Lighting Cycles

[Rin]

What are your opinions about the following?

I'm trying to control temperature buildup in my 75. If I run my MHs for 6 hours continuous, my temperature gets up to 88°F. However, what if I run my MHs like this:

10:00 VHOs (4x110 watts) turn on.
11:00 MHs (2x250 watts) turn on.
12:00
13:00 MHs turn off (VHOs remain on)
14:00
15:00 MHs turn on
16:00
17:00 MHs turn off
18:00
19:00 MHs turn on
20:00
21:00 MHs turn off
22:00 VHOs turn off

I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it'll keep the temperature down.

Can anyone think of any reason why this might not be a good idea? Will it stress my inhabitants?

I still plan on getting a chiller, but I don't have the bread to fork out for it at this time.

Thanks,

[blane perun]

rin:

what is teh ambient temp of the room?

do you have allot of gas exchange on the surface?

is the tank open hood?

Can you suspend the hood if it is, install fans
and increase surface agitation. Evaporatative
cooling can do wonders.

blane

[Rin]

Originally posted by blane perun
what is teh ambient temp of the room?

77°F

do you have allot of gas exchange on the surface?

I think so, yes. My return gph is ~800. The water is turbulent enough that I can't see anything in the tank by looking down into the tank.

is the tank open hood?

Hmmm...I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Here is a not-so-recent picture of the aquarium.

Can you suspend the hood if it is, install fans
and increase surface agitation. Evaporatative
cooling can do wonders.

You are correct about evaporative cooling. Since the majority of the heat accumulated in the typical reef aquarium comes from radiant (not thermal) sources, aquariums can heat up rather quickly. The most efficient way to remove this heat is evaporation. When all of my lights are on I loose up to 2 gallons per day. I could increase this by adding another fan, but topping off every day is already a pain in the rear. (A top-off system is in the works, too. But currently I don't have a way of doing this and still keep the ergonomics of the system.)

Iwasaki MHs give off a lot of energy--a whole lot. These things are much hotter than the sunbursts that I had in there previously.

blane

Thanks for the input. I will install another fan, esp. if my idea with the light cycle doesn't pan out. I'm trying the lighting cycle today to see how hot the tank gets. I'm still a little concerned that the inhabitants won't enjoy the photocycle, though.