water temp control

[SDW]

I noticed that my water is getting hot, (about 80 F) which might be one reason my fish are dying. My house is warm but I can't say it is severly hot...It was 77 F in the house and 80 F in the tank yesterday. I turned the lights off and put some ice in a ziplock bag and floated it in the water to help try to bring the temp down. Anyone have any ideas about why the temp is so high. Should it be more than the room temp? Any suggestions about chillers, since price is of some concern here.

[fishyshawn]

im having the same problem but my fish arent dieing i have a clown gobie thats doing just fine. my temp hangs aroun 80 with the lights off and 83 with them on.
i found a place that sells chillers pretty cheap but i havent bought from them yet http://www.aquatictech.com/chillers.html
they are the cheapest i can find
the aquarium temp ussualy is higher than room temp because you have the heat put out by the pumps and lights. if you have a closed hood like the jbj nanocubes or the current aquapods try duct taping the little lid open that is used for feeding that should lower it a degree or two
(duct tape fixs all)

[Whoyah]

I don't consider 80 hot. I like my tank right at 80. I wouldn't think this would be a problem unless you are seeing huge swings temp in a short period of time. Typcially lights and pumps are your biggest offenders for heat. I would recommed opening the canopy and maybe adding a fan to blow across the top of the water.

[Fatman]

im having the same problem but my fish arent dieing i have a clown gobie thats doing just fine. my temp hangs aroun 80 with the lights off and 83 with them on.
i found a place that sells chillers pretty cheap but i havent bought from them yet http://www.aquatictech.com/chillers.html
they are the cheapest i can find
the aquarium temp ussualy is higher than room temp because you have the heat put out by the pumps and lights. if you have a closed hood like the jbj nanocubes or the current aquapods try duct taping the little lid open that is used for feeding that should lower it a degree or two
(duct tape fixs all)

I just checked with them, the Titan Series are no longer sold in the US.
Can someone find them outside the US? I can not seem to be able to get a hold of them. I like the price of 250$ and its the perfect size for my 55gallon.

[lReef lKeeper]

im with Whoyah, my tank stays at 80 and my fish absolutly love it, and the corals are doing fantastic. although i was talking to a guy at a LFS yesterday, and he says that "ideal" for a reef is 77 degrees. i have thought of lowering it a degree or two but don't really think it would make THAT big of a difference.

[RWalston]

My tank is 82.5 to 82.7 for a high and 81.5 for a low during the summer months. I have a chiller that comes on if the water temp reaches 83.0 and will cool the water to 81.0 before it shuts off. I run a 6" fan above the sump and 2 4" fans in the hood. If you average all the temps of the reefs in the world the average temp is 82.0 so 80.0 is not that high for a tank. If your fish are dying I would look for something else that might be causing it. Salt water does not hold its O2 content well at higher temps. Are you running a skimmer? If not try an air stone in the sump compartment to help generate more O2 in the water. Also I would test the water parameters for any thing unusual.

Rich

[unleashed]

80 is not bad at all but if you prefer 77 is as i also do ,you can mount a small fan either over the tank or the sump.80 degrees should not effect your fish in a bad way or at all ,unless its doing a quick rise and fall then you may find ich outbreaks,there must be other factors causing deaths.i would def test your water quality.and think of any changes you may have made recently that could have contributed

[dsfdbutterfly]

I think that people are hitting on the right path. The only way that 80 would be killing your fish is that if your are having a swing of say 75 during the evening and 80 during the day. Idealy you don't want more than a swing of 3 degrees either way. 77 maybe ideal but you may easily run 80 or even a touch higher (I don't ever suggest getting above 83, although hitting 83 won't immediately kill a fish).

If this is on a regular basis your fish will easily adjust to 80 without any ill effects. Those of us with hotter weather do have to consider chillers. If you don't want to go that route but want to cool the water slightly I would suggest checking how far your lights are off the water and incorporating fans into the system. Your house temp should allow you to help control your temp better than dropping $$$ into a chiller. Try this first would be my suggestion.

Now for the dying of your fishies, check your paramiters and determine that none of those are off first. That would be where I would look not to the temp. If you are having a lot of die off you may be experiencing swings in ammonia and nitrite. These are both very deadly to fish and corals alike. Check those are see what they are. If not off report back and we maybe able to figure something else out for you. Post anything that you can thing of. It may just be something simple that you have overlooked.

Angie