Good or bad temp controal idea?

[Wiskey]

I am having a really hard time controling the temprature of my tank, it has 5 large fans on it but it is still not enough.

Here is my idea, I have a duel stage Ronco temp controler controling my fans. I could set it so it kicks on my fans at 80, and if the tank still continues up to 81 it would bypas the mercury switch in the thermastat of my house and kick on the AC no-matter the house temprature. The house AC would remain on until the tank temp dropped to 80.

This would be REALLY simple to wire up (a quick glance told me which wires to connect to turn on the AC and it does work) but I am wondering if you think this would be a good idea?

I don't want a chiller, because all it does is take tank heat and turn it into house heat, which the central air then has to transfer outside (not very efficent in my book). I also don't want to keep comming home to find my tank at 82.whatever, but I could not afford to always keep the house at 74 when it is 120 outside.

Thoughts?
Whiskey

[Mike O'Brien]

If you're having that much trouble I'd consider the chiller, but run it outside. I don't think you'll have a problem in Arizona. A friend of mine has his stuff outside in those rubbermade shed's. Chiller, kalk and calcium reactor's. I'll put you in touch with him if you're interested. Here is a link to his album for that.

http://www.reeflounge.net/gallery/v/...hillerinstall/

[Wiskey]

Thanks for the idea, but I live in an apartment in a really ghetto part of town. I put a broken chair outside, five min later when I came out to take it to the trash somebody had stolen it. The chiller would not last 30 seconds.

The AC would really do 2 things, first it would cool the house, and second it would de-humidify the house, both would make the fans more effective.

Whiskey

[redwinger]

Personally 82 is not that bad IME. In the summer I ran mine as high as 84 and haven't had a problem. That was just using fans in 95 degree humid weather when my AC went out last summer.

[Mike O'Brien]

You might want to modify you're hood for more flow. I use a pendant and it really help's out alot with heat. I only use a fan for the hottest month's of the summer.

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by Mike O'Brien

You might want to modify you're hood for more flow. I use a pendant and it really help's out alot with heat. I only use a fan for the hottest month's of the summer.

What kinds of mods do you suggest? I have 3 fans on the left of the hood pulling air in, the air exits on the right and I have one fan mounted in the top of the hood.

In the sump area I have the doors open and one big (8 inch) fan blasting on the sump, and a second smaller muffen fan blowing air in from behind.

Whiskey

[Mike O'Brien]

Other then building a pendant, the only suggestion I have is to use the fan's to draw hot air out of the fixture, and have one fan that is blowing directly under the bulb's.

[Wiskey]

It is not a fixture, it is 2 MH in spyder reflectors, and 2 pc's they are all retrofits. The fans literly take up the whole side of the hood, so one of them is blowing directally across the bulbs, I could take the top off though and see if that makes a difference.

Whiskey

[REEF-DADDY]

I used an A/C to cool my tank room. I don't know if I would hook the controller to the tank, as it may leave the A/C on for too long and you may come home to a frozen compressor. I leave my A/C on 72, and have a controller turn a fan on if the tank hits 81.5, if it hits 82.5 the halides shut off. My set up is simple, the only down side is evaporation. But in dry AZ that may be good!

[Wiskey]

That is just the thing, I live in a 700 SQ foot apartment, I have a 180 gallon planted freshwater, a 125 gallon oscar tank, a 50 gallon BB SPS tank, and a 15 gallon softy/sand tank. MY APT IS HUMID!! This is the idea behind the AC comming on, it will de-humidify the apt, and the fans will work much more efficantally.

The frozen coils are another problem, I do come home to that from time to time,...

I guess the only way to know is to try, right now I have to keep my AC at 71 to keep tank temps at 82, this is getting expensave already and outside temps haven't even hit 90 yet.

Whiskey

[Little Luey]

Is the tank covered? I have a fan blowing directly at the open part of the tank and also to blow the hot air from the gap between the lights and cover.
Can you raise the lights a little more?

[Wiskey]

The tank has a canopy that is about 1 foot tall, the lights are about that off the water (reflectors mounted to canopy lid). This canopy has 3 fans blowing in the left side, and out the right side, there is another fan in the top blowing down. Air does not stay in this canopy .

Thanks,
Whiskey

[pwest]

Can you install some ducting so that your fans suck the hot air from the canopy and then blow it *out of your apartment*? Like maybe through a bathroom vent or a kitchen vent? My pumproom is very small 4'x7' and I had major heating problems until I actively vented my light fixture to outside. Check it out at: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=37800. BTW, the duct exiting the pumproom is connected to a centifugal duct fan that is controlled by a standard ceiling fan speed controller with a thermostat on the remote. I mounted the remote near the ceiling in the pumproom so that as soon as the room starts to warm up, the fan comes on low, as it gets hotter, the fan speeds up until it is on high at about 80 deg.

The bottom line is that you want to get that really hot air from the lights outside your little apartment, not just away from the tank.

-Phil

[Wiskey]

I can't vent to the outside, I live in a small apartment in a bad part of town, my apt has been broken into and so has my car, the only way to do this would be to go out a window, and I can't leave a window open that far without inviting desaster.

Thanks for the idea though,
Whiskey

[Wiskey]

This is really getting out of controal, despite every part of the tank having at least 2 fans pointing at it, I came home to a tank temp of 84.8 today, up from 79. There is no way I can alow this to continue.

Whiskey