dandy7200 December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Whats the coldest your reef has ever been? Right now I am sitting at 70 degrees. Last year I dropped to 72 and wasn't worried however 70 is a bit colder than I would like. Honestly though I don't look at temp all the time so it may have actually gotten this cold last year. For those that don't know, my sump is outside. I have about 600g of water and 200 of it is outside in a insulated shed. Fish seem to be fine, this wasn't though since my tank has been around 74ish for the last month or so. My snowflake eel is the only critter that seems lethargic. Corals don't "look" cold. What is a stress sign for fish when water gets dangerously cold? Well, I am just turning my halides on and going to let them run overnight and try not to worry. I think tomorrow I will reexamine my heating system. At the very least I need to figure out how to setup my ac3 to send alarms again, and maybe get an extra 1000w heater as a emergency precaution. UGHHHHH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Codes I use: If pH > 08.60 Then ALM ON If pH < 07.50 Then ALM ON If Temp > 84.2 Then ALM ON If Temp < 74.0 Then ALM ON If pH2 < 06.50 Then ALM OFF If pH2 > 09.80 Then ALM ON If Time > 11:45 Then ALM ON If Time > 11:50 Then ALM OFF If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF If Power 000 Then ALM ON You need to reset it up in set up under email. I get an email and a text to my phone but you need the phones email address. The 11:45 ALM on won't help you unless you want to call me to make sure my noon delivery run is finished, packed and ready to go. Make sure you put this code in (If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF) or you might get ALM pings once it starts. You should be fine at 70, 69 is on the edge I can't remember if you can shut the flow to the out side or slow it down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanman December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 72 during a power failure a couple years ago. I was actually keeping my fish room warm with the fireplace. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Hey Dan, I thought that the biggest problem with the temperature is how much much their bodies slow down. I don't know that fish such as ours that are always tropical can handle temperature extremes such as cold. I would think that the immune system would start to shut down a bit and then expose the fish to some bad stuff. Have you thought of simply putting a heat lamp in your shed? You could run one of those heat bulbs and have it switch on when the water temp gets too cold and suspend it over the water. Another idea is to add a large mag pump to the outside sump that turns on and simply recirculates within the sump when the temp gets too cold. The mag pumps put out tons of heat to the water so I would assume that they would have an impact on your system. I know that when I ran a mag 9 in a 44 gallon trashcan the water would get really hot. I figure if you throw a mag 18 or 24 in that sump, the water would get pretty warm in no time at all due to the nature of the mag pumps. FYI, I think that over breaks some of the Floris tanks go down in temperature to around where yours are - I don't keep heaters in the majority of tanks any longer and this can keep the temps pretty cool. I don't know that I'd worry about the temperatures as they are right now, but I also wouldn't feed them anything, either, as I would think that food in their guts could also cause some problems (thinking of goldfish that stop feeding early in the season and rely on fat reserves). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Try floating some 2" foam on the water in the sump, with as little exposed water as possible. Cut it to fit around your pipes etc. Switch your skimmer to pull air from the house rather than outside. You're losing heat to evaporation more than convection right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Oh, turn off or slow down kalk dosing if possible if the water is covered (or at least monitor it carefully). I have not seen it personally, but a friend of mine with a greenhouse reported that when he put pool blankets over his tanks and dripped kalk, the decreased gas exchange caused some problems with coral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zygote2k December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Codes I use:If pH > 08.60 Then ALM ON If pH < 07.50 Then ALM ON If Temp > 84.2 Then ALM ON If Temp < 74.0 Then ALM ON If pH2 < 06.50 Then ALM OFF If pH2 > 09.80 Then ALM ON If Time > 11:45 Then ALM ON If Time > 11:50 Then ALM OFF If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF If Power 000 Then ALM ON You need to reset it up in set up under email. I get an email and a text to