# Cooling tanks down



## skinz180189 (3 Jul 2009)

After my heater worry, it turns out my room/house is just very warm (all heating off etc, 24C at 6AM downstairs, tank is upstairs). This is making it hard to keep tank temps below 28C. I've currently got the heater unplugged, leave the 55cm x 10cm feeding hatch open, and my light is only 15W, yet temps rarely dip below 28C, even on a cooler summer day.

Has anybody else experienced this issue and solved it cheaply and easily?


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## samc (3 Jul 2009)

you can buy chillers which are very expensive or the cheaper alternative it a fan which you can buy for a few quid but i belive they are a little noisey and you loose a bit of water


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## skinz180189 (3 Jul 2009)

samc said:
			
		

> you can buy chillers which are very expensive or the cheaper alternative it a fan which you can buy for a few quid but i belive they are a little noisey and you loose a bit of water



On the fan side, was just wondering whether I could wire in some PC cooling fans to the hood somehow.


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## gixer (4 Jul 2009)

skinz180189 said:
			
		

> samc said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




That's exactly what i have done.

As Sam says you do loose a fair bit of water, i'm losing around 6L a week in my 120L tank.
But even in the height of summer here i rarely see anything over 28c water temp wise.


You can buy controllers that turn the fans on/off at preset temps.
Eliwell do some good ones that many guys use over here, i have been unable to find any on-line though and the store that sells them is in the port town of Athens so tends to be slightly busy in summer, so there's no way i'm driving over there.


What i've done is just buy a 12v transformer and plug it into a timer, depending on the ambient temps i'll have the fans on longer or shorter.

Only pic i have is this old one





I've since added another fan and angled the fans to blow in the direction of the open vent t'other side.


It works THAT well you'll need to refit your heater.


If your interested in seeing more let me know and i'll snap some more pics in the morrow.


Cheers
Mark


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## skinz180189 (4 Jul 2009)

Mark, some more pics of that would be great thanks.


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## james3200 (4 Jul 2009)

A quick & easy solution on smaller tanks that I have used is to freeze 2lt or larger bottles of water, put it in the tank and it can help a fair amount.


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## skinz180189 (4 Jul 2009)

james3200 said:
			
		

> A quick & easy solution on smaller tanks that I have used is to freeze 2lt or larger bottles of water, put it in the tank and it can help a fair amount.



Ah, might try that on hotter days.


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## GreenNeedle (4 Jul 2009)

I see Mark has a Fluval hood (or similar) This is what I did with the same type of hood when I used to have it:
















Then when I replaced it with a DIY hood I transferred the fans onto it:




I have fans on my luminaire now that keep the LEDs cool but as it is open top the water doesn't seem to have the problem with the heat being retained.




On a side note for Mark.  The hood you have there (if the same as mine) is one that uses underpowered magnetic ballasts.  You may have upgraded but if you still have the ballast (I am guessing it is a Duo Deep 1200) it will probably be a 2 x 30W ballast which was running 2 x 36W tubes.  If so you previously had 60W not 72W 

Mine was a 2 x 15W running 2 x 18W (2 x 20W originally) tubes.

AC


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## LondonDragon (4 Jul 2009)

I use one of these in my 60cm tank:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Twin-Cooling-Fan- ... 1|294%3A50

Keep the temp at 22ÂºC today which us great for the Crystal Red Shrimp, last summer the tank went to 32ÂºC and wiped the CRS from my tank, this time around I was prepared, when temps reached 33C on Thursday the temp in the tank was at 25ÂºC.

For the price they cost and the amount of money I have invested in shrimp they are the best bargain ever!!!

They do bigger sizes too: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JEBO-Aquarium-Fou ... 1|294%3A50


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## skinz180189 (5 Jul 2009)

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> I use one of these in my 60cm tank:
> 
> http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Twin-Cooling-Fan- ... 1|294%3A50
> 
> ...



They would be perfect but I'm not sure how I could attach that to mine, what with the hood being in the way.


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## skinz180189 (5 Jul 2009)

Think I might try this...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Japanese-Powe ... 7C294%3A50


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## gixer (5 Jul 2009)

Ok snapped some pics.

Went up to 5 fans now, that way i don't have to  spin em so fast so they're quieter.
They're just standard PC fans, so cost only a few quid each.







Angled em so they're blowing out throw t'other side.
Tried various brackets and clamps, but most the metal ones i made were to heavy.

In the end tie wraps work great and i can remove em after summer in a couple of mins.






I just used a variable voltage transformer, that way i can adjust the speed.





As you can see i just have plugged into a timer.
If i leave the fans running constantly then i loose far too much water.

By far the best solution is to use a controller like the eliwell 915c, if i could find somewhere to order one on-line i'd buy 1 today.
As because it only powers the fan when it's needed it'd reduce evaporation to a minimum.

But the timer does the job.

All in all the whole lot came in under 20 quid.




SuperColey1,

Nope mines not a Fluval it's a cheap as chips supermarket special   
I replaced the stock lights with a Hagen Glo 2 x 39w T5 ballast.

Worst thing i've done 
Because i'm not injecting CO2 algae is now a constant companion 


Cheers
Mark


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