I've got a 450L tropical tank that is fully matured and doesn't give me any grief except for one thing - The water temperature! It's hovering around 29 to 30 deg C. It's been like this since I upgraded the lights to T5's.

 

The lights run for 11 hours a day but I have tried a period of just running them for 6 with no drop in temp. The tank is not near a radiator, I have done 10% water changes with cold water to reduce the temp but it's only ever brought it down to around 27.5 and only for a short period. I have left the lid propped up to see if that helps remove some heat. The tank has a large canister external filter that skims the top and bottom and provides very good water agitation.

 

I'm out of ideas and worried about it as god knows what temp it will reach in the summer :cursing: Oh and I haven't had the heater plugged in since December!

 

Anything else I could try?

well considering it really boils down to what fish you have in there, some like that sort of temp, i had the same issue but the fish seemed fine and even in the summer the tank hoovered around the same temp, as long as the fish are OK i wouldn't worry about it too much, just keep doing what your doing with the water changes to help maintain the temperature bud.

 

just one other thing though, do you have the tank on a wall with the neighbours next door? might find that it might not be your heating effecting them.

as vs said depends on your stock, however i would look at some things, if your running t5s im assuming theres a reason and thats reason is high lighting requirements? if its a closed hood install some 12v computer fans to pull and push the cool air in and warm air out.

if its an open hood a 6 inch computer fan hooked up blowing over the surface can work wonders.

something else which many many people dont realise, your heater doesnt know water tempreture your water is, it doesnt turn on warm up then turn off when the water is warm enough, it simply comes on and off for set periods. so installing a tempreture controller such as an atc 800 will allow you FAR better control, you can also use it to turn the fan/fans on when it hits a set temp, where talking between £10 and £20 quid for the controller.

hth if you need help on finding the temp contoller just ask.

dont know anything about fish but why not put your old bulb back in??

450L that sounds huge compared with my 90L tank! have you got any steamy pics? I mean have you got any pics steamy?

Cheers for all the info lads; At the moment the tank only has 8 Rosy barbs, 2 Bronze cory's, 1 Sucking Loach and a large Plec so no where near over stocked. The fish seem fine at that temp but I want to get a couple of Silver Sharks and they really need a lower temp. Vods mate, the tank is on an outside wall & house is detached so shouldn't be causing a problem

 

I changed to T5 as the old light unit packed in, didn't really consider the heat problems. The Tank is a Jewel RIO 400 so there isn't really room to put any fans in, which is a pity as it sounds like it would cure the problem :(

 

Baz, The tanks 5' long about 20" deep and 18" wide, not as big as some but fine for little old me. I'll take a few pics for you mate :)

That is a nice tank Steams, let see some pics. Could you not mount the fans flat on the top of the hood at either end one blowing the other sucking?

rio is perfect for fans bud you just cut a swaure whole into the covers at the rear. use dto have a rio 400 but it got too small.

Doesn't water get into the fans and break them though? I get a lot of condensation and splash on the bottom of the lids.

 

Eggs, I will get some mate as soon as I can figure out how to get a decent one with my camera. lol

Edited April 13, 201213 yr by Steams

Just had a look at the ATC 800 and it looks to be what I need. Thanks mate. Do you have any ideas on building the rear flap into a cooling one?

 

I was think of building a few extractor fans into a duct on the rear flap. Power would come from an old PC psu.

what you doing building a camera?

what you doing building a camera?

 

:lol: light's gone out now, i'll get some tomorrow. Have you got any tips on taking them Baz? You're pretty hand with a camera.

Yeah ain't the easiest to do is it lol. If you use condensation trays as well I doubt the fans should will have an issue with moisture. Is there space in that hood for some?

:lol: light's gone out now, i'll get some tomorrow. Have you got any tips on taking them Baz? You're pretty hand with a camera.

 

hold the camera in front of your face, look through the little window until the subject is in view then press the button on top. Thats the general jist of it mate.

Yeah ain't the easiest to do is it lol. If you use condensation trays as well I doubt the fans should will have an issue with moisture. Is there space in that hood for some?

 

Not as such bud no, The water comes to about 3 or 4 inch from the lid which is just a couple of large ABS flat lids. It doesn't have any condensation trays.

hold the camera in front of your face, look through the little window until the subject is in view then press the button on top. Thats the general jist of it mate.

 

Top tip!! I'll try that. :thumbup1:

:lol: :tt2:

 

best bet it to put your camera on a flat surface or tripod if you have one, and use the cameras built in timer. not sure what other buttons you have on your camera so probably a case of take a few with different settings and see how they come out, a steady picture is what you need though.

:lol: :tt2:

 

best bet it to put your camera on a flat surface or tripod if you have one, and use the cameras built in timer. not sure what other buttons you have on your camera so probably a case of take a few with different settings and see how they come out, a steady picture is what you need though.

