Cali Kid Corals

Fans & Temperature Control

Piper

Piper

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I've been running my tank between 77 and 78 degrees from August last year though the winter without much problem keeping it regulated there using a Ranco single stage controller and heater. During that time the tank was basically open topped with the LED lighting suspended over it. I finished up the matching enclosed canopy to my stand last weekend and installed that on the tank and my temp bumped up to 78 to 79 now.

We keep the heat set to 68 during the winter and the house is usually 69 to 71 during the day. In the summer we set the A/C to 78 while we're going during the day at it pretty much maxes out at that and us usually a little lower when we're there.

Granted this week just happens to be one of the hotter weeks we've had in Oakley in a while I am getting a little concerned that I'm going to have a hard time keep the temp that low now that I have the canopy on the tank. I have room to install fans and I'd like to get some feedback on what you're doing if you run fans before I start putting holes in my shiny new canopy.

Here's my list of questions for those of you running fans:

[list type=decimal]
[*]How many fans are you running?
[*]Do have any type of controller on the fans to regulate the temp in the canopy or stand?
[*]12v DC or 110v AC fans?
Are you venting in/out/both?
Are you venting from the top or side or both of the canopy?
Are you directing across the top of the tank for evaporation?
[/list type=decimal]

I'm going to need to figure out some way of controlling the fans so that I'm not competing with the heater and burning up electricity needlessly. Just not sure yet what the best approach would be.

My initial thoughts are to run four fans and have two venting out the top, one venting in from the top and one blowing across the surface of the tank and upgrading to a dual stage Ranco to control them.

Details on the tank: 65 gallon 36x18x24 with 2 x Kessil A150s and 1 x 36" Reefbrite strip for lighting. I'm thinking about putting a couple of T5 Actinics in the hood too for some more blue.

Thanks,
Charlie
 
How many fans are you running? 1. Panasonic Whisper Quite Fan.
Do have any type of controller on the fans to regulate the temp in the canopy or stand? I use the same temp controller as Jar, but will hook up a Profilux controller eventually.
Are you venting in/out/both? I'm venting out through the roof via a solar attic fan.
Are you venting from the top or side or both of the canopy? Venting from the top.
Are you directing across the top of the tank for evaporation? Not at the moment, but I'll probably add a Profilux fan eventually for the sump and maybe the main display.
 
I think one fan blowing out the back or top of canopy is fine unless it's really small, then maybe two. Running one most of the time or intermittently will help avoid mildew or mold inside your canopy. Having a fan blow across the water hooked up to the dual stage ranco or similar controller would do it as long as you have an auto top off hooked up?
 
Had fans on my 110 gallon canopy. I kept it pretty simple. Fans came on approx 1 hour after the lights came on. Went off about 30 min after the lights went off. Seemed to work well. I had one fan on one end sucking fresh air into the canopy and accross the top of the tank. The other on the opposite side sucking air from the canopy out. Both fans faced the same direction if that makes sense. I also kept a fan on my sump that ran 24/7 because my fuge light was on 24/7. They were just 4" fans.
 
Charlie-
I don't have a canopy, but my entire system is in sort of a box so it's relevant. It's just not scaled down...

I use one fan, a 110VAC vornado from ACE or somewhere similar rigged upside down to blast the surface of the water. Blast as in super vigorous airflow. I only care about the surface of the water and don't mind my enclosure cooking a little since the fan easily cools the system down via evaporation. It is currently controlled by an Apex (while I'm reworking my other controller). For me the source of heat comes from my MH, so the Apex tells the fan to be on if the temp gets too high, and ultimately would shut down the MH if the temp continued to rise (super hot day, fan failure, etc...)

So to summarize, my enclosure runs well above tank temp at times, and the fan easily keeps up with the extra heat load. I want my enclosure to get hot to minimize heating costs during the night, so I need a strong fan as the equalizer.
 
houser said:
Charlie-
I don't have a canopy, but my entire system is in sort of a box so it's relevant. It's just not scaled down...

I use one fan, a 110VAC vornado from ACE or somewhere similar rigged upside down to blast the surface of the water. Blast as in super vigorous airflow. I only care about the surface of the water and don't mind my enclosure cooking a little since the fan easily cools the system down via evaporation. It is currently controlled by an Apex (while I'm reworking my other controller). For me the source of heat comes from my MH, so the Apex tells the fan to be on if the temp gets too high, and ultimately would shut down the MH if the temp continued to rise (super hot day, fan failure, etc...)

So to summarize, my enclosure runs well above tank temp at times, and the fan easily keeps up with the extra heat load. I want my enclosure to get hot to minimize heating costs during the night, so I need a strong fan as the equalizer.
Click to expand...

LOL
I have the same fan on an aquacontroller
love it.
 
