HELP: My fish tank makes my room so hot.

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Your only viable options are to install a room airconditioner, or to vent the heat outside.

Why aren't you asking these kinds of questions on a reef forum instead of here?

You'd get MUCH more intelligent answers.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/

QFT...

Also an HVAC forum...

Are you keeping the door to the room closed? Does it have it's own air return and inlet?

If you have your thermostat at 80 in a proper system, the rooms should stay within that temp by a couple degrees if not dead on.

 

[trmiv]

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: trmiv

Originally posted by: BoomerD
My last reef tank (180 gallons) ran 3X250 watt metal halides. They added quite a bit of heat to the room. I never did run a chiller though. I vented the lighting canopy into the room and lived with the increased warmth. (and humidity, but I did run a dehumidifier to help with the excess moisture)

Yea I never ran a chiller with my 2x250's over a 90. Just a fan over the sump. Now I'm using 5x39w T5's over my 65, much less heat. I do still need the fan though. Unfortunately now that I live in NC the fan thing doesn't work quite as well during the summer due to the humidity, so I doubt I could handle a larger tank or metal halides with just a fan.

Hey Ted...good to see you've gotten back into the hobby. There are several nj reef clubs. Have you checked any of them out?

If I ever set up another reef tank, I'll go with the T5's instead of halides. I've used VHO's for non-SPS reeefs with good results, and the T5's are the next gen for that...I REALLY like the Solaris hoods, (LED's for the rest of youse) but the price has to come way down before they'll be attractive to me.

I'm in NC, not NJ. There aren't any reef clubs here in the Raleigh actually. Someone was talking about organizing one, but it never got off the ground. I miss the LFS's in the bay area though, the stores here are nothing like the stores int he Bay Area. They haven't really grasped the "frag" concept, so what you get are stores with bunch of big expensive corals. Plus I can't find any decent SPS (that is unless browned out monti's are considered decent ) unless I visit Reef Science which is usually online only unless you make an appointment to buy something. I'm not sure the people here know how that the stores here aren't very good, because I hear them raving about them. They'd pop a gasket if they ever visited Atlantis or Aquatic Gallery.

 

[marvdmartian]

Get a cat. If you want, I'll let you borrow mine. In a week's time, the fish will be gone, and you can turn off the heater. No reason to throw away money if your tank doesn't have fish, right??

Maybe you could ask the guys over at the "CPUs and Overclocking" section how to best cool your equipment??

 

[BlueAcolyte]

That's like triple 8800GTXs! God! Err, I vote for moving the chiller into another room.

 

[0roo0roo]

ah fish, environmentally lousy pets?

 

[johnjbruin]

Connect a giant duct next to the device that transfers heat from water to air and have it go straight out of the house through a window or something rather than circulating it in your own room.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: johnjbruin
Connect a giant duct next to the device that transfers heat from water to air and have it go straight out of the house through a window or something rather than circulating it in your own room.

Actually that's a pretty good idea. You can simply make a duct over the tank...even if you ducted it to the attic it'd be way better than letting it go ambient.

You will need to make sure your duct is adequate though...too small and you can cook your fish probably / start a fire.

If you are shutting the door to this room, or even if not an air return may be beneficial in this room. I have been thinking of adding a return to my office...just the added hassle of another air filter isn't worth it currently. On very hot days, at night, it gets a little uncomfortable if I have it closed off during the day.

 

[lightstar]

dig a pond in your backyard for your fish

 

[0roo0roo]

yea the problem is the cooling system fans are probably not going to be able to work effectively in a duct. might have to rig some fans in series to help push airflow along. and if you are going out a window you lose that windows air seal/insulation if its a double paned type. leading to more heat. i guess you can build some really insulated baffles, but its more work, and probably ugly.

 

[KingGheedora]

Originally posted by: ICRS

Originally posted by: BoomerD

Originally posted by: BouZouki
Plumb the water chiller to the basement or some other room.......

That's a good recommendation. I know several people who have moved their chillers outside to get rid of the excess heat they produce. You just have to be sure they aren't exposed to the weather. Most aren't meant to get wet.

Hmmm the bedroom next to mines is being unused, and their is already a hole in the wall from my room to it, I think I might move the chiller to there. What is great is the hole is located directly behind the tank. The hole was intended to feed a cable line from my room to it.

How big is the hole? I don't imagine a hole intended for a wire would be big enough to vent the heated air through.

 

[Throckmorton]

So when will this crop of "fish" be ready to smoke?

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: lightstar
dig a pond in your backyard for your fish

Just noticed your sig with the starving artist project...you have 5 PC's at ~3GHZ, maybe that's why you are starving?