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Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:01 am
by Da happy octopus
Thx for all the help

The temp in the house during the day is around 75 ( sometimes the wife will kick it up to 77 but that is rare. I have 5 maxijet 1200 in the tank and a rio 2500 in the sump. The heaters are unpluged. There is a glass top on one side of the tank (the left side) but it is going to come off this weekend. I'm going to mount a fan over the sump per ya'll advice, will one of the little car dash fans work or should i get a bigger fan?
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:26 am
by Beaver
I have a fan that is speed contolled and I dont use it.. Its bran new about 5" square.. It needs a plug but I am not the guy to help you with that if you want to buy say 10-20 bucks or I would rather trade(zoes or shrooms) it doesnt have to be anything major...
hope this helps Beaver
ebeaver0u812@yahoo.com
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:29 am
by ShagMan
Another vote for fans over the tank, which will cause more evaporation, and to get rid of those glass tops ASA-f'ing-P.... that's how I keep my system in check, I let it evap several gallons a day due to constant air movement over the water surface.
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:57 am
by Brandon
Having ANY kind of fan over the tank would make a huge difference.
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:46 am
by andy4499
Beaver wrote:I have a fan that is speed contolled and I dont use it.. Its bran new about 5" square.. It needs a plug but I am not the guy to help you with that if you want to buy say 10-20 bucks or I would rather trade(zoes or shrooms) it doesnt have to be anything major...
hope this helps Beaver
ebeaver0u812@yahoo.com
Hey Beaver if no one wants that fan I might have a use for it. I may have some shooms or zoes to trade for it.
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:13 pm
by Beaver
Well if he doesn't want it you got first dibs just trying to clean the place up before the move. Did I mention that it is super quiet, but when wide open its noticable but not bad.... Not any more than my coral life fan................
Beaver
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 5:29 pm
by tbmoore
I would sat the fan over the sump will cause nothing but evaporation....all you should need is a small fan in the hood to blow the heat out....just enough to keep some air moving ... you should not need anymore than a 3 or 4in computer fan......if that does not do it..... then look for another problem....
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:41 pm
by Da happy octopus
Ok thx, i' have plenty of computer fans ( the 3 in ones ) so i'm going to put 2 over the lights and get a little bit bigger fan to go over the sump

thx for the help guys, i'll let ya know how it works out hehe. Thx for the offer of that fan but i'll pass i have a few laying around here.
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 7:23 pm
by Beaver
Andy you got a PM
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:38 pm
by KrazyPlace
tbmoore wrote:I would sat the fan over the sump will cause nothing but evaporation....all you should need is a small fan in the hood to blow the heat out....just enough to keep some air moving ... you should not need anymore than a 3 or 4in computer fan......if that does not do it..... then look for another problem....
Sorry Terry, it's extremely rare... actually the first time... but I'm going to disagreeing with you.
The heat of
evaporation is ~900 BTU/lb of water. If you evaporate the water anywhere in the system, then you will cool the system proportionally to amount of water evaporated.
My tank is cooled by evaporation ONLY. I have 630 watts of light on 12 hours which is about 26,000 BTU/day. My tank evaporates about 1.5 gal per day or ~12 lbs of water per day. That is 12 x 900 BTU/lb = ~10,000 BTU/day. By my estimates (ignoring the minor heat from the pumps) about 10,000/26,000 = 35% of the heat from the lights enter the tank. You can calculate the required evaporation (from the sump or the tank) based on this extremely rough estimate:
For each 100 watts of light you have (1.5 gal / 630 watts) you need to evaporate about 1/4 gallon of water to keep your tank cool.
I'd like to know how much water other people evaporate from their tanks and how much light they have (only if you don't have a chiller).... just to test my VERY nerdy theory. BTW... keep in mind I did ignor the heat loss through the walls of the tank.

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 8:44 pm
by ShagMan
I evaporate enough water to fuly degrade my RO/DI unit... that's roughly 900 gallons (very rough estimate) in a year... that breaks down to 2-3 gallons a day. Room temp is roughly 75-76 median, tank temp stays 80-81.
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:26 pm
by Brandon
2 gal/day
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:26 pm
by KrazyPlace
ShagMan wrote:I evaporate enough water to fuly degrade my RO/DI unit... that's roughly 900 gallons (very rough estimate) in a year... that breaks down to 2-3 gallons a day. Room temp is roughly 75-76 median, tank temp stays 80-81.
How many watts of lighting? About 1200 watts?
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:26 pm
by KrazyPlace
Brandon wrote:2 gal/day
OK guys... how many watts?
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2004 9:28 pm
by Brandon
KrazyPlace wrote:Brandon wrote:2 gal/day
OK guys... how many watts?
Sorry.. 750halides + 640vho = 1390