Trouble with water temperature

[iamthehighway]

Hi All,

Hope all is well with everyone. I'm new to reef tanks, but I do care for 2 freshwater tanks. I'm currently cycling my reef tank. It's a Red Sea Max E260 (has a rear sump with 2 return pumps and skimmer with a pump as well). I've been having some trouble with the temperature of my tank. My 2 freshwater tanks in my home can keep a temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit, but my saltwater temperature has been around 80-83 degrees Fahrenheit. I noticed the temperature of my saltwater was highest when my skimmer was on. I turned that off yesterday afternoon and this morning the temperature was at 79.6 degrees. Am I crazy for thinking that the return pumps and pump on the skimmer are warming up my water? The tank also came with 2 Red Sea LED 90's and I have not been using them because I want to get my temperature of my tank down. I can only imagine how warm the water would get when I start scheduling the lights. What do you all think it could be? Hope to hear from you all soon.

Thanks!

 

[KrisReef]

The skimmer works like a forced air heater pushing warm air in will heat the water in warm ambient temperatures (and cool the water in winter temperatures).

The water pump will also heat up the water especially if it is submerged.

I have a chiller for my garage tank to remove heat in warm weather and a heater to keep it 76-77.

 

[iamthehighway]

The skimmer works like a forced air heater pushing warm air in will heat the water in warm ambient temperatures (and cool the water in winter temperatures).

The water pump will also heat up the water especially if it is submerged.

I have a chiller for my garage tank to remove heat in warm weather and a heater to keep it 76-77.

Yes, my tank is an AIO and all the pumps are submerged in the rear sump. So I was leaning towards that causing the temperature to be a little high, but I just wasn't sure if the pumps could be causing the rise in temperature. I have some thinking to do on how to start cooling my tank, especially when I start running a light schedule. Thank you for you help!

 

[Nano_Man]

Pumps and power heads produce heat I’ve never really had a problem with high temperatures. Really if you’re at them temperatures now then a chiller would be a good choice but they are expensive. But if it does the job it’s worth every penny. Also you can buy fans pointed at the surface of your tank but they only take a couple of degrees off the temperature so really there no good
You can use ice in summer months but you spend more time freezing ice than doing anything else.

 

[Vinaka_vakalevu]

do you have a heater in your tank? as has been said pumps can and will release heat into the water but usually not enough to cause big problems. if you have a heater lower the set temp on that and see if it starts to come down. is your tank near a bright sunny window? HVAC return blowing right on the tank? any other reasons you can think of not tank related that could cause the temp to be high?

 

[iamthehighway]

Pumps and power heads produce heat I’ve never really had a problem with high temperatures. Really if you’re at them temperatures now then a chiller would be a good choice but they are expensive. But if it does the job it’s worth every penny. Also you can buy fans pointed at the surface of your tank but they only take a couple of degrees off the temperature so really there no good
You can use ice in summer months but you spend more time freezing ice than doing anything else.

Thanks! I started looking into chillers at this point. I'm wondering if its just an issue with rear sump AIO setups. Maybe I wouldn't have this issue if I had an under cabinet sump.

 

[iamthehighway]

do you have a heater in your tank? as has been said pumps can and will release heat into the water but usually not enough to cause big problems. if you have a heater lower the set temp on that and see if it starts to come down. is your tank near a bright sunny window? HVAC return blowing right on the tank? any other reasons you can think of not tank related that could cause the temp to be high?

I had a heater in the tank, but it never turned on because the temp was always higher than 76. No HVAC air blowing on it or anything like that. It is located in an area where there's windows and some sunlight does enter the room. However, since my other freshwater tanks temp doesn't go past 76, i didn't know why my saltwater was. At this point I'm going to install a chiller. Eventually I plan on not using the rear sump and going with an under cabinet sump instead. Maybe having all the pumps under the cabinet will lower the temperature on my display.

 

[Uncle99]

Are you using the same temp measurement in both tanks.

These devices can vary widely.

 

[tzabor10]

Hi All,

Hope all is well with everyone. I'm new to reef tanks, but I do care for 2 freshwater tanks. I'm currently cycling my reef tank. It's a Red Sea Max E260 (has a rear sump with 2 return pumps and skimmer with a pump as well). I've been having some trouble with the temperature of my tank. My 2 freshwater tanks in my home can keep a temperature of 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit, but my saltwater temperature has been around 80-83 degrees Fahrenheit. I noticed the temperature of my saltwater was highest when my skimmer was on. I turned that off yesterday afternoon and this morning the temperature was at 79.6 degrees. Am I crazy for thinking that the return pumps and pump on the skimmer are warming up my water? The tank also came with 2 Red Sea LED 90's and I have not been using them because I want to get my temperature of my tank down. I can only imagine how warm the water would get when I start scheduling the lights. What do you all think it could be? Hope to hear from you all soon.

Thanks!

AC pumps produce a lot of heat. Switch to DC as soon as you can. Run a fan over the water. Keep the AC cranked. If everything else fails, get a chiller.

 

[IronJocky]

In an emergency I have used plastic freezer packs for reducing temps I live in 300 year old home and we have no ACs

 

[IronJocky]

I have a different question I want to put drift wood in my fish only salt tank what is your opinion on this

 

[Wasabiroot]

I don't think the red sea 90s will significantly warm the water (or at least, in relation to the other equipment). They are 90w fixtures ×2 = 180w power use @ about 40-50% efficiency (an educated guess) means about 90 -130 w of thermal energy, which we can assume doesn't entirely enter the tank due to heat dissipation from the fixture and reflections on the surface. Water also has a very high heat capacity and is comparatively poor at absorbing thermal radiation, so you can likely run them without significantly raising the temperature. I'm sure it has an impact, but not a big one. You could also run a fan over the sump or something for some passive cooling

 

[tzabor10]

I have a different question I want to put drift wood in my fish only salt tank what is your opinion on this

What are your feelings about green hair algae? If you don’t mind it, then put it in. I wouldn’t but that is what I like

 

[iamthehighway]

Are you using the same temp measurement in both tanks.

These devices can vary widely.

Yes, I've checked with digital, laser, and glass thermometer. All of them were reading the same temp.

 

[PotatoPig]

It shouldn’t matter if the equipment is in a sump behind or below the tank. The heat gets in via contact between the water and equipment, and gets out almost entirely via evaporation. Neither should be noticeably impacted by sump location.

 

[iamthehighway]

In an emergency I have used plastic freezer packs for reducing temps I live in 300 year old home and we have no ACs

I'll keep this in mind. Never hurts to have freezer packs handy in case of emergencies.

 

[Doctorgori]

You are OK under 83ish
I think it gets real dodgy over 84-85 but not lethal per se, for short periods anyway …
88F and I’m panicking
….biggest issue isn’t just oxygen it’s the chain reaction of death once something big dies, then it’s a domino effect