[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

I did a search here and only found some mild suggestions about using fans all over. I'm actually considering this b/c of my bad experiences so far.

I bought a PRIME Drop-IN 1/4. I had it next to my stand to see what it sounds like and it sounds like... a A/C WINDOW UNIT. If that isn't bad enough the plastic housing vibrates a bit too. VERY disappointing. And of course it says everywhere.. "DO NOT" place inside a closet or stand. They need a lot of ventilation I guess. But it's too damn noisey to have out anywhere. RIDICULOUS. :?

On some IN-LINE ones I did notice that even the manufactures say not to enclose them BUT if you do try to have space/ventilation/fans/etc. I just don't think my stand (90 gal) will hold it in the bottom with my wet/dry and have the space/ventilation. I just so happen to have a closet right on the other side of the wall the tank is against. I would never run an IN-LINE there b/c of the fear of water leaks.. however remote. But a DROP-IN yea. It would reach too... power/coil/etc... to the tank. But there's only 6" in the front and back for ventilation.

Boy..this whole thing has been a nightmare. I live in Florida and I'm basically running 83'F lights out up to 86'F with lights on. Kinda warm. Maybe fans and stuff can get it down to 80'F or so and I can dump the chiller? THIS SUCKS. :evil:

[FINDING_NEMO]

fans will actually help cool the tank down a lot... a chiller creates a lot of heat so it may cool ur tank down but make the room hotter

[SweeTang22]

yeah chillers are not the funnest thing to work with lol. a downside to living in warm climates but the fans should work. do you use glass tops?? if so try removing them provided you dont have active jumpers for fish and see if this cools the tank any. you will have a lot more evaporation then normal but if your good about topping of and what not you should be okay. let us know.

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

BOY did it work. YIKES. Somebody in another forum said fans will only cool it down 2-4 degrees. And the documentation repeats the same numbers. Anyway..... I got the fans from Dr.FS so they're in 2 and 4 fan configurations and they're 4" or so. I put one 2 fan on the sump and one 4-fan unit at the back of the tank blowing across the top of the water and at my light fixture.

I did not expect much so I left it on all night to see what would happen. YIKES
10'F drop. 85 --> 75'F. Luckily the only thing I lost was a small batch of Xenia's. So fans do work.

My next question is... how to control the S.O.B.'s ? I looked around for temp. controllers and I found a lot of stuff BUT they always talk about.. they're either for heaters, have weird plugs, VAC only, 120 AC only, etc. I guess my other option is to not them go all night and maybe use a timer if I can't get temp. control. Also I noticed... the 2-fan unit on the sump isn't really making much of a difference. I'm gonna drill some holes in the top of my stand too. The top is 1/2 open in the back but it's not letting heat escape. Not good for the light fixture either.

[stephaniesquires]

Timers are good. You can run the fans for just the hours your lights are on, in fact you can put the lights and fans on the same timer. keep track of your temps and adjust the timers.
I'm playing with timers for the pumps on my spray bar, 4 rio 2500's producing lots of heat. It takes some time to get it just right!!

[WILLIAM1]

You could even go to your local Home Depot and get a dimmer switch for home lights and wire it into the fan cord remeber to put it in a casing of some sort or you might get a shock of your life and remember to mount it and keep it away from any water.

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

Originally Posted by stephaniesquires

Timers are good. You can run the fans for just the hours your lights are on, in fact you can put the lights and fans on the same timer. keep track of your temps and adjust the timers.
I'm playing with timers for the pumps on my spray bar, 4 rio 2500's producing lots of heat. It takes some time to get it just right!!

Oh yea... I didn't think about that. Only problem is... you lose temp. control. I could put it on the same outlet the lights are being timed on. But that doesn't mean it's actually maintainng temperature within a specific range. The only timer I have is for the lights.. the Coralife dual timer. So HQI's are on one, Actinics on the other. I could put them on the longer timed Actinics but like I said that doesn't mean the temp. is ok during that time. I want to add a lot more flow myself and... I'm afraid of the consequences to temp. I found a temp controller as little as $60, an Aqua Logic for $90. Or I could use a cheap timer and fool around like you are saying. But with change of seasons, even in Florida, this might cause too much flucuation.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by SCIFI_3D_zoo

Oh yea... I didn't think about that. Only problem is... you lose temp. control. I could put it on the same outlet the lights are being timed on. But that doesn't mean it's actually maintainng temperature within a specific range. The only timer I have is for the lights.. the Coralife dual timer. So HQI's are on one, Actinics on the other. I could put them on the longer timed Actinics but like I said that doesn't mean the temp. is ok during that time. I want to add a lot more flow myself and... I'm afraid of the consequences to temp. I found a temp controller as little as $60, an Aqua Logic for $90. Or I could use a cheap timer and fool around like you are saying. But with change of seasons, even in Florida, this might cause too much flucuation.

Dont know if this helps but I have 2-4" icecap muffin fans with temp probes mounted inside my canopy. When my lights come on the temp raises and turns the fans on slow speed. As the temps get higher inside the hood the fans run faster and faster as the are variable speed. When the lights go off in the eve they slow way down to almost nothing.
My temps since Ive had these has not varied more than 3 degrees with the outside temps ranging from 100 during the day to 55 at night.

Conclusion: Fans can work and Ice Cap makes some good stuff!

Temp in my house is kept at 72.

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

That's a good idea too. I get from reading tho that the product uses a "air" temp. probe? Is that right. So it doesn't work by water temp. but it could work if you fooled around with it enough.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by SCIFI_3D_zoo

That's a good idea too. I get from reading tho that the product uses a "air" temp. probe? Is that right. So it doesn't work by water temp. but it could work if you fooled around with it enough.

You understand perfectly