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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #415
At 3:48 -0400 7/29/98, "Rick Flower" <Rick.Flower at trw_com> wrote:
>Subject: Acrylic Tank -- Too much insulation?
>
>Hi.. I've just setup (last Sunday) an Acrylic tank (50 gallon) and have
>some problems with the tank running too hot.. I got the tank all setup
>with the Tetra substrate material mixed with the gravel, lots of plants,
>and some fish to help stablize the "new" tank.. Anyway, my main
>problem right now is tank temperature.. When I setup the tank, I got
>the temperature to about 77-78 degrees, and the first night I left the
>light on for about 8 hours.. When I came down the next morning, I
>forgot to check the temperature, but did turn the light off and went to
>work.. When I got home, I looked at the temp. and it was hovering at
>about 81 degrees! Now, I'm in Los Angeles where it has been a bit
>warm the last few days, but I'm concerned about the fact that I can't
>seem to get the tank to dissipate the heat in the water.. So far, I've
>tried the following things :
>
> o Unplug the tank heater (it's been unplugged since
> yesterday afternoon -- ~20 hours)
> o No more lights on at night (lights generating too much
> heat?) or day
> o Leaving the hood off at night (and it is still that way)
>
>I was just at home a little while ago and the tank was still at 80 deg.
>The only things running are a Fluval 403 (w/o activated charcoal)
>and a powerhead. Unfortunately, I've had to put to rest one of the
>fish in the tank (molly -- suggested as good by our LFS) -- too
>much heat? Fish heat-stroke?
>
>I don't seem to have this temperature problem with my other 50
>gallon glass tank.
I think glass is a better conductor of heat than acrylic, but the poorest
conductor of heat, and by far the limiting factor in heat transfer through
the tank itself, is the air surrounding the tank. 81 degrees is not that
bad, my tank gets up to 84 on some of these hot days.
I've propped the hood up a bit for ventilation. This results in much more
evaporation, but the tank runs considerably cooler. I need to modify my
hood with built in vents that can be closed in the winter, but that's still
on the to do list.
>Any ideas are appreciated -- and no this tank has no substrate heater.
Open it up so you get more evaporation. Evaporation removes heat very
effectively. If you still need to remove more heat, install a small fan.
You can get small AC fans or use a small DC fan and a calculator style wall
mount power supply. Fry's has them in the LA area.
Paul
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