Cooling ideas??

[jcm1229]

I have a 10g at work with a 2x36 pc in a home made hood. The hood is open back. I have the glass top on the tank. Lights on for 11 hours. Temp goes from 81 to about 86. Was hoping to find a 2-3 inch AC clip on fan to help disipate the heat, but to no avail. Will drilling some holes in the hood top help out much??

 

Until I find a solution, I'm turning the lights off for 2 hours in the middle of the normal light cycle.

 

No fish or corals yet, just some snails, hermits and LR until I'm sure everything is just right.

 

Any help/ideas??

 

Thanks!

[Physh1]

Removing the glass would help a lot. Maybe a fan keeping air moving over the top of the tank would help reduce the heak soaking.

 

If you want to spend some cash you could adapt an IceProbe to the system. I just did it to my tank and attached it to my hang on filter.

 

Here are some of the pics....

http://www.californiareefs.com/tank7reef.htm

[ross76053]

Or you could just hang a PC fan off the back of your hood. I have the exact same hood w/lights as you have. I've got a 3" PC fan blowing inward over the glass (through the open back) - keeps the temp a constant 79 during the day.

[SteveC]

Assuming you're in the US, you can find the fans at Radio Shack. They'll gouge you for them, but if you're in this hobby you're probably getting used to that, right?

 

Is your ballast in your hood? I keep mine off the tank/hood entirely so I don't get nearly as much heat from my lights. So far, anyways! We'll see how much difference it makes when/if I move that thing out of the basement.

 

Strangely, I actually found that keeping the glass top kept the tank from heating up as much. I guess more heat was getting in from the lights than was escaping.

 

One thing you might have to watch with keeping your tank at work is in the summer time, they may turn off the AC on weekends. A lot of places do that, and your tank may get pretty warm!

[glazer]

jcm,

Do you know where American Science Surplus and Supply is there on Milwaukee Ave.? Should stop in there maybe.. they have little DC fans and blowers for 2 or 3 bucks and DC power supplies for another 2 or 3 bucks... I was just there tonite actually and piked up a boxless muffin fan that runs off 120 for 4 dollars.

 

I'd say for less than ten bucks you should be able to pick up something that would work for you... just hook the fan to the light timer and IF it doesn't work out your only out a few bucks and then you'll know if you need the IceProbe or not. Just some thoughts....

[printerdown01]

I think psych1 probably has it nailed. I don't know exactly how your tank is set-up, but I would venture to guess that your glass top is frimly in place on the top of your tank. Light will enter the tank, strike an object, and become heat. That heat cannot leave the tank due to the glass top. I wouldn't recommend removing it, or you will expose your PC ballasts to salt water... But you could crack it in the back. I highly doubt that air-flow is a problem with an open-back cannopy on a tank that is only 20" long (i.e. it's not a lot of air to have to move -especially if the temp difference is that dramatic!). So I'm going with the glass top is keeping heat from leaving the tank itself... Try styrofoam blocks (any local craft store should have them). Make sure you get the big bubble kind, and not the stuff that flakes off into microscopic peices -as you can tell I'm no styrofoam expert. But the big bubbly peices are easy to see, if they break off. The little ones will continually shave off their pesky shiny dust which will fall into your tank X) ... been there before... p.s. apparently a door stop works well too...