shao-lin nano Posted May 30, 2005 Author Share Posted May 30, 2005 Anyone that's running a MH in your Nano Cube please give your comment/feedback about how my temps are holding up. Thanks. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted May 30, 2005 Share Posted May 30, 2005 Very impressive shao! My 70W 12G swung 2 degrees up from 78F over an 8 hour period. Your larger body of water (24G) should see a lesser swing, perhaps slightly offset by the additional PC lighting. As a guess I would have thought you could have achieved 2 degrees over a full 8 hour, not just 4.5 hours. Could be your additional PCs, but you might want to look at improving the air-gap circulation. What is your venting method? Stock (unchanged), Natural (additional vents opened or created) or Forced (fan(s) pumping air into or out of the air-gap)? I thought Esper had done the 70W 24G... he might be able to shed some more data. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted May 31, 2005 Share Posted May 31, 2005 Here's the link to Esper's... http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=57306 Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted May 31, 2005 Author Share Posted May 31, 2005 I have 2 80mm fans over the larger air vents on the left/right side. One blowing in and one out. A mini scroll fan blowing at MH under the reflector. The stock fans were replaced with 1 stronger 60 mm fan and one 60mm scroll fan pointing at the MH (one that I got from you). I'll try setting the fans on 12vDC as Esper has and see how that may affect my temps since I tested with 7.5 then 9vDC half way through. I'd like to know his ambient temp also over the photo period he tested. I believe I also have more PC lighting than Esper. He is runnning 36W PC, I'm at 126W PC. PC lighting alone shouldn't account for the doubled rate of increase of tank temp. Will look into fan cooling some more before setting up the chiller. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted May 31, 2005 Share Posted May 31, 2005 Here are my thoughts: 1) The fans you've got cooling the hood (MH, splashguard, etc) are probably sufficient. If the splashguard doesn't warp, you've got nothing more to do. Additional cooling is just a waste of electricity 2) Focus on cooling the air gap. MH that close, without sufficient surface evaporation will heat up the water, no matter how much you cool the hood. Set those fans to blow ACROSS (not down into) the water. The power of evaporative cooling is amazing! 3) I've found that scroll fans are useful only to blow air a "longer" distance or if you have a small vent to blow through. If you don't have those scenarios (and you don't if you're using the scroll fan because you want to blow "at" the MH), ditch them for higher CFM fans. It'll be quieter and use less power for more cooling. I think the "worst case" issue with the additional PCs is impeding the airflow. It may affect the hood temp, but shouldn't affect the water temp. You could run 2 simple tests... do the measurements with the PCs off, and do another measurement with the bulbs taken out. That might be abit of work though Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted May 31, 2005 Author Share Posted May 31, 2005 Testing with the bulbs off and then taken out is a great idea. I'll really show if the bulbs hinder air circulation. I don't need to worry about the splash guard warping. I replaced a 8x10in section of the plastic directly underneath the MH with glass. I cut out a rectangle slightly smaller than the glass peice and used epoxy to secure it in place and it works great. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 How is the modified splashguard working out? Any distortion of light because of the epoxy? In hindsight would you do it again? If yes, why? Link to comment
Web Guy Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Great Read.. I just read thru every post. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 So, Web Guy, must be time for you to upgrade your hood? Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 I really like the modified splashguard. The glass doesn't affect the lighting at all. It's only a 1/8 in peice of glass and the epoxy doesn't affect the lighting either. Actually, the glass portion is more clear than the stock acrylic hood. The glass does heat up significantly but does not affect the acrylic portion thus leaving it unwarped. I'll post pic of the recessed glass on stock splash guard soon. Link to comment
Web Guy Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 I don't want to go MH though.. And have no plan to run SPS either. But of course besides the fan upgrades, fuge light, fish bowl moon lights I will still upgrade a few more PC bulbs in there. That's next on my list with a heat sheild upgrade to make it all easy. Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 I originally went with PC bulb upgrades but saw that i could squeeze in a 70W Mh and couldn't resist. Now that I have the 70W MH in there I kinda wish I would have looked into a 150W setup...but oh well, I'm done (I hope). What kind of upgrade are you talking about for your heat shield? And why do people call it a heat shield, isn't it just a reflector with some vents cut into it? And what is it shielding the heat from? Link to comment
Web Guy Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Other reasons as well. Fire hazards. My son around this thing period! Leaning over the couch, looking at it. Me just looking at him knowing one day he is going to fall and nock the hole damn thing over. I installed a fire alarm right above the damn thing at the top of the ceiling yesterday. I have had a fire in my house in the past from a Salt Tank electrical fire. I don't want to be there again, Especially since I have a son now. I once had 5 Salt Tanks, a Boa in a 75G, A double stacked lizard set up with 2 20's cut and stacked all in a condo. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Originally posted by shao-lin nano Now that I have the 70W MH in there I kinda wish I would have looked into a 150W setup... Really? Why is that? I don't care so much for the SPS (because as I've said many times, I'm going to move that to my custom tank), but I love the fact that I can keep a nice clam in my tank. And I'm really looking forward to keeping a RBTA healthy in there as well. Link to comment
Web Guy Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 I will do that in a house with a nice 75 or so in a canopy with a killer wood cabinet or something. I am still in a condo and just can't do that right now! So I will push it in other areas like fish and bio-load and and such. Link to comment
burnah Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 you should try retrofitting tons of T5s in there... Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 I think the only T5s available in the US are Normal Outputs for the space I'm limited to. I think I've read in other threads that Europeans have more lighting options as far as T5s are concerned (I could be wrong since I have horrible memory). Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 artarmon, I don't know why I do half of the things I do sometimes. I think I was considering the 150W MH just for the hell of it. Maybe I want someone to tell me I can't and do it to prove it down even if it means burning down the house like Web did. The two 9W PCs on the side doesn't really add any significant intensity to the overall lighting but I did it just becuse they could fit. Guess they'll add to the overall dusk/dawn effect. Shoot I haven't even thought of livestock yet guys. As far as lighting goes am I limited or restricted from keeping anything (corals not fish)? artarmon, web, anyone? Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Originally posted by burnah you should try retrofitting tons of T5s in there... I'm not sure about Europe, but in the US you can't get T5-HO less than 24" in length. Otherwise I'd be all over that Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Originally posted by shao-lin nano Shoot I haven't even thought of livestock yet guys. As far as lighting goes am I limited or restricted from keeping anything (corals not fish)? Nope, you should be good to go with the MH. You might have to put some light adverse corals (e.g. softies) in the shade. Although you might even get away with it in the open if the MH light spread doesn't directly cover the whole tank. Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 Since the MH in my hood is slightly off center I could probably get away with keeping some softies in corners of the tank opposite the MH. I'll have to come up with some creative aquascaping to create some shady spots yet keeping it open and visible so I don't hide the corals under a pile of rocks. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 It's pretty easy to create some cave or bridge type structures. Also the thing with the MH being that close... if you stack rocks "higher", it creates more of a shaded area one side of that "mountain". Link to comment
Web Guy Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 I had a long MH discussion at the LFS today. And part of it was about that subject. Link to comment
artarmon42 Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Originally posted by Web Guy I had a long MH discussion at the LFS today. And part of it was about that subject. ??? Errrr, yeah, thanks for sharing... Are you going to elaborate or do we need to beg? Link to comment
shao-lin nano Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Great idea with the "mountain" casting shade on one side. I'll look into that. Have to find interestingly shaped LR first. I was also thinking of making the backwall a cliff or rock wall by attaching either live or dead rock to a peice of plexi, remember seeing someone else here doing it with insulation foam and it looked amazing. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.