hcsceo Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 OK I got this bank of 6 fans off ebay for about $60 thinking if they work then I've saved a ton and if not then I'd sell them for a loss. My house temps are 78 during the day and my tank was getting to 84-86 under the MH with open tops and I had to do something. It was my hope to get the tank down to 80-82 and that would be a success. The next day after installation I looked and found my temps were 76 at the end of my light cycle and my 50 watt heaters are struggling to keep up. I thought maybe I had done something stupid so the next day I repeated the test. When I left the house without the fans or light on the tank was at 79. At 9am the light and fans turned on and when I returned at 5pm the tank was sitting at 76 again. I didn't think it was possible to get the tank lower than the ambient air temp around it but it happened. Only downside is that it evaps a gallon a day total for the two 10 gallon tanks it is cooling. I'm going to add a diy ATO next week but I thought everyone on a budget really should look at these things. I could have easily cooled both tanks on only 4 fans total which would have saved me nearly $40. Anyway, I hope someone else finds this info useful cause I'm still in shock. Steve Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 I have basically the same thing running on my tank only I used $5 fans from walmart. My tank evaps over 1g a day too, which isn't a bad thing. I have mine set in sync with my heater on my Acjr to keep the tank at 77.7. The tank is in front of a window that gets blasted by the sun in the middle of the day. considering that, and the 250w mh these little fans work very well. I haven't seen the temp rise above 78.5 yet this summer. Link to comment
Kellie in CA Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Yeah, I have the Cadlights cooling fan, and it works surprisingly well. But the evaporation is crazy!!! At least 1/2 gallon a day on a 25 gallon tank! Link to comment
grave Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 OK I got this bank of 6 fans off ebay for about $60 thinking if they work then I've saved a ton and if not then I'd sell them for a loss. My house temps are 78 during the day and my tank was getting to 84-86 under the MH with open tops and I had to do something. It was my hope to get the tank down to 80-82 and that would be a success. The next day after installation I looked and found my temps were 76 at the end of my light cycle and my 50 watt heaters are struggling to keep up. I thought maybe I had done something stupid so the next day I repeated the test. When I left the house without the fans or light on the tank was at 79. At 9am the light and fans turned on and when I returned at 5pm the tank was sitting at 76 again. I didn't think it was possible to get the tank lower than the ambient air temp around it but it happened. Only downside is that it evaps a gallon a day total for the two 10 gallon tanks it is cooling. I'm going to add a diy ATO next week but I thought everyone on a budget really should look at these things. I could have easily cooled both tanks on only 4 fans total which would have saved me nearly $40. Anyway, I hope someone else finds this info useful cause I'm still in shock. using fans works because converting water to the higher energy level of a gas (evaporation) uses excess energy from the water which cools it cooler then the air. think swamp cooler, i currently just leave a room fan on in the day because my tank is cycling planning on adding a similar setup Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Yeah, I have the Cadlights cooling fan, and it works surprisingly well. But the evaporation is crazy!!! At least 1/2 gallon a day on a 25 gallon tank! That's GOOD, Kellie! I get almost that amount of evap on my custom 10g AIO in a 24 hour period!! And that's with only a single 120x120mm Aqua-Tek fan blowing over the tank. Link to comment
aparnold Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Add a Ranco controller, you'll getting cooling benefit, with more control, less fight with the heaters, and less evap. I'm using a controller with a fan it works great. Link to comment
Rocket Posted September 22, 2008 Share Posted September 22, 2008 Woot, Thanks. I'll have to try to rig up some fans, maybe on the sump level as I like a clean display. I was considering a chiller, but will give this a try. Link to comment
haburt510 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 +1 on the how good the fan works. Down side evaporation. But rather have some evap then my corals COOKED and my fish FRIED on those hot days. Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Why do you guys think evap is a bad thing? Link to comment
nanoty Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Fans FTW! Mag7 return, skimmer pump, 2x tunze 6025s, dual 150mh 6 inches above the water in a canopy...........one 5 inch Target fan and 79 deg all day long. Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Fans FTW! Mag7 return, skimmer pump, 2x tunze 6025s, dual 150mh 6 inches above the water in a canopy...........one 5 inch Target fan and 79 deg all day long. Mine stays between 77.9 and 78.1 24/7 now since the tank no longer sits in front of a window that gets blasted by the south tx summer sun. cheap fans + Acjr FTW. Link to comment
haburt510 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 GLENNR1978- It's not really bad or harmful thing but its really more of anoying thing that you just have to keep topping your tank off MORE often if you dont have a ATO setup. But I dont really mind because the fans work damn good.... Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 GLENNR1978-It's not really bad or harmful thing but its really more of anoying thing that you just have to keep topping your tank off MORE often if you dont have a ATO setup. But I dont really mind because the fans work damn good.... top-off.com. best $40 you will spend on your tank!!! I have two of them and haven't had a problem yet! Link to comment
antimatter Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 top-off.com. best $40 you will spend on your tank!!! I have two of them and haven't had a problem yet! Are they pretty easy to install? I was looking at getting one for myself. I don't have a sump though, would that be a problem? Link to comment
Phixion Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 Here's another good cheap option that I'm going to be getting for my 10g custom AIO tank. Link to comment
vangvace Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Why do you guys think evap is a bad thing? cause chillers are the way to go man! 6" fan propped against wall cools mine btw. Link to comment
haburt510 Posted October 3, 2008 Share Posted October 3, 2008 Thanks glennr1978. I will have to look into that. I was thinking about a ATO but its scary to think of what might go wrong if the ato goes crazy and starts pumping too much water and starts a over flow situation. I DONT KNOW..... Really dont want to mess with extra water getting pumped into my tank Link to comment
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