theplantman
Active Member
The joys of living in a farmhouse in WV abound. You have the acreage, the stream, wildlife, no light pollution, peace, quite and tranquility:whstlr:.......you also have a 230 year old historic house that is insulated about as well as a 1974 AMC Gremlin... and is heated by you guessed it, a million fireplace/wood burning stoves. :bmcflme:So all winter long I had 300 watts of heater in my 34 gallon tank to control the temp at night. (Yes it actually needed both and both ran full time at night)
Well warmer days have hit, earlier than anticipated, 82 degrees Tuesday, the aquarium room was a balmy 76. Translation, even with my 250W metal halide about 10-12" off the water surface, there was still enough heat transfer to drive my temp from 78.8 to 83.3 by the time I got home from work. So added a fan that I had just in case, removed one of the two 150watt heaters and by the time I finally crept to bed after chores were done tank dropped to 80. Starting temp yesterday was 77.8 degrees outside temp was 88, inside temp 78 and tank only climbed to 79.5 degrees. Problem solved...... for now. FYI, the room never really got above 85 last year on its hottest days.
I have two upgrades I would like to do first is going LED with an AI Vega Color. The second is a chiller. Here is the chiller I am looking at.
SeaChill TR-10 1/8 HP Aquarium Chiller by TECO* - AquaCave.com
I know its overkill for the 34, but I am thinking about future upgrades to a 120 so might as well buy equipment I can use.
So if I go LED now, it replaces my 250mh plus 48w T5 and my heat transfer problem is solved. Plus I need to worry about acclimation for a tank full of corals if I do it later this summer.
I will still most likely need to add the chiller in July or August.
If I do the chiller first, I'm still burning up the electricity with the old lighting and dumping excess heat into the room, but my temp is stable on the tank until I get the LED's which would most likely be when the bulb needs replaced in September.
Which $600.00 purchase would you make now? Either way, they are both happening, its just the order of implementation. Think I will do some exercises while I await your many opinions. :rougiem:
Well warmer days have hit, earlier than anticipated, 82 degrees Tuesday, the aquarium room was a balmy 76. Translation, even with my 250W metal halide about 10-12" off the water surface, there was still enough heat transfer to drive my temp from 78.8 to 83.3 by the time I got home from work. So added a fan that I had just in case, removed one of the two 150watt heaters and by the time I finally crept to bed after chores were done tank dropped to 80. Starting temp yesterday was 77.8 degrees outside temp was 88, inside temp 78 and tank only climbed to 79.5 degrees. Problem solved...... for now. FYI, the room never really got above 85 last year on its hottest days.
I have two upgrades I would like to do first is going LED with an AI Vega Color. The second is a chiller. Here is the chiller I am looking at.
SeaChill TR-10 1/8 HP Aquarium Chiller by TECO* - AquaCave.com
I know its overkill for the 34, but I am thinking about future upgrades to a 120 so might as well buy equipment I can use.
So if I go LED now, it replaces my 250mh plus 48w T5 and my heat transfer problem is solved. Plus I need to worry about acclimation for a tank full of corals if I do it later this summer.
I will still most likely need to add the chiller in July or August.
If I do the chiller first, I'm still burning up the electricity with the old lighting and dumping excess heat into the room, but my temp is stable on the tank until I get the LED's which would most likely be when the bulb needs replaced in September.
Which $600.00 purchase would you make now? Either way, they are both happening, its just the order of implementation. Think I will do some exercises while I await your many opinions. :rougiem: