questions on (lack of) airflow, cooling fans and other related matters

[L/B Block]

In the pic included in the sea of blue (I promise @Darkxerox I will get a filter) you see the top upper portion of the cabinet where the lights are. The issue at large is the lack of airflow. For the last couple years it has gotten hotter and our house insulation now is really effective at trapping heat. So the current method of cooling down the tank is sticking a big fan in front of the tank and opening the cabinet door below. It is effective but long term this is not a sustainable solution.

One solution is chiller. We are not crazy about this given that we would prob have to either spend a lot of money to get one that we can vent out to a pipe or have to run it from outside the house and drill through walls to run tubing.

2nd choice is cutting an opening in the top of the cabinet, adding some sort of register (mainly to stop things from falling in by accident) and use of a cooling and/or exhaust fan.
The enclosure is 36" long approximate by 21-22 inch wide.

I am thinking maybe a 30x4 inch opening up top to allow air in? Too much? Too little?
Also curious to what people use as cooling fans as well as exhaust fans.

All you engineers out there, pipe up please!
Any suggestions much appreciated!

 

[Turkeysammich]

Back in the day. We would just hole saw some holes in the top, sides or back. Add computer fans if required. If you wanted to get fancy. Put a mesh screen on it. You’ll get light bleed tho.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Get ventilation in there!!
remove the heat and the moisture
ya don't want and MOLD growing in there

 

[Darkxerox]

If anything you would want to control humidity right by having good ventilation right? Like how Ben was talking about that nightmare tank he worked on that had zero hood ventilation and had lots of corrosion and wood breakdown. This will increase your evap so keep that in mind. Probably will help keep the food in your Plank from getting clumpy or moldy too.

I forgot what @Thales mentioned in that episode, but I think you want to blow less humid air in from the room into the canopy to make the fan last longer.

 

[Thales]

There are some really nice exhaust fans that have dynamic power, faster when hotter kinds of things. Also, you ok with venting that heat into the room?

 

[L/B Block]

Back in the day. We would just hole saw some holes in the top, sides or back. Add computer fans if required. If you wanted to get fancy. Put a mesh screen on it. You’ll get light bleed tho.

Yea -afraid of that -but better than dead coral and fish.

 

[L/B Block]

There are some really nice exhaust fans that have dynamic power, faster when hotter kinds of things. Also, you ok with venting that heat into the room?

be interested in name of some of those fans -venting into the room could be ok with windows open..

 

[L/B Block]

If anything you would want to control humidity right by having good ventilation right? Like how Ben was talking about that nightmare tank he worked on that had zero hood ventilation and had lots of corrosion and wood breakdown. This will increase your evap so keep that in mind. Probably will help keep the food in your Plank from getting clumpy or moldy too.

I forgot what @Thales mentioned in that episode, but I think you want to blow less humid air in from the room into the canopy to make the fan last longer.

I recall that episode and it def came to mind. Need to check humidity though as so far it doesn’t seem that bad. Food in plank gets fried as it’s right under the light. Unfortunately a design flaw.

 

[L/B Block]

There are some really nice exhaust fans that have dynamic power, faster when hotter kinds of things. Also, you ok with venting that heat into the room?

Btw @Thales -you had talked about an in line fan in a prior episode on reef beef -I thought about that as a solution as well?

 

[Thales]

Btw @Thales -you had talked about an in line fan in a prior episode on reef beef -I thought about that as a solution as well?

Yep! This is the one I am using

Amazon.com

 

[L/B Block]

Yep! This is the one I am using

Amazon.com

Thank you! How well is this working for you? And you have the high end one?
Now my family can laugh at me when I go down the rabbit hole about looking at fans!

 

[Slingfox]

I could be wrong but the aquarium chillers I have seen don’t require ventilation to the outside. Regardless of whether you get a chiller or not it seems like a bad idea to have a hood without a vent.

 

[H2OPlayar]

I could be wrong but the aquarium chillers I have seen don’t require ventilation to the outside. Regardless of whether you get a chiller or not it seems like a bad idea to have a hood without a vent.

Depends on how much ventilation you have and how hard you run your AC. Everything is a thermodynamic system, and the heat has to go somewhere.

Get a fan, you need some air circulation. Lots of options out there.

On my big system, I have one "Vornado" fan pointed at my sump to create evaporation there. Then I constantly have another Vornado fan pointed into my office to circulate air from in there to the rest of the house.

 

[L/B Block]

I could be wrong but the aquarium chillers I have seen don’t require ventilation to the outside. Regardless of whether you get a chiller or not it seems like a bad idea to have a hood without a vent.