 

I'll give it a go, hard to get the fish to stop swimming and pose though :wink:

Give them some food then take the pictures lol, also if you fit fans in the lid why not rig a light weight aluminium shield just to stop spray getting to the fan.

you get condensation build up becaus eof the lack of vntilation etc etc, so the warm air rises in the hood then settlesthere as there is no where else to go. if you mount the fan on top the flap rather than below this will also help, but it shouldnt build up condensation as the moist warm air is being ventilated away. if in doubt you could mod the design slightly and use them the other way up to blow cool air in so they are only passing the dry air from the room, and run them constantly rtaher than using the atc to kick them in. i would run a rcd for them individually aswel just in case. you can buy them on brackets premade with a adapator from the likes of azoo which would give you further options. it may sound silly but have you tried turning the heater right down before you go down this route? it may be unnecessary, my marine tank historically has always has the heater turned off once the weather gets warm as even set at 22 it still warms the tank to 30 and the tankl naturally sits at 26-28 without any heating in summer.

on a side note silver sharks do get mahoosive im sure your aware? we had a trio at one point ranging from 9" to about 12" maybe more apprantly it took 18 months to reach those sizes, i dont know what he had been feeding them radiation maybe? mine never got over 6" and eventually was eaten by my arrowanna because it didnt grow fast enough. random stuff but be warned. eyelash barbs are a much better smaller more colourfull simular alternatives.

you get condensation build up becaus eof the lack of vntilation etc etc, so the warm air rises in the hood then settlesthere as there is no where else to go. if you mount the fan on top the flap rather than below this will also help, but it shouldnt build up condensation as the moist warm air is being ventilated away. if in doubt you could mod the design slightly and use them the other way up to blow cool air in so they are only passing the dry air from the room, and run them constantly rtaher than using the atc to kick them in. i would run a rcd for them individually aswel just in case. you can buy them on brackets premade with a adapator from the likes of azoo which would give you further options. it may sound silly but have you tried turning the heater right down before you go down this route? it may be unnecessary, my marine tank historically has always has the heater turned off once the weather gets warm as even set at 22 it still warms the tank to 30 and the tankl naturally sits at 26-28 without any heating in summer.

on a side note silver sharks do get mahoosive im sure your aware? we had a trio at one point ranging from 9" to about 12" maybe more apprantly it took 18 months to reach those sizes, i dont know what he had been feeding them radiation maybe? mine never got over 6" and eventually was eaten by my arrowanna because it didnt grow fast enough. random stuff but be warned. eyelash barbs are a much better smaller more colourfull simular alternatives.

 

Thanks for that mate, I've decided to go down the ATC800 route with the heater and some fans to cool/heat as required. Just got to build up a rear extractor flap. I've had Silver (Bala) Sharks before and the got to over 12" but I lost them when the old pump failed :( I was at work at the time and it was one of the hottest days of the year. Both were dead when I got home. Was gutted as they were fin perfect and stunning looking.

 

I haven't had the heater plugged in since December so it's not that causing my overheating :( Hopefully I'll cure the problem with the above setup :)

 

Here are some pics for those that asked;

 

First one is the tank now (sorry about the fuzzy picture) 2 & 3 are when I set it up 4 is Mr Plec and 5 is how it used to be, can you spot my old Feather fin & Clown Loach?

 

wow there amazing can they do tricks :biggrin:

The barbs attempt to eat my arm when I clean the tank and the Plec can destroy any real plants in one night. Does that count?? :)

Ah didnt appricate they where that size, I dont if your aware but water looses its ability the hold onto oxygen the warmmer it gets, so when it got warm it was probally due to lack of oxgyen that they died than the psychical tempreture. Try raising your pump returns to increase surface movent, its th ed best way to increase disolved oxygen content

Ah didnt appricate they where that size, I dont if your aware but water looses its ability the hold onto oxygen the warmmer it gets, so when it got warm it was probally due to lack of oxgyen that they died than the psychical tempreture. Try raising your pump returns to increase surface movent, its th ed best way to increase disolved oxygen content

 

I am mate yes. I'm pretty sure that it was a lack of dissolved oxygen that killed them. When the pump failed it also stopped the surface agitation which as you know stopped any Co2 getting out and oxygen getting in :(

 

That was with the old Jewel jumbo setup, I've now got an external 1500lph canister with a long spray bar, so surface movement is good.

 

Have you got any recommendations for a fan? I've had a look on ebay but I need it to be quiet(ish). So far the 4 fan clip on type look to be what I'm after.

 

Thanks for your help bud It is massively appreciated :)

i know the ones from azoo are cheap however they arent the quietest. ive got two 4" computer fans that are near silent. dont buy the tunze aquawind thing its merly two laptop style fans and wayyyyyy over priced(not recommended) you can buy the azoo ones from a company called fish-street for cheaper than on the bay.