Water temp 82.6

[smcnally]

Kevin, I'm surprized nobodys said this yet, but I think 77 is a little low for a normal running temp. I usually keep mine at 79-81.5. Now with the warm weather it hits a high at about 84.5 every now and then and hasn't affected anything. I hav noticed it only is at that temp for about 1 hour though and drops back down. But if you look at some of Dr. Ron Shimeks articles, he reccommends to keep your normal tank temp at 82 to a lot of people.

 

[nickyblase]

that frozen soda bottle idea is a great one - how many bottles should one use (in what size)? Obviously, it would depend on tank size, but could anyone give some general guidelines?

 

[NateHanson]

Nate,,you associating the increased temp with introducing the parasite to your system..or do you suspect it was already in there?

No, certainly not. I just think the heat spike was enough of a stressor to trigger the infection.

 

[aha24]

ya mine hit 83.7 Saturday

 

[etszoo]

83.4 for us yesterday.

 

[Kevin McG]

Wow guys thanks for all the imput.I will through a few 2 liter bottles 1/2 full of water in the freezer like Moe mentioned, thanks for the tip.

I just checked the temp this am and is is back to 79.3 which is about normal.
I now have 2 fans instead of one blowing the top surface of the water and that should help a lot on these warmer days. One thing about my tank room is it's in the lower level of the house and it really stays cool down there in the summer so hopefully with the frozen water trick I should be able to keep the tank water temp under control untill I can get a chiller.

Nate, I also have the same tempature guage that has the alarm and records the temp. I usually reset it in the morning and see what the tank does during the day. I would suggest this item for everybody AA has them for $15 I believe

Again thanks everybody

 

[MelodyDurham]

Heres a picture of two pool/spar thermometer

Those look like Radio Shack thermometers!

We live in a pretty shady area (and I mean lots of trees, not dangerous, hehe). Yesterday my temp got up to 79.8, and I got a little nervous, so I turned the overhead fan on and it went back down to 78ish.. Then again, I only have a 10 gallon nano with PC lighting right now. I'm getting scared about what the 60 gallon cube with MHs might do in the summer.

That's a cool idea, Moe, about the 2-liter bottles. I just threw one out yesterday, but I think I can fish it back out of the trash. Great timing!

Melody~

 

[conrad]

I will through a few 2 liter bottles 1/2 full of water in the freezer like Moe mentioned, thanks for the tip.

You can fill them much more than that. Just pucker the bottle enough to allow for expansion of the water when it becomes ice.

--cn

 

[conrad]

Those look like Radio Shack thermometers!

Yeah, I suspect all these things are inherently cheap electronic junk. It's mostly faceplate and package engineering, and marketing, that makes them expensive aquarium products. As I said below I got a very nice little unit for less than five bucks in the gadget section at Circuit City, where they have all sorts of cheap electronic junk and other gimmicky stuff. Works fine.

--cn

 

[mano1192]

Do people not own AC's anymore???

 

[Matt L.]

For me, it was finally Chiller Time

My tank got to 85.5F yesterday, and so I decided (belatedly) that it was time to install the 1/3hp Aqua Logic Chiller I had bought (used from Lam?) two+ years ago.

I've also got one of my three MHs turned off to keep the total Amperage on the circuit below 15Amps when the chiller is running. Now, the chiller keeps the tank temperature nicely between 80.0F and 81.0F.

I am still nervous, though, because I am relying on an x10 appliance control module to operate the chiller, and I have had bad experience with x10 modules failing under high demand.

The tank is in a downstairs room and we don't have Central A/C in our house. Yeah, we have windows, but we'd have to close off the room completely, and I ahve found that window A/Cs can have trouble keeping up with the cooling of MH lighting.

On days like these, I still wish I had PC

Matt

 

[Moe_K]

My experience with the frozen water bottles today.

The 20 gal tank started out at 80 degrees this morning.
By noon, it was up to 82.9 and still rising.
When it got to 83.5, I dropped in a 20 oz bottle of ice.
The ice melted within an hour, and the temp dropped only to 82.9.
When the ice was completely gone, the temp started back up.

So, in went a 1 liter bottle of ice with the temp still at ~83.0
Half an hour later now, the ice is about 75% melted and the tank temp is at 82.4 degrees.

Bottom line: ice bottles are nice to have at the ready, but don't expect much chilling from them, nor to last very long.

 

[Jim Tansey]

You guys are going to make me check...................84.6, I guess I should have looked before this I'm suprised its that warm.

Jim

 

[dedfish]

85 but that isn't too unusual for my tank on a hot day like today. I will have to look at getting a fan to try and direct across the top of the tank.

 

[conrad]

Moe, you could put salt water in your bottles, but I don't know how high you can get the SG and still have it freeze in your freezer. Or you could use those freeze packs they sell. I believe either will get colder than plain water ice.

I had very good luck with eight ice cubes in a sandwich sized ziploc for my 5.5 gallon nano this morning. I put it in when it reached 84 and that took it down to 82.something. It started to climb again, but slowly, so did four more ice cubes. By the time that melted the sun had gone vertical enough and the breeze had come up, so I was out of the woods, and the tank has been 81.something for the rest of the day. The 29 gallon tank with aquafuge didn't get as high, so the degree or so that the kalk iceberg took it down was all I needed.

Still, I'm hopeful that they'll switch the building over from heat to AC this week.

--cn

 

[Matt L.]

Moe, you could put salt water in your bottles, but I don't know how high you can get the SG and still have it freeze in your freezer. Or you could use those freeze packs they sell. I believe either will get colder than plain water ice.

I would only use freshly made (Sterile) salt water -- I would definitely not use tank water for this.

You can try and freeze saltwater in your freezer -- It should be cold enough. I would test a salt ice block first by melting it and making sure everything in your salt mix stayed in solution,

Matt

 

[TBoisvert]

My tank is normally at 80 degrees with my 3x250w mh on. I have been running my AC on low for the past 2 days and have been putting on only 2 of the mh during the day. My temp has stayed at 80 degrees. Before making these changes, though, it got up to 86 degrees. That is a bit high.

 

[smcnally]

I would only use freshly made (Sterile) salt water -- I would definitely not use tank water for this.

You can try and freeze saltwater in your freezer -- It should be cold enough. I would test a salt ice block first by melting it and making sure everything in your salt mix stayed in solution,

Matt

Matt, I don't they are talking about melting an ice block in the tank. They are talking about using salt water in the bottle so it get's colder than fresh water. I don't think it matters though, does it? Just because fresh water freezes at a higher temp than salt, doesn't mean they "iced" fresh water isn't colder than frozen salt water.

 

[MarkO]

Just checked my tank temp and saw 77.0?. But then I wonder, how can my tank temp be 77?, and the basement room temp is 72?. Duh, then I realize the temp probe was in my 20 gal that is currently curing live rock (one pump, no lights). But anyway, tank temp is at 78.6?
FWIW,
basement room temp at 72?
1st floor room temp at 81?
2nd floor room temp at 85?.
Hmm, without any AC units installed yet, I think I may be sleeping in the basement.

 

[conrad]

Matt, I don't they are talking about melting an ice block in the tank. They are talking about using salt water in the bottle so it get's colder than fresh water. I don't think it matters though, does it? Just because fresh water freezes at a higher temp than salt, doesn't mean they "iced" fresh water isn't colder than frozen salt water.

Oh, duh, you're probably right. I guess either is going to get as cold as the freezer, huh?

I had just bought some of those freezer packs at CVS a few minutes before I wrote that, and the labels said something about them getting colder than ice. I just made up the BS about using salt water -- never mind.

--cn