Heat and more heat
- Thread starter nly04
- Start date
Vincerama2
Supporting Member
I bought some $20-isn clip on desk fans online and they see to do the job. One per tank (QT and display) and, although not ideal, keep the tank at least under 84 degrees.
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Fox_reefing
Guest
Fox_reefing
Guest
Just came back from aquatic collection. They’re tanks are at 84 degrees
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
I knew people in Texas who felt that anything over 72° was barbaric. When not working from home I completely turned off the A/C during the day, then turned it back on when I got home. I would have programmed it into the thermostat, but my return time would vary by several hours on any given day. It helps several ways. First, the house ends up a bit warmer so you lose a bit less heat, second, in some places the electricity costs more during the day. Finally, since the A/C system works based on dT, trying to pull that heat back out of the warmer house into the cooler evening air (I would get home 7-10 PM) is much more efficient than trying to pull it out of a cold house into hot afternoon air.
The house would float between ~75 °F in the morning and the high 80's when I got home. By the time I went to bed it would be all cooled off. My tank with the chiller and a box fan on the top would evaporate 5 gallons of water per day (which my A/C would then have to pull back out at night), but that would let me hold the tank in the low 80's with a very undersized chiller.
If I remember from when I actually did the math, a gallon of water per day work out to 107 W average. Think how much a 100W heater running all the time would warm your tank at, and that's what 1 GPD evaporation will cool you by.
jccaclimber
Supporting Member
I like that store, so hopefully nobody takes this wrong, but I never cease to be amazed by how businesses don't have contingency plans. I'm not saying add full A/C for the store (I'm assuming they don't have it, and I know what that would cost), but have enough fans that you can put a couple on each tank, or start running to the store for ice and double bag it. Sure it's loud and annoying, but for the three days a year you need to do it I would think the saved livestock stress would more than pay for it, even if you have to throw them away and get new ones each year.
My LFS of choice in DFW would get an overnight power outage every 2-3 years. The owner would bring in a little gasoline generator for one or two tanks, and lose a ton of livestock. While he was prone to exaggeration, he typically claimed that he would lose $50k in livestock each time this happened. Given how large that place was and the sort of stuff he keeps, I'm guessing it was wholesale in the $10k to $15k range each time. A couple thousand more lost in the frozen foods since they would melt in the freezer. Given that he was one of those rare highly financially successful stores, after the second or third time this happened when he still hadn't invested in backup power I stopped feeling bad for him.
Fox_reefing
Guest
They do have fans to cover their tanks. It was just extremely hot today in the area. They’ve dealt with this situation from time to time. I didn’t see the livestock stress or anything.
Wlachnit
Past President
Yeah...yoúve got a lot invested in those tanks...hopefully you can keep them cool.
EBJ
Supporting Member
Mine gets to 82 in the house on these days with the AC at 78. Coral doesn't seem to mind
RandyC
Supporting Member
it’s 10:30pm and this is what the thermometer reads.
Tonight will be a little rough with the lights now on at night and the heat not going away (will likely still be 80F well past midnight). If tanks get to 83F, lights & UV will shut off. That should probably take care of the problem. If the air wasn’t so piss crappy, I have a screen door installed between the garage and the house which would be normally open in this case.
backup tank fan added too.
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sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
Yup the "if the air wasn't so crappy" caveat, 86° inside the house at 3am because the house holds onto all the heat from day(s), and can't even open a window to let some of it out at night. Luckily tank downstairs and sitting pretty at 79° tempted to sleep on a cot in the garage.
Mike Yasin
Guest
Had to break the fans out yesterday. yesterday I was a little late - tank already at 81.7, but the fans kept it below 83. Today ran both early, and 80.7 top.