HELP! Cooling fans

Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
Hi everyone anyone know of a good cooling fan system to put on a rsm500? I live in the U.K. So not overly hot and not many days of it so didn't really want to go down the chiller route! But we're having a little heat wave at the minute and wish to put some sort of cooling on it

Thanks


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SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
Whitey1973 said:
Hi everyone anyone know of a good cooling fan system to put on a rsm500? I live in the U.K. So not overly hot and not many days of it so didn't really want to go down the chiller route! But we're having a little heat wave at the minute and wish to put some sort of cooling on it

Thanks


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Click to expand...

Ive been looking at chillers, the Teco 500 or 1000 for my S 650 for the last 6 months and I don't really want to go down that route either. I'm not bothered about the cost so much, but its just something else to break or maintain, and the possible noise and for the few weeks we need it over here I'm just trying to avoid it if I can. Temps next week are supposed to be a lot cooler 18/19C

My tank is currently at around 28.4C so I'm watching it and I'm about to add a large milk container filled with RO water and then frozen in the fridge to see what that does. I also have a second so might put 2 in the sump (heaters off). I think it will be ok up to around 30c temporarily (it hit that last year without milk containers).

I haven't tried cooling fans as I don't think they would make that much difference on these size tanks in view of the volume of water. If I was to get one Id maybe get one of those tall fans (on a long pole) and run it across the top of the tank.

I'm hoping the milk containers once a day will sort the problem though.
 
Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
SPR said:
Ive been looking at chillers, the Teco 500 or 1000 for my S 650 for the last 6 months and I don't really want to go down that route either. I'm not bothered about the cost so much, but its just something else to break or maintain, and the possible noise and for the few weeks we need it over here I'm just trying to avoid it if I can. Temps next week are supposed to be a lot cooler 18/19C

My tank is currently at around 28.4C so I'm watching it and I'm about to add a large milk container filled with RO water and then frozen in the fridge to see what that does. I also have a second so might put 2 in the sump (heaters off). I think it will be ok up to around 30c temporarily (it hit that last year without milk containers).

I haven't tried cooling fans as I don't think they would make that much difference on these size tanks in view of the volume of water. If I was to get one Id maybe get one of those tall fans (on a long pole) and run it across the top of the tank.

I'm hoping the milk containers once a day will sort the problem though.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've got a fan running across the top of the tank and it seems to be doing ok, it was just that I wanted a tidier solution to having a large desk fan, maybe Red Sea need to come up with fans in the led lighting unit [emoji16]


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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I'm still toying with getting a Chiller. As you said, it's another thing that could break/go wrong. Plus, it will push warm air out, and if it's a hot day I don't think Mrs Nobby will be too pleased if I'm heating the room up further!
Saying that, I have dived off the coast of Sudan when the water temperature was 32 degrees, and the corals were stunning !
 
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SPR

SPR

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Nobbygas said:
I'm still toying with getting a Chiller. As you said, it's another thing that could break/go wrong. Plus, it will push warm air out, and if it's a hot day I don't think Mrs Nobby will be too pleased if I'm heating the room up further!
Saying that, I have dived off the coast of Sudan when the water temperature was 32 degrees, and the corals were stunning !
Click to expand...

Yes they do push the warm air out of them so the fish will be cool but the room will just get hotter.

I'm going to try the ice cube milk container device, and I'm also contemplating getting one of the portable air conditioning units so then both me and the fish can benefit from it! Maybe running that for a few hours in the daytime will do the trick when it starts getting really hot.
 
Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
SPR said:
Yes they do push the warm air out of them so the fish will be cool but the room will just get hotter.

