High Tide Aquatics

Heat and more heat

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nly04

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I don't have chiller. Wife not happy if I leave home A/C on for whole day to keep temp around the tank down. How everyone keep you tank temp down? The next few day will be over 100F, last time when it hot out side, my tank is 80F-81F.
 
I use a fan.
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The pic is when I first mounted it before I started running it. You can see the temp is at 81. Now it never gets above 78
 
Granted I don't have A/C, but is it really that horrible to keep the inside temp to 80F? Do people usually let the house get hot when not home then bring it down to reasonable (80F inside is not reasonable IMO..) levels? I mean I get not having the house in the low 70s, but 80 is bad?
 
Some people run fans to blow across the top to increase evaporation.
I've also heard of people using frozen bottles in the sump for emergencies.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Granted I don't have A/C, but is it really that horrible to keep the inside temp to 80F? Do people usually let the house get hot when not home then bring it down to reasonable (80F inside is not reasonable IMO..) levels? I mean I get not having the house in the low 70s, but 80 is bad?
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I leave my a/c max set to 78 all the time. But I also have dogs in the house. I know others set the thermostat higher when they are out and have it bring it down when they will be returning.

My tank runs 78-80. I don't think 80-81 for the tank is that big of a deal is it?

Setting a fan blowing across the top should help as well.
 
I think some people make RODI ice cubes too. I like to just use a small ice pack when I see temps over 79, if it can work for middle school nurses to solve all problems it’ll work for the tank.
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max_nano said:
Cause that would raise salinity. The rodi cubes work as a top off and temp control. Who needs a chiller or ATO!
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Not if you took out an equivalent amount (ice cube shape) worth of water, like the exact amount that you're using to freeze the next batch of ice cubes :)

But ice cubes in general would have limits to how much you can add, if you had a 40G system, and the temp got upwards of 84°F it would take a gallon of ice to lower it back to 80° mind you that's not taking into account evaporation (too tired to think of the math now), but that also doesn't include heat inputs like ambient temperature, lights, pumps. But a gallon of ice cubes is a lot of ice :D

Either way, I still say turn on the AC, that actually is a net energy removal since it's dumping heat outside, where as making ice cubes actually makes your house hotter :D
 
sfsuphysics said:
mind you that's not taking into account evaporation (too tired to think of the math now), but that also doesn't include heat inputs like ambient temperature, lights, pumps.
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Well the ice would probably impact surface agitation and the temperature of the surface. I’m sure there’s a formula but it sounds complicated!
That’s why I liked when I used a doser for ATO since I could monitor the usage, but kinda wasteful to use a peristaltic pump for top off imo
 
This is a concern of mine as well. But with my tank in the garage temps can get much higher than 81. I have a chiller here but not hooked up yet. I wanna see if these fans will keep the heat manageable. If it fails then I will blowing up Mikes phone to get this thing hooked up
 
A fan is working great for me. $17 for this one in many sizes and colors. Got as close to surface and parallel as possible to maximize evaporation. And, connected to a controller or smart plug, is only on when needed.

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Apex temp logs show the sump has gone from 1.5 deg temp swings to 0.5 deg., under normal weather conditions. Looking forward to how this performs this coming week. Bought this fan in response to the last heat spike we had a few weeks ago. Prior to that had a clip-on fan several feet away.
 
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Absolutely fan on the surface is the way to go, no question. You are looking for real air movement to stimulate evaporation by peeling off the thin layer of 100% humid air right above the water surface. Don’t bother with the tiny made-for-aquarium computer type fans in my opinion, they don’t move much air and are kinda noisy. A nice 6 inch clip on desk fan or the like at medium setting is perfect. Just watch the temp since it will cool very effectively. And watch the water level or ATO reservoir since it will evaporate a LOT of water.
 
I don’t know how big your tank is but this works great for my 20 gallon tank and also seeing that it works well for a 40 gallon tank. https://www.chillsolutions.com/
for $250 and doesn’t consume as much electricity as other chillers. Keeps my tank under 77ish, this picture was taken when I first installed it. I always keep an extra fan for back up if it gets wayyyy to hot.
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reef89 said:
I don’t know how big your tank is but this works great for my 20 gallon tank and also seeing that it works well for a 40 gallon tank. https://www.chillsolutions.com/
for $250 and doesn’t consume as much electricity as other chillers. Keeps my tank under 77ish, this picture was taken when I first installed it. I always keep an extra fan for back up if it gets wayyyy to hot.
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The thermoelectric technology used is cool too
 
Peltier coolers are quite limited in how much delta-T they can do though. Plus they really are only useful for small(ish) tanks, at least at this scale. And I don't think they're quite as efficient too... but I haven't been following the technology lately.
 
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