1.How many fans are you running? 5
2.Do have any type of controller on the fans to regulate the temp in the canopy or stand? Yes, all fans are on a controller- ReefKeeper or Apex.
3.12v DC or 110v AC fans? 4 DC, 1 cheap desk fan for sump
4.Are you venting in/out/both? All blow in
5.Are you venting from the top or side or both of the canopy? both
6.Are you directing across the top of the tank for evaporation? yes

I don't see the value in having fans blowing in opposing directions. Say for example you have 2 fans, both fans blowing into the tank would give you more total airflow (presuming there are enough air vents) than 1 in and 1 out. With 2 fans blowing in, the greater pressure inside the canopy will find it's way out, you don't need a fan to blow it out- the fan blowing air out would basically be a waste of a fan. My $.02.
 
I have a small bathroom exhaust fan that vents both the top of the display tank, and the sump area, to
the outside. It runs non-stop. For moisture reduction.
The top of my display tank is somewhat tight, with air vents on one side and the vent fan
intake on the other, so it gently pulls air across the surface. That is for oxygen exchange
and moisture removal, not for cooling.

For summer cooling, I simply use two small cheap 12V computer fans, blowing at 45 deg down
at the sump water. Controlled my micro-controller.
The extra humidity produced is vented by above exhaust fan.
 
JAR said:
houser said:
Charlie-
I don't have a canopy, but my entire system is in sort of a box so it's relevant. It's just not scaled down...

I use one fan, a 110VAC vornado from ACE or somewhere similar rigged upside down to blast the surface of the water. Blast as in super vigorous airflow. I only care about the surface of the water and don't mind my enclosure cooking a little since the fan easily cools the system down via evaporation. It is currently controlled by an Apex (while I'm reworking my other controller). For me the source of heat comes from my MH, so the Apex tells the fan to be on if the temp gets too high, and ultimately would shut down the MH if the temp continued to rise (super hot day, fan failure, etc...)

So to summarize, my enclosure runs well above tank temp at times, and the fan easily keeps up with the extra heat load. I want my enclosure to get hot to minimize heating costs during the night, so I need a strong fan as the equalizer.
Click to expand...

LOL
I have the same fan on an aquacontroller
love it.
Click to expand...

I have the same fan on my 29g right now, just on a timer.

I normally use an inline fan so I do not have the fan noise in the same room, just the air movement noise :) I prefer Elicent Inline Fans for this use.... they are built for such an environment :D I have a 4" that is rated for 154 cfm but I dial it back a little. Its always on when the lights are on.
 
This weekend is certain to be the first big yearly test of everyone's cooling systems.

I know that I've added an additional fan to my setup and removed one of the plexiglass tank covers to generate more evaporation. I also expect that I will need to shut off my lighting.

Good luck and stay cool!
 
So how did everyone do this weekend? Turned all my canopy fans up to full power, and saw a high of 81.3 from my usual 78-79. Evaporated a good 2 gallons on Saturday though.
 
I picked up some fans from Fry's on Friday and spent most of Sunday hacking up my shiny new canopy. I noticed that my evaporation dropped off significantly after putting the canopy on as well. I was going through about a gallon a day and I only went trough 2.5 gallons in the week I had the canopy on.

I put two 80mm fans in the back of the canopy blowing in across the top of the tank. I put two 140mm fans in the top blowing directly down. I finished up about 5:00 last night and the temp dropped from 80 back down to 78 within two hours. I put the fans on a timer so they go on an hour before the lights and stay on an hour after they go out. I'll keep an eye on the Ranco and see if they are working against each other and adjust from there.

With all the timers and plug strips I've bought in the last year I really should have looked more seriously at a controller!

Thanks for all the info on your set-ups! That info saved me a few fans and a lot of fan flipping from trial and error.

Thanks,
Charlie
 
I stayed at 79 with a floor stand fan blowing across the frag tank. I am going to get a temperature controlled vornado fan to make things more automatic. I think I also need to get one or both of my return pumps out of the sump. They are adding too much heat being immersed.
 
Mike - What make/model on the pumps? I've been contemplating going with an internal pump when I need to replace the LG I have now. I've always been a little worried about heat transfer though.

I really like the idea of having a controller on the fans. I'd like them to come on only when needed. If it ends up being a problem I'll look into a dual stage Ranco or something like a Programmable Fan Controller from the Cooler Guys. I want something that I can set and forget.

What ever I do has to be unobtrusive and hidden. The tank is in the living room and needs to look decent. I put the canopy on because the lights were bleeding out the top and when we're sitting at the desk next to the tank it was almost blinding. Not to mention I have them mounted to a funky plywood shelf that didn't look very nice :) It certainly gave the tank that "furniture" look and really finished it off. Now all that I have left to do is build a small cabinet next to the tank to hold top off water, doser pumps and vats and all the other odds-n-ends that won't fit under the tank :)

~Charlie
 
I have two Eheim 1262s (one for each tank). Combined they consume about 170W. If I move one or both to external there will still be some heat transfer but much less than with the whole pump immersed.
 
I let my halides rest on Saturday. My heaters didn't run for 30hrs. That was fantastic. But back to 60 and 20kts by Sunday afternoon.
 
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