Lights that won't heat up my water..

[tcarswell]

During the day its about 78 in the house (AC running) and it seems the longer the light is on the more the temperature crawls past 82-84 and the light fixture always seems hot. It is a 48" 90 gallon with a single 48" standard fluorescent bulb . Is it possible the heat is from something else? There are no direct windows on the tank it seems that the light is the only thing that could heat it up.

Thanks for any and all advice guys ,
Tcarswell

 

[dmopar74]

never had a flourescent do that to any of my tanks. you can try raising the light off the top of the tank, put a chunk or 2 of 2x4's under the ends of the light fixture. if it works find a prettier solution.

 

[Deaths Sting]

your heater may be broken...or ur thermometer is given false readings..

if its ur light, get legs for it, if its higher up it wont cause the water to increase in temperature as much. '' take the flame farther away from the pot, the pot wont be as hot. ''

 

[tcarswell]

Might be my stealth heater thanks guys ill do more testing.

 

[crazy clowntang]

I agree with dmopar74, florescent lights don't bring up the temperature in a tank, unless you have like six bulbs but even then I don't think it would happen. If you had metal halides than I would say that could be the problem. I think it might be a bad heater.

 

[topdog78]

If you`ve got an enclosed hood ( like me ) then it can raise the temp, certainly on anything less than 100 gallons, iv`e done tests on my tank ( 88 u.k gallons ) in the summer time ( same daytime temp ) one day lights off 78-79 degrees, then next day lights on 82-83 degrees.
I seached for different lighting options like open-top bracket/leg types but decided against it for safety reasons i.e ( small children in the house and fish that tank jump ), i found some waterproof l.e.d`s which are really good as you can have different colour options to suite your taste/needs,can be placed anwhere in the tank, require no cutting/modifying the tank hood and they are cheap to run also.
The make if i remember rightly is arcadia they are called aquabrite, hope this helps.

 

[brianp]

The tank has a certain capacity to dump heat into the environment at a particular room temperature, based primarily upon its surface-to-volume ratio and the temperature gradient between the tank and the room. Even without the lights, filter pumps are contributing heat to the water circulatng through them. My sense is that when the lights are turned on, the additional heat contributed to the tank now exceeds the capacity of the tank to discharge heat into the room and heat begins to accumulate within the tank and the temperature gradually rises. You could increase the temperature gradient by lowering the room temperature and this will enhance heat discharge by the tank. You could increase the surface area of the tank by adding a sump or removing a lid. You could also reduce the temperature setting on your heaters by, say 4F. This will allow the tank to cool more during the evening so that you have additional capacity for heat absorption during the following day when the lights are on, without exceeding whatever temp you view as critical.

 

[tcarswell]

The tank has a certain capacity to dump heat into the environment at a particular room temperature, based primarily upon its surface-to-volume ratio and the temperature gradient between the tank and the room. Even without the lights, filter pumps are contributing heat to the water circulatng through them. My sense is that when the lights are turned on, the additional heat contributed to the tank now exceeds the capacity of the tank to discharge heat into the room and heat begins to accumulate within the tank and the temperature gradually rises. You could increase the temperature gradient by lowering the room temperature and this will enhance heat discharge by the tank. You could increase the surface area of the tank by adding a sump or removing a lid. You could also reduce the temperature setting on your heaters by, say 4F. This will allow the tank to cool more during the evening so that you have additional capacity for heat absorption during the following day when the lights are on, without exceeding whatever temp you view as critical.

Thanks brian. I will do that. I made a metal screen top (Primed and painted with krylon fusion ofcourse) But it does not seem to help. Ill try hanging a fan nearby or maybe even relocating the tank.


And yeah its a glass hood. pretty enclosed but the tank also has an 18 watt turbo twist UV running 50-80 GPH and an eheim 2215 and a fluval 405 plus powerhead for UV plus an AC110.. I think some of the filtration might be adding heat. The UV maybe ?

I forgot to mention my last filter is going to be an algae scrubber lol. since my stand is already packed with canisters the water return and outlet are going to be fed through the wall and into the garage (Safe air no cars in there ever) The water runs over the screen and gets returned to the tank. Hopefully this will help out... I dont think it will though because the garage is consistently 5 degress hotter than the house.......