Kaplanm Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I'm having a problem with my existing reef system. It has been happily running for over a year and the temperature has been like a rock. These past few months I've been having difficulty however keeping the temperature down. For the life of me I can't figure out why.I broke down all my pumps and performed a thorough cleaning and check for wear and tear to make sure an abused pump wasn't the issue.I double checked that the heater isn't jammed in the on position. I've not altered my lighting, nor have the ambient light conditions in the room around the tank been altered. (No windows have been left with blinds up, etc.) We've made no major alterations to the room that would've affected airflow. I'm not running any additional chemicals than I typically would. Room temperature is being held where it always has. I'm not running with a top or hood on the tank, so it's not a problem of restricted airflow. I'm at my wits end, does anyone have an idea what might be going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Are you sure your thermometer or probe has not drifted? Could be a false reading? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 i'd get a new heater before you pull your hair out. the mechanics of a heater relay, overtime, they have a larger differential (ie, they stay on longer when they should be off). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 How's the humidity in your house? It's been raining a lot more this year and with that comes increased humidity which means less evaporation and less cooling. I've had to run my AC a little more this year than last just to pull the humidity down, not the temp so you may want to check that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 How's the humidity in your house? It's been raining a lot more this year and with that comes increased humidity which means less evaporation and less cooling. I've had to run my AC a little more this year than last just to pull the humidity down, not the temp so you may want to check that. +1! I've run into heat problems when the activity in the house changes (slows down) even though thermostates on the houses AC and the tank haven't changed. Besides the reduced cooling when humidity increases like Dan pointed out if the AC/heat fan is running less it may be reducing the airflow around the tank which would reduce cooling of the aquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaplanm Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 This has been an issue for a while now, and historically even with this kind of humidity I'd only see a degree or two higher than normal.It *could* be a false reading, I'll pull a new thermometer to check. But the temp probe and the temp gauge on the heater have been in agreement so I'd be surprised if they both had failed in the same way at the same time. (I run a Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 150 watt) I thought that the heater relay might have gone so a few weeks ago I pushed the set point way below where I normally run it, and I've grabbed the heater to verify that it's not running perpetually. I'll pull out the heater entirely tonight to verify that it's not a problem with the heater. (I keep ambient around 78 typically so I don't really need the heater. I keep it for the rare occasions I need to chill the house for company) The issue exists even with the lights off. I placed a fan over the top of the tank to get a boost to the evaporative cooling yesterday. (Managed to pull the temp down from 80.8 -> 78) after the lights went out I pulled the fan and noted a 1.6 degree rise in temp.) So it isn't the lighting in a vacuum causing the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 My best educated guess is a pump is going bad. They can make increased heat for a while before they actually stop working. What brand and size pumps do you have running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan H Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Of note, 80.8 isn't really all that warm. I keep my tank above 80.5 and it sometimes gets up to 82 during the day. I don't think you need to worry at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 It's got to be the heater, temp probe, or malfunctioning pump that's causing the issue if all other environmental factors are all the same. If I had to take a guess, it's a pump. Any chance the thermostat to your HVAC system is off? Does it actually feel a tad warmer to you in the house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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