Nano cube 24g getting hot. | The Aquarium Solution

Nano cube 24g getting hot.

Question:

Hiya
Thankyou for all your help so far. My tank is now two months old, and has
been a stable 25degrees throughout. Im running a small amount of filter
floss, phosphate remover and carbon in the first chamber, a TMC V2 skimmer
in the middle filtration chamber and a maxiflow 1200 in the last chamber.
The outlet of the pump has a hydor flow, for surface agitation. Its got two
koralia nano's creating flow round the back and front of the LR. The tank is
a north facing room and doesnt get hardly any direct light at all. The
lights are on a timer from 11am - 9pm every day. Its got 20kg of live rock,
normal CUC, a cleaner shrimp, two yellow tailed damsels and easy corals like
zoas and xenia.

Over this last weekend the temperature has risen and risen. Last night it
was 28degrees and even today its 26.5. Ive got a digital probe and to back
it up a normal glass thermometer. The heater was switched off at the wall, I
even turned the skimmer off to see if it was overheating (the casing was
completely cool). Both fans are working on the lights, however when I touch
the clear plastic splash guard it seems to be very warm. So it seems to be
this that is heating up the tank.

Surely this cant be normal, this tank shouldnt heat up the water that much
with just the lights?? This was designed as a marine tank, so must have been
created to make the temperature manageable? Im in the UK, and the weather
this weekend and today hasnt been that spectacular, so whats going to happen
when the temp outside rises a bit. I dont really want to add ice cubes and
such, I want to be able to run this tank without having to do that sort of
thing. If I keep the lights turned off, all my zoas close up.

Ps I cant go leaving the lid open as I have a small kitten who is likely to
run along the nearby fireplace and jump in (and you shouldnt have to do that
anyway).

Please help.
Janice

Answer:

Hi Janice, hope you are well.

I'm afraid heat becomes a problem for most reef tanks during the warmer
months. Obviously the need for high power lighting for coral growth can add
quite a bit of heat to the water.The nano tank is designed to cool the
aquarium with the use of fans in the hood,if the weather is warm and muggy
as it was here in Kent this weekend the fans can struggle to keep the temp
down in the aquarium.If there is high humidity outside the fans heat
exchange isnt as effective.
Your tank contains 2 36 watt compact lamps so roughly 3.6 watts per gallon
of radiated heat is warming the water.As an example my tank is an open top
and I run 960 watts of light and the tank is around 240 u.k gallons.

This gives me around 4 watts per gallon and my chiller has been on for the
best part of the last week.

During periods of warm weather can i suggest the following:

Break the light cycle into two periods with a couple of hours without light
between,this will give the tank chance to cool down if timed at around
midday.

Prop open the front flap slightly as this will help heat escape, that's if
the kitten wont be tempted to lift it open further.You can buy small clip on
dual fans that you should be able to clip onto the front of the tank. If you
lift the flap and install these the kitten shouldn't be able to get into the
tank as they should cover the aperture.

Double check both thermometers, its possible that both are running out,it
happens.

Keep the temp stable so don't keep the heater off as the temp may drop under
26 at night giving large swings.

Hope this has been of some help, unfortunately the majority of reefers
struggle with temperature in warm weather on a well lit tank unless running
a chiller or a large evaporative cooler.

As I say though it may well be worth checking the thermometers as the fans
in the hood usually keep temperature controlled on all but the hottest of days.

regards Tony