Has anyone ever tried cooling fans? We are fighting to keep the temp down in the 125. Here's a link. (yes Joe, I know the link is long but don't know how to shorten it ) http://cgi.ebay.com/COOLING-FANS-HALIDE ... otohosting
I am pleased with my fans except they're a little noisy: http://www.razorbackreef.org/old/phpBB ... 5&start=15 http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZaqua_eworld I added a 8" clip-on blowing across my sump and my temp only fluctuates about one degree now.
I have used them in the past, and they do an ok job, cheaper than investing in a chiller. The most effective way to cool the tank is to place a wallmart adjustable fan in the stand and have it blowing over the sump, but your evaporation rate will increase. Also with the smaller fans like you posted can be positioned in the canopy to pull the heat out. I prefer chillers since I can enter a setpoint and the tank stays at that exact tempature.
I got mine from radio shack and put it in the canopy to draw heat out, works great for a smaller tank.
I just want to reinforce what scuba dog said. Smaller fans like that really only seem to work when built into the canopy. I have the cheap walmart adjustable behind my tank blowing forward accross it and it does a great job of keeping it cool.
Noise sure wouldn't make me happy. Right now I have almost 2 gallons of water evaporating a day in the 125, way to much. I'll go by today and get a couple of small fans at wal-mart. That should work til we get a chiller. Thanks everyone
Chillers are nice and effective but keep in mind they will bump up your electric bill. If your planing on having a reef with a high ca, alk, Mg, demand say a acro/clam tank then having a higher evaporation rate is a good thing, it just means that you can add more kalk to the tank. My setups evaporation rate is five gallons per day and thats not enough to maintain without the calcium reactor on a very lightly stocked tank.
I wish somehow we could do a cost comparison between evaporating the heck out of the water (costs: electric fan(s), water) and running a chiller (costs: compressor, fan, pump). If you had a controller you could setup an array of fans to come on when the temperatur increased. I found a temperature controller for $60. EDIT: Changed "dropped" to "increased" and corrected horrible spelling :roll:
Water is sooo muucchhh cheeeeaaapppeeerrr... :shock: It's $0.002675 per gallon here. I would not use a chiller unless evaporative cooling won't maintain the temp. I like to have as much limewater as possible topping off the evaporated water throughout the day and night.
The number one reason why I went to a chiller was to maintain a constant tempature, no major tempature swings. With the chiller I have the water temp is plus or minus two degrees. With a chiller you have the freedom to set your household thermostat to what ever temp is comfortable to you family and won;t have to worry about the tanks temp. . But every system is different, mine has a large source of heat producing equipment and fans alone could not do the job, it all boils down to how much one is willing to spend on the hobby
I went to Target and found 2 small fans but they aren't keeping it as cool as I had hoped. It's running about 80 tonight and will see how it does tomorrow. I don't like the idea of my temp in the tank fluxuating between 78 and 82. I may have to get another fan that is on a stand to blow behind the tank. Wouldn't that help? Also wouldn't my temps still fluxuate(night to day)? Isn't it better if the temp is more stable?
My canopy fans turn on and off with the MHs. I turn the sump fan on about 8:00am and off about 10:00pm. The water temp fluctuates from about 79.5 in the am to about 80.5 in the afternoon. (I always shoot for 80 in my tanks.) I do not have the stand door on so there's more airflow. The house temp is 76 daytime and 73 nighttime for our comfort. I have a dehumidifier which helps more tank water evaporate and makes the house more comfortable.
Yes the fan blowing behind the tank will help keep the warm air that builds up flushed out. I would like you to do something: - reach into the sump and put your bare hand on the Mag18 pump. Does it feel hot/warm?
Bean The mag isn't hot or warm, the dart is tho. I figured that is part of where the heat is coming from.
No the dart is not your problem. VERY LITTLE heat is being transfered from the motor of the dart to the water in the volute (pump/impeller housing). Just curious about the mag though. Most people say they put a little more heat than most pumps into the water.