my phone but you need the phones email address. The 11:45 ALM on won't help you unless you want to call me to make sure my noon delivery run is finished, packed and ready to go. Make sure you put this code in (If Time > 00:00 Then ALM OFF) or you might get ALM pings once it starts. You should be fine at 70, 69 is on the edge I can't remember if you can shut the flow to the out side or slow it down? Is this how Almon got his screen name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishcam December 19, 2009 Share December 19, 2009 Mine got to 70 once, when it was 12g and I left the fan on it for too long. Yesterday my 120 was at 72 before I realized I had removed the temp control code from my ACIII cause my thermocouple broke. opps. Hah. Both are fixed now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 December 20, 2009 Author Share December 20, 2009 Thanks for the tips guys. I have been at work all day but I added some programing to keep the halides on if tank temp was below 71. Chip, I need to get the email setup, never done it. I can access the web server from home but that is as far as I ever got. I hate that stuff, maybe you can help when you come down here. Add a 12:03 ALM to call me after your nooner. Dave, I don't think the radiant would help too much. I never actually fully insulated my shed so that would probably make a huge difference. Today at least it is insulated by 18" snow so I think tonight will be better. Also take the girls sledding tomorrow, it will be more fun than sitting in traffic I can ship your stuff after the holidays if need be. Justin, see above. There is 18" of snow on and around the shed. I'm not that motivated to get in there unless it is absolutely critical. The roads are not terrible down here so if you still want to do Monday, I'm game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore December 20, 2009 Share December 20, 2009 I will try for tomorrow but the kids may be out of school. I will help you w/ AC3 too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 December 25, 2009 Author Share December 25, 2009 Can someone help me out with AC3 programming here? I set my mh lights to turn on if temp < 71.3 degrees but need to add the command to let them rest between fires. I think it is a max change command or something? Just need to prevent lights from flickering when temp is in the .1 range TIA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller December 25, 2009 Share December 25, 2009 Max Change 010 M Then ( your 3 value code) OFF ( your 3 value code) = LT1 ex Max Change 010 M Then LT1 OFF call my cell if you need more info bro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 December 26, 2009 Author Share December 26, 2009 Thanks Chip! This is the new code I am using to help with this in the future: If Temp < 71.3 Then MH1 ON If Temp < 71.1 Then MH2 ON If Temp < 70.9 Then MH3 ON If Temp < 70.7 Then MH4 ON Max Change 010 M Then MH1 OFF Max Change 010 M Then MH2 OFF Max Change 010 M Then MH3 OFF Max Change 010 M Then MH4 OFF Would the summer version would be: If Temp > 86.3 Then MH1 OFF If Temp > 86.1 Then MH2 OFF If Temp > 85.9 Then MH3 OFF If Temp > 85.7 Then MH4 OFF Max Change 010 M Then MH1 ON Max Change 010 M Then MH2 ON Max Change 010 M Then MH3 ON Max Change 010 M Then MH4 ON ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flowerseller December 26, 2009 Share December 26, 2009 Actually, you might want to allow a few minutes for the max cnange for your application. I see you staggard the temp but it could be 10m or so before the lights cool enough to refire anyway. I didn't realize that until I saw it on paper. Mine is primarily for power flickering, not so much temp flucuation. I'm going to be all over the local map today making up for visits missed over the last 45 days from holiday work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 January 4, 2010 Author Share January 4, 2010 Well a follow up to this. I had been racking my brain for the last few weeks trying to figure out why 2000w of heat was not enough for my tank. I know the sump room is not totally insulated but my sump is 2" thick styro insulated and the sump room is never colder than 50 even when it has been 10 outside. Today I finally had time to break out the killowatt meter to check to see if all my heaters were firing.....6 of them were not. All 6 of those we plugged into a Neptune socket expansion which had failed. Bypassed the socket and voila, tank temp started to climb back to normal. Go figure. I sense a DIY socket expansion module brewing now...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctenophore January 4, 2010 Share January 4, 2010 What it needs is a positive-on indicator light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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