Well, my canopy fan system quit. Cheapo Ebay stuff. I think it was called Aquatech -- six fans in one assembly. Have any of you used the Icecap 4" fans? Are they noisy?
They are supposed to be some of the quietest fans there are, but if the heat builds up they can kick into high gear and then they can be a little audible (spell?... stupid editor...)
Well, I've got to do something. My daytime temps are hitting 83 and my RK2 temp limit is cutting of the MHs. Chris is bringing the new RRMAS server to me this week so maybe he can pick one up at NSA for me.
I had the same problem with my 135 but couldnt afford a chiller. we put 2 of the fans that Northside sales on the back of my canopy blowing towards the front and now it stays about 75-76 with no problem even on the hottest days. We had originally planned on cutting a hole in the end or the top and installing them but I just couldn't bring myself to do that to my canopy. They are very quiet and we had to actually turn the fan in the sump off they work so well.
My friend had a similar issue in her 75g - she was running around 84 degrees. We cut out circular holes in either side of the canopy with a jigsaw, and mounted 2 120mm fans that moved air across the water surface (one fan "sucking in" and one "blowing out"). I don't know if they were Icecap fans or not, but she isn't having any temperature issues anymore - runs a cool 77 degrees. The fans aren't an eyesore at all - they came with nice little grilles.
tangafish - I think that was a good choice not to install the fans in your canopy by cutting into it. I put two on my 125 on either end and in about a year the fans had quit and the bolts that I used were rusted to the point that I could not remove them without cutting them out. I have a chiller on it now but never removed the fans. Fans are an A number one solution to heating in tanks which I didn't subscribe to untill recently when my chiller on my central sump system went out. I was hover ing around 86 degrees witch is understandable given the house was built in 1902 and the majority of the water volume is in the basement which is not temp regulated. I put a large floor standing fan over the sump blowing accross the surface and even on these 100 degree days the temp has not gotten above 84 degrees. I know that is not much but for the energy expenditure compared to a chiller it is great.
