Tank temperature advice - Great Lakes region

[mossanimal]

I live on the south shore of Lake Superior where we've completely missed the heat waves this summer that most of the country has gone through. If fact, we were below normal this summer. But it just now hit us all of a sudden. I have my tank in my science classroom which is south facing with big windows and no AC (the tank is not exposed to direct window light). Over the weekend my tank got up to almost 85 F. The tank is fairly new (around 5 months) and has mostly mushrooms, some zoas, GSP and and a BTA. I'm wondering if I'm going to need to think ahead for next summer. Up here on Lake Superior we could have a few weeks at 85-90F but it typically drops to mid 60s at night.

Right now I have a fan directed towards the tank. We have another hot day forecast tomorrow (mid 90s), but will drop down into the 70s for the rest of the week.

Do people in the Midwest without AC have to use chillers in the summer?? I'm sure my animals can handle this brief hot spell but am worried about unstable temps next summer!

 

[Waters]

I live on the south shore of Lake Superior where we've completely missed the heat waves this summer that most of the country has gone through. If fact, we were below normal this summer. But it just now hit us all of a sudden. I have my tank in my science classroom which is south facing with big windows and no AC (the tank is not exposed to direct window light). Over the weekend my tank got up to almost 85 F. The tank is fairly new (around 5 months) and has mostly mushrooms, some zoas, GSP and and a BTA. I'm wondering if I'm going to need to think ahead for next summer. Up here on Lake Superior we could have a few weeks at 85-90F but it typically drops to mid 60s at night.

Right now I have a fan directed towards the tank. We have another hot day forecast tomorrow (mid 90s), but will drop down into the 70s for the rest of the week.

Do people in the Midwest without AC have to use chillers in the summer?? I'm sure my animals can handle this brief hot spell but am worried about unstable temps next summer!

Yeah, a lot do unfortunately. I crank my AC in the summer just to keep my tank temps in the normal range.

 

[Reeflix]

I would invest in a chiller, in Denver it gets really hot here (85 to 100) but our house has AC. So i would get a good chiller. You also said that it gets in the 60s at night, if you don't already, i would also get a heater

 

[mossanimal]

I would invest in a chiller, in Denver it gets really hot here (85 to 100) but our house has AC. So i would get a good chiller. You also said that it gets in the 60s at night, if you don't already, i would also get a heater

Yeah I definitely have a heater. Okay... well. Will start looking into a chiller :-(

 

[Reeflix]

I assumed you have a heater, but just making sure

 

[Pickle_soup]

I live on the south shore of Lake Superior where we've completely missed the heat waves this summer that most of the country has gone through. If fact, we were below normal this summer. But it just now hit us all of a sudden. I have my tank in my science classroom which is south facing with big windows and no AC (the tank is not exposed to direct window light). Over the weekend my tank got up to almost 85 F. The tank is fairly new (around 5 months) and has mostly mushrooms, some zoas, GSP and and a BTA. I'm wondering if I'm going to need to think ahead for next summer. Up here on Lake Superior we could have a few weeks at 85-90F but it typically drops to mid 60s at night.

Right now I have a fan directed towards the tank. We have another hot day forecast tomorrow (mid 90s), but will drop down into the 70s for the rest of the week.

Do people in the Midwest without AC have to use chillers in the summer?? I'm sure my animals can handle this brief hot spell but am worried about unstable temps next summer!

Don't worry about next summer yet. We are going through a pretty strong EL Nino that is currently forecast to last through the middle of December. In January, keep track of its statues to see what the summer will be like. The weather you experiencing is out of norm.

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

Yeah, a lot do unfortunately. I crank my AC in the summer just to keep my tank temps in the normal range.

Yup. Same on the west coast. We either keep the house temp down (central A/C is fairly common anymore) or run chillers.

 

[mossanimal]

Don't worry about next summer yet. We are going through a pretty strong EL Nino that is currently forecast to last through the middle of December. In January, keep track of its statues to see what the summer will be like. The weather you experiencing is out of norm.

That is the problem! Our very mild summer was definitely out of the norm (we've had most of our days in the 70s along the lake which has been so much cooler than the rest of Wisconsin) and the big heat wave that just hit us is definitely El Nino. I'm actually more worried about a TYPICAL summer that would be much warmer than this one.

 

[Pickle_soup]

That is the problem! Our very mild summer was definitely out of the norm (we've had most of our days in the 70s along the lake which has been so much cooler than the rest of Wisconsin) and the big heat wave that just hit us is definitely El Nino. I'm actually more worried about a TYPICAL summer that would be much warmer than this one.

Oh, got you.

 

[mossanimal]

Wow.... the fan across the top works well. The day is getting hotter and my tank has already dropped from almost 85 to 83.

 

[exnisstech]

Yeah, a lot do unfortunately. I crank my AC in the summer just to keep my tank temps in the normal range.

Same. I be darned if I'm buying a chiller for the tank while I'm sweating in the house.

 

[o2manyfish]

Fans / Evaporative cooling can be extremely effective as long as you have low humidity. The drier the air the more efficient the air is at wicking the heat out of the water.

I have 750g of my system outdoor in the direct sunlight. In the summer time we get temps up to 118. My 1500g system maintains under 81 deg with just 4 fans on the system no problem up to 103. We added an automated sun shade that shades the outdoor frag tanks when the temp goes over 100 and that lets the temps hit 115-118 and the system may hit 81 deg.

Now on a 105 deg summer day we will evaporate out as much as75-80g - But we replace all that with kalkwasser.

But I live in Los Angeles, and seldom do we have real humidity issues so the evaporation works really well.

Dave B

 

[mossanimal]

Fans / Evaporative cooling can be extremely effective as long as you have low humidity. The drier the air the more efficient the air is at wicking the heat out of the water.

I have 750g of my system outdoor in the direct sunlight. In the summer time we get temps up to 118. My 1500g system maintains under 81 deg with just 4 fans on the system no problem up to 103. We added an automated sun shade that shades the outdoor frag tanks when the temp goes over 100 and that lets the temps hit 115-118 and the system may hit 81 deg.

Now on a 105 deg summer day we will evaporate out as much as75-80g - But we replace all that with kalkwasser.

But I live in Los Angeles, and seldom do we have real humidity issues so the evaporation works really well.

Dave B

Overnight my temp in the tank dropped to 78.5 but man did I go through the RODI from the ATO reservoir!! We don't get the humidity here that the folks do down south. Thankfully a storm is coming in and we are going back to the 70s the rest of the week. But I'm definitely concerned about next summer.

 

[o2manyfish]

Overnight my temp in the tank dropped to 78.5 but man did I go through the RODI from the ATO reservoir!! We don't get the humidity here that the folks do down south. Thankfully a storm is coming in and we are going back to the 70s the rest of the week. But I'm definitely concerned about next summer.

Don't worry too much about the temp swing. Alot of people are so proud that their tank temp only swing .2 degrees ever regardless of season.

My system will swing as much as 6 degrees everyday. The heaters are set to 76 in the summer time, and everyday the outside temp is over 80 (which is all the time in sunny Los Angeles) the tank temp goes up to 79ish. When it goes over 100 then it hits 80.

In the winter time we lower the heaters to 74 - just to make the electric bill to heat a lil more reasonable. But we will get a warm day every other week in the winter time and the system pops up to 79.

There are no ill effects on the livestock.

In the wild when the tide changes, Or the fish swim from one depth to another there can be wild swings in temperature and the fish have no issues with that.

Dave B