Dang Heat... what do you do to keep things cool?

[tang_man_montreal]

Dang heat... my tank got up to 86 last night... had to float bags of ice, and kept 2 out of 3 sets of my VHO's off today since it's gonna be another hot one...
Is there a cheap way to cool things down without buying a chiller or floating bags of ice?
Thanks!

 

[iechy]

Put some little fans in your canopy. I had the problem when I added my VHO's and was skeptical as to how much they would work bu it was amazing. I have only one fan and the heat from the lights is no longer a problem.

 

[bang guy]

I will second the fans. point them so they blow across the water. They cool the water by speeding up evaporation so be prepared for that as well.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

I guess I will try the fan thing..
Since it's a canopy, I'll have it blowing from back to front. I don't want to make holes in the canopy to fit a fan. Maybe 2 fans? One at each end??
Any other ways to cool things down?

 

[iechy]

Bang Guy caught me on that one. I forgot to mention that you will have more evaporation. That is part of what makes it cooler. My evaporation has gone up a lot but for me it was good since I originally filled up with tap, each time I add RO/Di to top off I feel like I've gotten rid of that much more bad stuff I have mine in the back of the canopy pulling air out. I thought about turning it around to see if it changes anyhting as an experiment. I think it would no tmake much difference. Try one going each way at opposite ends of the tank and switch them around until they work like you want them to. HTH

 

[kpogue]

I've got 3 5" fans on the back of my canopy. 2 on either end bringing air in and the one in the center sucking it out. My temp has yet to go above 81 at the surface or 79 at the bottom of the tank (2 feet down). I usually replace 1 gal a day from evaporation.
150 Gal
2 60" 140w actinic 03 VHO
3 175 w MH 10,000k
Keith

 

[tang_man_montreal]

kpogue,
well, judging that your tank is 150gal, and mine is 90gal, I'm guesstimating that I'll be topping off close to 1gal every 2 days from evaporation. Which is not too bad.
I will put one fan pushing in, and one pulling out... see how that goes.
I'm going to get 2 220w 5" fans. I'll run them at 110, and it should be rather quiet since they'll be running at 1/2 speed.
We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for the info.

 

[kpogue]

If you're not running halides you won't loose as much. I notice the water stars to "move" awhile after they come on.

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Tang_man_Montreal
I'm going to get 2 220w 5" fans. I'll run them at 110, and it should be rather quiet since they'll be running at 1/2 speed.

Plug one in first, buefore you go through all the effort of attaching them. I'm guessing they will hum pretty loud when run at 1/2 the voltage.

 

[tang_man_montreal]

I'll try it out, and get back to you... Should have more news for you tomorrow night.

 

[beth]

I use 2 heat senored IceCap fans. My 72gal gets topped off 1gal every day. That's 79cents of DI bottled water.
79x365=$105 annually. What about AC for the room that the tank is in? What are you doing to keep the humans cool in that house?? I'd die if it was 86 in my house!

 

[tang_man_montreal]

The aquarium is in a finished basement. This is also my playroom with my tv/audio.
There are 2 small windows. The only AC in the house is in my bedroom, 2 floors up.
The temp reading of 86 is the tank water only. I'm guessing that it's the VHO's causing the tank to get this warm, since it's comfortable for humans in the room.