I'm going to try the ice cube milk container device, and I'm also contemplating getting one of the portable air conditioning units so then both me and the fish can benefit from it! Maybe running that for a few hours in the daytime will do the trick when it starts getting really hot.
Click to expand...
Now that's an idea.... portable air con, I like the sound of both fish and myself benefiting [emoji1360]

Anyway just been reading your 650 build thread spr.... good read, I had 15 years out of reef keeping and got the bug back, started small and took the plunge myself recently, couldn't quite squeeze the 650 in the space I had available, but the 500 is still a great size


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SPR

SPR

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Whitey1973 said:
Yeah I've got a fan running across the top of the tank and it seems to be doing ok, it was just that I wanted a tidier solution to having a large desk fan, maybe Red Sea need to come up with fans in the led lighting unit [emoji16]


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As a matter of interest does the cooling fan make a difference to the temp ? Have you seen it drop when on and then off or visa versa ?

I'm thinking of calling at B & Q and getting one of the tall ones which I can use for me and the fish.

The portable air con will work but the only slight down side is they have to vent outside and I don't really want to start drilling holes or leaving doors and windows open - so this is why i haven't got one so far.
 
Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
SPR said:
As a matter of interest does the cooling fan make a difference to the temp ? Have you seen it drop when on and then off or visa versa ?

I'm thinking of calling at B & Q and getting one of the tall ones which I can use for me and the fish.

The portable air con will work but the only slight down side is they have to vent outside and I don't really want to start drilling holes or leaving doors and windows open - so this is why i haven't got one so far.
Click to expand...
Yeah it help keep it stable, I've plugged mine into the cooling side of my simply aquaria controller


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SPR

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Ok - I'm going to try the fan first then - point it across the top of the tank and see what happens!

I haven't got a temperature controller yet as I'm hanging on for the new Apex EB8UK plug to come out and then going to get Apex.

Just have a Eheim 250w heater/thermostat.
 
Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
That will be fine, I would also if your not already, turn a couple of your circulation pump nozzles to face up, giving you a bit more surface movement, I to will be going apex this year[emoji1360]


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D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
SPR said:
... I'm about to add a large milk container filled with RO water and then frozen in the fridge to see what that does. ...
Click to expand...
SPR said:
... I'm going to try the ice cube milk container device, ...
Click to expand...

This is not really a good idea. The problem is not that the tank temp get high, within reason. It's more important to keep the temp stable. When you use the block of ice approach, you introduce fluctuations in the temp and this is much worse than the high temp.

Before you go out and invest in a chiller, try everything else first. Look for things you don't need to run. For example, can you turn off the circulation pumps during the day. Look for things that can be upgraded to consume less power. A DC pump usually uses a lot less power, and doesn't dump as much heat into the tank. New lighting can often put out a lot less heat.

Fans blowing across the surface of the water can do a lot to keep temps down, and are usually inexpensive to install. Replacing a glass cover with a screen cover will allow a lot more evaporation and cooling. If you do either of these you may need an ATO to keep up with the water evaporated. In the summer, my 125 gal reef can evaporate about a bucket of water a day.

If all else fails, then consider a chiller. It's expensive to get and run, but sometimes that's the only way.
 
Rini

Rini

Well-Known Member
Here we have an Red sea max c250. In summer, or better when the house temp goes above 21c i'm powering on the cooling fans that come with it. This will help very good. When the temp goes above 26c in house, we have that perhaps a few times a year during summer, i power off the streaming pumps.
When the temp still goes around 29c in the tank I power-off the lighting.
We had a few times in the past 29C in the tank. And didn't notice any issues. Basically it is just a few days. It raise slowly and decrease slowly. One time it was 29.9. Then I opened the hood and placed an fan on the table to blow over the water. Then we need the fan anyway in our living room :)

A few weeks ago I replaced 4 tl bulbs (out of 6) with led bulbs. That will help to for less warmth.

Some years ago we bought our self an portable air-conditioner. We brougt it back the other day.
Reason It make a lot off noise. Even more as our red sea max :)
Noise would be ok, if the temperature would go down. But after 12 hour running the room temp increased 1C. We went from 25C to 26C.........
If we get another system ever it will be one that hang on the outside of the house. Every year when the temp goes around 26 in our living room we say, we need to get one... It is just a few days here per year.. So it will never come. :)
 
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