Most chillers do not require ventilation but having one turn our laundry room into a mini hot zone may create other issues.

There are some, albeit very expensive, I believe you can attach some sort of hose and vent out.

As to ventilation -it was actually ok for the first couple years -but it def trapping heat now.

 

[L/B Block]

Depends on how much ventilation you have and how hard you run your AC. Everything is a thermodynamic system, and the heat has to go somewhere.

Get a fan, you need some air circulation. Lots of options out there.

On my big system, I have one "Vornado" fan pointed at my sump to create evaporation there. Then I constantly have another Vornado fan pointed into my office to circulate air from in there to the rest of the house.

I have a fan inside but when it’s enclosed -def doesn’t do anything on its own. The need to open a hole in the cabinet and circulate air is clear..

 

[H2OPlayar]

I have a fan inside but when it’s enclosed -def doesn’t do anything on its own. The need to open a hole in the cabinet and circulate air is clear..

Air, like all fluids, likes and inlet and an outlet on opposite ends of your box to maximize your flow in the box, and needs something to drive the flow. Cold air is more dense than warm air and easier for the fan blades to grab, so think about an inlet vs an outlet fan, (unless there is some reason to do it the other way I don't know about).

 

[PjFish]

Most chillers do not require ventilation but having one turn our laundry room into a mini hot zone may create other issues.

There are some, albeit very expensive, I believe you can attach some sort of hose and vent out.

As to ventilation -it was actually ok for the first couple years -but it def trapping heat

How much is the heat build up raising your water temp? and is this only in the summer on hot days? You need both exhaust and intake air flow in that grow box/tent which is basically what you have. Love your custom built in cabinets around the tank and ends looks so sharp!! Inline fans are nice usually come with humidity & temp controller and you can place them also in the attic or another room making them pretty quiet plus can hang them to further reduce vibrations....Never used the Ac Infinity line just the S&P TD Silent brand paired with temp controller like Inkbird inlines are crazy reasonable now days another option is go with a Panasonic whisper series DC bathroom ceiling fan super quiet as well which also have humidity sensors and adjustable motors made for very humid environments maybe a bit overkill.Or probably the most economical simple vent boosters that basically have two small pc fans and give some automations. Can try the least evasive first venting out the top into the cabinet above the lights then step up to ductwork into the laundry room if needed. You may be able to get away with just a passive vent like you mentioned but ideally an exhaust fan would be alot more stable and preferred. Regardless put in intake vents maybe lower left in the open cabinet near water line assuming you don’t want to put vents in the cabinet down lower which may work better but not look appealing Although they do cnc nice wooden vents in any color, pattern & size nowadays. Good luck

 

[L/B Block]

How much is the heat build up raising your water temp? and is this only in the summer on hot days? You need both exhaust and intake air flow in that grow box/tent which is basically what you have. Love your custom built in cabinets around the tank and ends looks so sharp!! Inline fans are nice usually come with humidity & temp controller and you can place them also in the attic or another room making them pretty quiet plus can hang them to further reduce vibrations....Never used the Ac Infinity line just the S&P TD Silent brand paired with temp controller like Inkbird inlines are crazy reasonable now days another option is go with a Panasonic whisper series DC bathroom ceiling fan super quiet as well which also have humidity sensors and adjustable motors made for very humid environments maybe a bit overkill.Or probably the most economical simple vent boosters that basically have two small pc fans and give some automations. Can try the least evasive first venting out the top into the cabinet above the lights then step up to ductwork into the laundry room if needed. You may be able to get away with just a passive vent like you mentioned but ideally an exhaust fan would be alot more stable and preferred. Regardless put in intake vents maybe lower left in the open cabinet near water line assuming you don’t want to put vents in the cabinet down lower which may work better but not look appealing Although they do cnc nice wooden vents in any color, pattern & size nowadays. Good luck

The heat can quickly rise from 77.x to about 80 in about 7-8 hrs before I intervene cracking the lower cabinet door and blowing air in there. It use to be just summer but now its's occurring even into October! Thanks for all the products above. It is a very nice cabinet enclosure so we are taking special care to the aesthetics of it.

 

[psidriven]

If you don’t mind holes in your wall, why not put the vents and fans in your laundry room behind the tank? Resolves the light bleed issue and potentially noise issue as well.

 

[L/B Block]

If you don’t mind holes in your wall, why not put the vents and fans in your laundry room behind the tank? Resolves the light bleed issue and potentially noise issue as well.

The laundry room can get really hot when those machines are going. I would have to check to see if the ambient air is warmer in the laundry when the machines are going than the cabinet. Larger issue is sound coming through those holes. Can't upset the fish with all that noise!