Room Climate control vs individual tanks
- Thread starter phixer
- Start date
scsinet
Active Member
In theory this could work, but you have to remember that the tank's temperature is being affected by the equipment in an un-constant manner. As lights cycle on and off, you need to change your temperature in the room to compensate... while it's certainly doable, you also have to keep in mind that different tanks with different equipment require different environmental temperatures... but you may be able to find a happy medium.
phixer
Active Member
Good point, thanks, maybe I can wire the sensor from the thermostat to the tank so that when the temp of the tank rises i.e from the lights the thermostat would lower the room temp. :thinking: Want to keep it simple for reliability purposes.
The tanks are acrylic and will be located in the basement, Im hoping that this will provide some additional insulating qualities.
Hmm ... how fast the room heats/cools vs rate of tank heating/cooling also :thinking:
The tanks are acrylic and will be located in the basement, Im hoping that this will provide some additional insulating qualities.
Hmm ... how fast the room heats/cools vs rate of tank heating/cooling also :thinking:
scsinet
Active Member
The tanks being acrylic may actually work against you.
One of acrylics "pros" is that it insulates better... so the environment tends NOT to affect the tank temperature... you need the opposite.
Being in a basement that's maybe... 60-65 degrees year round, you may be in good shape. It's a lot cheaper to heat a room than cool it.
Seems to me, what I'd do is set your room temperature to get your tanks *most* of the way there... I'm assuming you want all your tanks at the same temperature... maybe 80 degrees. Therefore, set your thermostat to 75 or so. Your tank's temperatures will never drop BELOW that if the room is that temperature. THen, use heaters to bring it up the extra few degrees. That will allow some "wiggle room" in your tanks for the heaters to work them individually.
Oh yeah... and your sensor idea.. you need to be really careful. You are using water temperature to control a system cooling air. Water requires WAY more energy to heat it than air does, so what you could end up with is a boiling hot room... the furnance/heater will heat the room far faster than the tank's water will respond, so by the time the tank rises enough... say to 80, your room is already 105, which will shut off the unit, but the room will stay that warm, continuing to act on teh tank.......... :scared:
One of acrylics "pros" is that it insulates better... so the environment tends NOT to affect the tank temperature... you need the opposite.
Being in a basement that's maybe... 60-65 degrees year round, you may be in good shape. It's a lot cheaper to heat a room than cool it.
Seems to me, what I'd do is set your room temperature to get your tanks *most* of the way there... I'm assuming you want all your tanks at the same temperature... maybe 80 degrees. Therefore, set your thermostat to 75 or so. Your tank's temperatures will never drop BELOW that if the room is that temperature. THen, use heaters to bring it up the extra few degrees. That will allow some "wiggle room" in your tanks for the heaters to work them individually.
Oh yeah... and your sensor idea.. you need to be really careful. You are using water temperature to control a system cooling air. Water requires WAY more energy to heat it than air does, so what you could end up with is a boiling hot room... the furnance/heater will heat the room far faster than the tank's water will respond, so by the time the tank rises enough... say to 80, your room is already 105, which will shut off the unit, but the room will stay that warm, continuing to act on teh tank.......... :scared:
acrylic51
Active Member
Originally Posted by SCSInet
The tanks being acrylic may actually work against you.
One of acrylics "pros" is that it insulates better... so the environment tends NOT to affect the tank temperature... you need the opposite.
Being in a basement that's maybe... 60-65 degrees year round, you may be in good shape. It's a lot cheaper to heat a room than cool it.
Seems to me, what I'd do is set your room temperature to get your tanks *most* of the way there... I'm assuming you want all your tanks at the same temperature... maybe 80 degrees. Therefore, set your thermostat to 75 or so. Your tank's temperatures will never drop BELOW that if the room is that temperature. THen, use heaters to bring it up the extra few degrees. That will allow some "wiggle room" in your tanks for the heaters to work them individually.
Oh yeah... and your sensor idea.. you need to be really careful. You are using water temperature to control a system cooling air. Water requires WAY more energy to heat it than air does, so what you could end up with is a boiling hot room... the furnance/heater will heat the room far faster than the tank's water will respond, so by the time the tank rises enough... say to 80, your room is already 105, which will shut off the unit, but the room will stay that warm, continuing to act on teh tank.......... :scared:
The tanks being acrylic may actually work against you.
One of acrylics "pros" is that it insulates better... so the environment tends NOT to affect the tank temperature... you need the opposite.
Being in a basement that's maybe... 60-65 degrees year round, you may be in good shape. It's a lot cheaper to heat a room than cool it.
Seems to me, what I'd do is set your room temperature to get your tanks *most* of the way there... I'm assuming you want all your tanks at the same temperature... maybe 80 degrees. Therefore, set your thermostat to 75 or so. Your tank's temperatures will never drop BELOW that if the room is that temperature. THen, use heaters to bring it up the extra few degrees. That will allow some "wiggle room" in your tanks for the heaters to work them individually.
Oh yeah... and your sensor idea.. you need to be really careful. You are using water temperature to control a system cooling air. Water requires WAY more energy to heat it than air does, so what you could end up with is a boiling hot room... the furnance/heater will heat the room far faster than the tank's water will respond, so by the time the tank rises enough... say to 80, your room is already 105, which will shut off the unit, but the room will stay that warm, continuing to act on teh tank.......... :scared:
dustbunny
New Member
I know a guy - he works in the fish buisness, setting up tanks and whatnot - who was running a climate control system for a series of holding and acclimation tanks. Things worked rock solid for about 10 months and then he had an equipment problem with the sensor system that he rigged up for the tanks. By the time he found out something was wrong, all the fish in the first tanks in the chain were fried and the ones in the last tanks froze. For ease, you don't get any better than a climate system. However, when something goes wrong the entire system is in jeopardy.