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help! i dont understand what the problem is


subsailor

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Ok so here is a brief background of what is going on. Bought the tank about 2 months ago. it is a 75 g oceanic setup with an oceanic trickle filter model 75. the tank has 48'" power compacts light setup on it right now ( will be swithching to the nova pro t-5 system next paycheck ) and also i am in the process of building a sump/refugium for it as i realize the trickle filter is a nitrate factory. So everyone knows i have kept african cichlids for a while but this is my first plunge into saltwater. all the parameters were good to go and the only inhabitants were a couple snails and a hermit or two and 2 neon gobies. temperature on the tank was 78 degrees steady. last week the temperature fell off to 72 and i checked the heater and it had gone bad so i replaced it with a 250 stealth. gtg or so i thought. the next day i bought some live rock from a guy in san marcos taking down his tank. Very nice rock lots of zooanthids, and various other things on the rock. got home got the rock in and everthing started to come out and show it self. then lights out which brings us to sunday. sunday morning got up tested the water and all was well. added a little purple up so i could facilitate corraline spreading to the base rock. day goes by checked the temperature as i was turning the lights out and whoa 85 degrees a lot of the little stuff on the rock had started hiding so monday morning and was in a huge hurry to get to work. lights came on didnt check temp etc. last night i get home and the temp is 85 degrees so i am thinking that somehow the power compacts are putting that heat out. btw my house is 73 degrees. i did notice most of the zooanthids etc on the rock are were not out yesterday. Is this due to the temp? back to topic so i added purple up and checked water parameters all good. i logged the temp 85 degrees. out goes the lights. this morning i get up and lo and behold it is 84.5 degrees i just dont understand i checked the new heater several times it is cold to the touch and is set to 78. what could it be. the return pump is also not warm. i beleive it is an ehiem hobby pump, it is also submersed. i am just stumped and don't understand what is going on right now. anybody have a clue? btw i went with the pulverized limestone seeded with 40 lbs of live sand. i love it so far.

Edited by subsailor
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Part of the problem (probably not the whole problem) is that the last couple of days have been warm and humid. As the humidity rises tanks evaporate less which is the primary means by which they cool. I know that my chiller has been running like crazy on my reef the last two days. Most things will be adversely effected by temps at 85, including the zoos. I would get some fans over the tank ASAP. That should help considerably.

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no there is duno vent at all in my fishroom. and nothing else is close to that tank. the 140 right beide it is right on temperature wise with the heater kicking on now and again and all the time during the night. (it is only a 300 watt) i have checked everything. there is no windows in the room at all. and the only outside light comes in from another room. man this one just has me stumped i guss i will try removing the heater and see if maybe the heater is heating way up then shutting off and if that doesnt work i will have to isolate the return pump and see if that helps at all.

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I agree with Enigma. The humidity has been pretty high the last couple days so the tank is not evaporating. I didn't lose any water for the last three days which is not normal for this time of the year. I usually evap a gallon or more a day in winter. My fan came on last night for the first time in months so I know something was up.

I think you need to get a good fan over the tank to pull away some of the heat and you will be fine. I would at least run a fan when the lighting is on to counteract the heat from the lights.

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You also mentioned having another tank in the room which also adds to humidity and decreases evaporation which increases the tank temperature. I had three tanks in a room (smaller bedroom size room) and cooling was starting to become a very hard problem.

Lee

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!THREAD HIJACK!

What kind of heater do you use Gabriel?

BTW Getting fans is a great idea. I use clip on fans from Walmart(even though I hate what this corporation is doing to the nation and local economies). They move tons of air and are less expensive and/or time consuming to set-up then others.

We actually got rid of a tank because of the humidity.

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you said you added rocks right? how much rock did you add? more rock equals more water displacment. the less water you have in the system, the quiker its going to heat up. but that only means the water tempurature will rise and lower quiker because there is less water, it doesnt neccesarily mean the water will get hotter than what it was before you added rocks...?

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