"Amen" to that...
I agree 100%. My heaters are set to come on at 78, but in the middle of the summer, even with the chiller going, my tank gets up to 82. There's no point (in my mind) to keep the whole thing at 78 if it seems happy up to 82...
What is your reef temperature?
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As a new guy to all of this I am really struggling right now with temperature swings. My 24G AP is running between 80 and 83 right now and I'm trying to take steps to get it down. Yesterday I switched out the stock pump and put in an MJ900 and I've got two Vanteck Stealth fans on order. Once they get here I will dremel open the vents a little more. My tank came with only one fan. I have just two damsels and three softies at the moment. My 12G Eclipse runs between 80 amd 84 but right now it is home to just Marty (Mantis Shrimp) and whatever else hitchhiked in on the rock. I open the feeding lid when he is in his hole or I'm in the room to keep an eye on him to let out some heat and I keep the lights on for just a few hours a day. I need to come up with something to blow some air at it. My 3G Eclipse also runs between 80 and 84 and all that is in it is a couple of pieces of rock and hitchhikers which includes one nice brittlestar. I keep the lights off most of the time on it and keep the lid open more. I need to find a better solution for it as well since I do want to put something in it.
Also keep in mind that for every gallon evaporated, it's roughly equivalent to running a 3/4hp chiller for an hour.
Evaporation requires about 1000 btu per pound. Water is 8.3lbs/gallon, equating to 8,300 BTU per gallon. A 1hp chiller removes about 12,000 BTU, so evaporation of 1 gallon of water is the same 3/4hp chiller running for one hour. That same 3/4hp chiller uses ~1500watts (depending on efficiency). A fan over the tank/sump uses just a few watts.
Evaporation requires about 1000 btu per pound. Water is 8.3lbs/gallon, equating to 8,300 BTU per gallon. A 1hp chiller removes about 12,000 BTU, so evaporation of 1 gallon of water is the same 3/4hp chiller running for one hour. That same 3/4hp chiller uses ~1500watts (depending on efficiency). A fan over the tank/sump uses just a few watts.
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I was waiting for someone to run those numbers...
Now run the numbers for how much energy is wasted trying to keep my air conditioning on at 75 to keep the room temp down and fans blowing on my tank Vs. buying and running a 1/4 HP chiller on my 55Gal. I would be interested to see which way would be most cost effective!
Xyzpdq0121;31134 wrote: I was waiting for someone to run those numbers...
Now run the numbers for how much energy is wasted trying to keep my air conditioning on at 75 to keep the room temp down and fans blowing on my tank Vs. buying and running a 1/4 HP chiller on my 55Gal. I would be interested to see which way would be most cost effective!
It depends on the size of your house, but it's almost a sure bet that the chiller will be a LOT more efficient, since air isn't a very good conductor of heat (and thus doesn't have much cooling power by just being cooler surrounding the tank).
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Assuming the chiller is placed outdoors. Otherwise you are taking the heat out of the tank with the chiller and your home AC is taking that heat out of the house. You can save money if you put the chiller outdoors and get the heat out in one step otherwise, I bet running the home AC to take the heat/humidity out of the air from evaporation is somewhat close to running a chiller indoors. Of course, with the chiller, you don't need to top off your tank as often and you can avoid humidity problems in the spring/fall and winter.
Schwaggs;31251 wrote: Since we seem to have hijacked this thread...
This conclusion assumes the clip-on fan can evaporate a gallon of water in an hour. Do you know if this is accurate? It also assumes there is no cost for removing the water from the air (which we will pay Also, the evaporation rate is highly dependant on several variables such as tank water temp, ambiant air temp, relative humidity of the room air, water surface area, etc. On a humid day (without house AC on), the clip on fan would be hard pressed to evaporate anything.
Good point. Can you click "Talk" on that article, and we'll move this discussion over there?
i was a firm beliver too, in keeping my temp below 80...i have done it on every tank i have ever owned over the last 6 years up until this past month..With my new 300, i could not keep up keeping the temps down..so i let my tank run at between 82-84 degrees the last 2 weeks....to avoid temp swings i even set my controller to turn on the heaters if the temp fell below 82. I live in macon and its a little hotter down here,,
all i can say is WOW!!!!!!!
my corals have exploded in growth..Normally it would take a month for a new sps frag to encrust the base it was mounted on, over the superglue i used... i got some new frags last wednesday, and i already see encrusting on the superglue...
My older frags too seem to be growing faster...it may just be me...my zoos have started to divide quicker and established sps have new "shoots/buds " starting to form.....
Im thinking just like my bermuda grass, and house plants, etc... the heat is what triggers them and lets them know its spring/summer and its time to grow????
I think im gonna let it ride out between 82-84 degrees and watch what happens..all my livestock seem to be doing well...
all i can say is WOW!!!!!!!
my corals have exploded in growth..Normally it would take a month for a new sps frag to encrust the base it was mounted on, over the superglue i used... i got some new frags last wednesday, and i already see encrusting on the superglue...
My older frags too seem to be growing faster...it may just be me...my zoos have started to divide quicker and established sps have new "shoots/buds " starting to form.....
Im thinking just like my bermuda grass, and house plants, etc... the heat is what triggers them and lets them know its spring/summer and its time to grow????
I think im gonna let it ride out between 82-84 degrees and watch what happens..all my livestock seem to be doing well...
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I have a vortex fan running and it has helped a lot.
Am I wrong re the chiller?
Am I wrong re the chiller?
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The amount of temerature drop you get is highly dependant on the volume of water you are chilling as well as the heat being added to the system. If you put the smallest chiller on a 100 gallong tank with halides, I doubt you will see much improvement. If you put the smallest chiller on a 12G nano with T5s, you should be able to keep any temp you want...
Is that what you were asking?
Is that what you were asking?
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It seems like I have greatly underestimated the effectiveness of using a fan on open water. (See Chiller thread) You get more evaporation, but a LOT more cooling given a certain power (therefore indirectly heat) input. I think I am going to use fans before any chillers. Anyone have good ideas on quiet strong fans?
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Personally I use computer case fans... the 80 mm ones. The ones I currently use are high flow and very very quiet. I have 6 of them blowing water on the display when it gets to 80 and 3 in three in the sump area. You can't hear them at all and combined they blow as much air as a large high speed fan.
i use a $15 20 inch box fan from walmart. i lay it flat on top of my sump, facing downwards onto the water. Works for me..noise isnt an issue as my sumps in the garage..i recently brought 120mm case fans from ebay...4 of them for $10... cant beat that....
wow this is an old one brought back....I guess I'll repost seeing how I've upped tank sizes and the temp is def much more. The adverage temp on my 140 is 80. Still rock the ranco single stage to kick a desk fan on for the sump once it hits 82. Works well for me.
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