Tank Overheating

[Cossie1111]

The heater is set to 24 degrees C. The tank was actually 28 a couple of days ago, last night I left the window open to cool the tank down and now it is 30 in there!
I have two thermometers.

So I have come up with two possible causes:

1. The heater is malfunctioning (i have unplugged it now to see if the temp drops)

2. The foam backing board is somehow acting like insulation and heating the tank up.

So what do you think? Could I put a frozen water bottle in to try lower the temp?

Tank is about 65 - 70L btw.

 

[mike455555]

you could put a bottle in there to cool it and it would be the heaters on the blink what size do you have?

there normally thermostatically controlled so they should keep a constant temp (if it gets to hot they turn off/ dont turn on until the temp drops again)

 

[ShinySideUp]

The heater is set to 24 degrees C. The tank was actually 28 a couple of days ago, last night I left the window open to cool the tank down and now it is 30 in there!
I have two thermometers.

So I have come up with two possible causes:

1. The heater is malfunctioning (i have unplugged it now to see if the temp drops)

2. The foam backing board is somehow acting like insulation and heating the tank up.

So what do you think? Could I put a frozen water bottle in to try lower the temp?

Tank is about 65 - 70L btw.

Your heater is faulty. You could try turning it down more as the settings are not very reliable, only a guide, it may be the thermostat is stuck but best to get another heater. You should have a 100w heater, 150 if you want a temperature over 26 degrees C permanently. The foam backing board will only help maintain the heat that the heater is putting in, it won't add heat. At this time of year, assuming your tank in not over a household radiator, turning the heater off will lower the temperature quite quickly in such a small tank so be careful the temperature doesn't drop too far.

Get another heater though, that certainly seems to be your problem.

 

[creeker]

Could your lighting be heating it up? Incandescent or cfl can heat the water in a small tank considerably.

 

[Cossie1111]

Well the heater has been off all day now and I have opened the top part of the cabinet in an effort to release heat.

But the temp is still 28c!

 

[mike455555]

your in australia.. missed that bit... stick a bag of ice in there to cool it its probably the outside temp is that heat your heater is probably fine (seeing as its summer there)

 

[Dan-CR4]

believe it or not we had a few days of sun here in the uk in the summer, and my tank was reaching 30, so I turned off the heater, but as water holds heat quite well it took a few days to come down again.