heat (i.e. hypothetical equivalent watts of MH vs. say, T5s).