Cooler water idea

[jester]

Well, this ia my idea for keeping the water cool with all halides.
I'm going to use a new transmission cooler, 2 magnum 350's and 2 8" fnas connected to an electronic thermostat.
works for a car, why wouln't work for a tank?
Use 1 350 for pulling water put of the sump and pushing it into the cooler, and the other 350 for pulling out of the cooler and into the tank.
How about some opinons.

 

[jester]

aluminum

 

[broomer5]

Automatic transmission temperatures run somewhere around 200-250 F
Using a heat exchanger or tranny cooler may allow a 50 degree temperature drop on your car's transmission fluid - but I doubt this design will drop your tankwater temperature by very much, just blowing ambient room temperature air through it's fins.
By design, I doubt that they are too efficient at fluid temperatures around 90 F, with say 70 degree air moving over them.
Plus - having it made out of aluminum or steel isn't too good as golfish was inferring.
They do make some plastic industrial heat exchangers for caustics and acids, but the cost is going to be higher than a "good" tank cooler.
Not to sound pesimistic - but doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

 

[jester]

guess I'll keep thinking.
Thanks.

 

[broomer5]

HECK YEAH !
Keep thinking for sure !
There's got to be an affordable way to reduce temperatures of tankwater, that doesn't involve blowing fans across the water surface, using the dorm fridge design or shelling out $ for a chiller.
Until then ........................ keep the gray matter churn'n !

 

[wamp]

If you could find a plastic one or another metal that will not affect the water, then run it in front of a window unit AC it would work well.
The problem would be how well. It might cool the water too much and then you would have to heat it right back up.
You would then be using more electricity. But, in theroy, It's a cool idea!

 

[jester]

What effect does aluminum have on water? It's not corrosive as far as I know.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Jester
What effect does aluminum have on water? It's not corrosive as far as I know.
I don't know the biologic effects of aluminum but two things I do know.
1. Aluminum placed in highly oxygenated saltwater will oxidize albiet slowly.
2. In the good old days (yeah right ) a few products were sold for removing Phosphate from tank water. These were mostly Aluminum oxide. They were discontinued because it was found to have a very high mortality rate with leather corals.
I would guess there are other animals affected by aluminum.

 

[wamp]

I agree with bang except for the slowly part. Put a beer can in your sump and you'll see some speedy detoriation!!

 

[slothy]

Originally posted by wamp
I agree with bang except for the slowly part. Put a beer can in your sump and you'll see some speedy detoriation!!

heehhe i take it youve tried this eh haah

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by wamp
I agree with bang except for the slowly part. Put a beer can in your sump and you'll see some speedy detoriation!!
I stand corrected! I'll defer to your experience with beer cans heh heh..

 

[surfnturf]

I have been toying with the idea of putting together a cooling block (could you use stainless steel) and using Peltiers to provide the cooling, they are very efficient and a lot of the die-hard computer overclockers are using this method to cool their CPUs. I picked up a couple of Peltiers for about 20 bucks each, you could put together quite a chiller for a lot less than the price of a conventional chiller. The only limitation really is getting (or better, building) an adequate 15 volt DC power supply and a temperature controller. There are aquarium chillers on the market that use Peltiers, **************.com sells two models, although you could build one a lot cheaper if you're handy. Peltiers also go by the name Thermoelectric devices, pretty cool (no pun intended) technology.

 

[surfnturf]

I had another thought on the subject of the aluminum radiator, you could have the internal surface of the radiator anodized, the same process they use on those "mag-lite" flashlights. This supposedly makes the surface inert, also anodizing improves the ability of the surface to transfer heat energy (they anodize a large percentage of computer CPU heatsinks for this reason). You can probably find a plating shop that does anodizing in your area. I would research it though and make sure it won't leach any aluminum oxide for the reason mentioned in previous posts.

 

[wamp]

Stainless steel, as far as I know, Would be Ok.
Sounds like a plan. They have similiar units out there like your refering too. They also have some that use ceramic probes.

 

[bang guy]

I belive there are a couple premium grades (read $$) of Stainless Steele that will not oxidize in SW. Most grades will over time.
Have you considered black poly tubing? It doesn't have the great thermal properties of heavy metals, but it's cheap!

 

[jester]

I'm setting up a control test tank after reading all about the concerns.
10 ga tank with a .030 sg and 85 degrees.
This tank is divided in to 3 isolated sections.
In each I'm going to fully submerge different grades and types of metals to see what will work.
I'm going to use ro/di water to fill it, then after a month, if I get something that can withstand the sw, have the water analyzed at the local water company to see if any contaminats are present.
How's this sound?

 

[surfnturf]

With some effort and thought you could probably use this to design an air cooled chiller without breaking the bank, I still like the idea of the Peltiers though.
http://www.coolreef.com/store/itm00025.htm
316 Stainless Steel seems to be the most widely accepted stainless steel for saltwater immersion, nothing (somewhat affordable) really beats titanium though.