Automatic cooling fans???

[eskimoigloo]

Hi,
After nearly losing all of my non-fish stock during the heat wave this summer, ready for next year I want to install a system of cooling fans controlled automatically. I am on a very limited budget, fans are not a problem to source, but what is the cheapest way to get them switching on/off automatically.
Any help appreciated. :D

Chris.

[Tetley]

Habistat Cool Control IMO

HTH

Ian

[maestro]

Yeah the habistat coolcontrol is very good, keeps my tempertaure to within 0.5C for the 2 months ive had it, costs about £30

[eskimoigloo]

Looks like that's the answer! Now for the fans to work I would have to remove my condesation trays... am I going to get more evaporation and will moisture on my bulbs cause problems?

[eskimoigloo]

Oh... fans blowing onto water, or sucking air out of hood?

[instantsquid]

Definitely blowing onto water!

[Bradden]

£30? ... can I ask where from?

[abyss]

hows the mce 600 going, did you get the other one out ok,

[keith hellyar]

Oh... fans blowing onto water, or sucking air out of hood?

You need to encourage evaporation to achieve the colling effect. So, definitely fans blowing on the water. Its also helpful to place a powerhead so as to cause the surface water to be agitated. This will assist the evaporation process. I notice that you have condensation trays/covers. They will reduce evaporation so would have been best removed during the July heatwave and that on its own would have kept your tank cooler.

Last thought, does you hood completely enclose the top of the tank? If so, this will seriously increase your overheating. If that is the case, a fan to extract the air from the hood would be helpful

The forecast is for a return of summer weather next week. Give it a try.

Keith

[eskimoigloo]

Yes, it's one of those cheap aluminium hoods that fully encloses the tank, and means the lights are really close to the water!!! All bad! if i take the condensation trays off the lights get wet really quickly, and i can't afford any blow ups! I have put a pc exhaust blower fan into one end of the hood and drilled a load of holes in the other end, and the temp dropped by 3 degrees over night (down from 28.8 to 26), and everything looks much healthier... But need to come up with a way of letting more heat out of the hood without letting too much of the light out of the hood as well!

[Mucus]

Just a thought,, If you can find the right size and have the room in the lid, fix a pipe elbow inside the lid so that light is baffled from the opening but still allow air flow;)

[gregcope]

You need to;

a) reduce any above abient heat sources - so another fan blowing into the hood will help keep the lights adding to the problem.

b) Remove heat from tank - 2 choices really - a fridge/beer/comercial cooler, or a fan blowing at the water to use evapourative cooling