Water temp too high

[clancaster23]

Just got a dual 250 watt metal halide put over my 75 gallon and it's making my water temp go way too high. It got up to about 88 today while I was gone and I shut them off. I'm using the legs to hold it over the tank. Should I go with the hanging kit and raise them higher? What are the chances of it not causing my temp to go so high? I have a relatively low ceiling, maybe seven feet so I can't go too high. If this doesn't work, what are some other options?

 

[poksal]

Are you running fans??? Most of us run fans as cooling on our tanks. We run them with temperature control devices.. as we do our heaters.

Fan powered evaporation can pull off tons of BTU's ... very few of us run chillers.

 

[Bifferwine]

Yes, have some fans (just the small clip-on type) blowing across the water. That will drop the temp by a few degrees. I'd say hanging the lights are a good idea.

 

[little_fish]

Do you have a lid on your tank?

 

[clancaster23]

Nope, no lids. I have ordered the mesh to make screens but I doubt that will hurt much. And I know it's caused by the halides because now before they are turned on, the water is a nice 80 so I'm going to try to hook up the hangers and raise it up a few inches and see what that does. If it still gets too hot, I'll have to try the fan idea. Thanks guys.

 

[poksal]

Nope, no lids. I have ordered the mesh to make screens but I doubt that will hurt much. And I know it's caused by the halides because now before they are turned on, the water is a nice 80 so I'm going to try to hook up the hangers and raise it up a few inches and see what that does. If it still gets too hot, I'll have to try the fan idea. Thanks guys.

It may work... but unless you are "down under" where it is late spring, you will need the fans when it gets warmer for sure if you are running warm now. You are experiencing one of the reasons of many I went to LED.

 

[FishyReef]

I'd look in to getting a reef keeper controller - you can plug both your fans and lights into that so that the fans turn on when your tank reaches a certain temp and your lights turn off when it gets too hot.

 

[moncapitane]

My temperature runs between 79-80 but if I had MH, I bet the temp would be much higher. Once of the large reasons why I went with a DIY LED due to temperature control. I love my lights so far.

 

[clancaster23]

Well I strapped the light to the ceiling and it's now hanging eight inches above the top of the tank. Now the lights have been on for almost eight hours and the temp has slowly risen to 85. I know this is still too hot and was thinking of cutting my lighted hours, at least the halides, down in hours. I think you're supposed to do that anyways with lights this strong? Also, I do plan on putting a clip-on fan on it but haven't been able to find one locally. It's winter and the stores don't carry them this time of year :(

 

[Ted]

ya finding a fan this time of the year can be a pain. You will be shocked how much of a difference it will make in the temp and how much more top of water you will have to do. Have you tried looking on the web for a clip on fan?

 

[clancaster23]

Yeah, chances are I'll be having to get one online somewhere. Already started looking.

 

[poksal]

I use a wire mesh version of this one.

Breeze Machine 10 in. 2-Speed Floor Fan-505 at The Home Depot

I screwed it to a nice board and clamped to the side of the tank frame... well, no I didn't, I screwed it to the top of the tank frame. then wired it to the temp controller.