beat the heat for cheap

Also as suggested, I've put my tower system on a timer so that it is off at night, this should dry up any biomass in the tower before it goes back on again.

I really don't think this should be a major concern if properly addressed.
 
I found this link yesterday and it has inspired me to try this mod on my tank. I'm looking for a inexpensive way of cooling my system because I am on a budget. I have a 55 gallon tank with a 30 gallon sump. Our house stays pretty warm since I live in San Antonio, Texas. My room is normally around 85 degrees or so and the tank runs from 83-85 degrees. I have thought about buying one or two inexpensive clip fans to use on the sump but when I found this link, I might be interested in building my own setup.

Did you try using clip fans before you built your cooling tower bkiba?? Evaporative cooling sounds the best bet for me, because I already have a osmolator doing my top off. If I get around to putting together one, I will try to post pictures on here... :)
 
oh and it looks like 2 months have gone by, any updates on how its working? what kinda results your have had? bad or good???
 
Yea its been a while - like I said in my PM to you lonestar, without this addition my tank would have never survived the summer. Usually running at 1-4 F over ambient room temp (without the cooler) I had apt temps over 90F while my tank was a cool 82F.

To address concerns of water spray out of the cool air part of the tower, I duct taped some saran wrap above the tower to keep water vapor (and microdroplets) from condensing on my presswood stand. I also added a temperature monitoring system to improve the design. I plan on switching that over to a control system soon. Right now I have the tower on 12 hrs a day using a timer. It would be a bad addition if someone doesn't have an autotop off because this thing evaps a lot of water. It also doesn't work so well in high humidities (75% +), so at those times I crank up the wall AC unit by the tank and I think the tower helps to mix the cold air with the tank.

All in all like I said - no tower - no fishies - this summer so I think it was a great addition, I hope everyone who can't afford a chiller (and needs one) will build one of these to save their tanks. There isn't a concern with a cooling tower blowing out a compressor on a hot day or sucking up kW after kW of electricity... this is as simple as a crappy pump and two crappy fans.


good luck - I will post further additions when I complete them.
 
My pal uses a drinking water dispenser to a power head and some tubing and a plastic jug to get his temp. around 75, normally 85.
 
jimbo045 said:
My pal uses a drinking water dispenser to a power head and some tubing and a plastic jug to get his temp. around 75, normally 85.
Click to expand...

yeah...sure...and I just caught a 20ft hammerhead shark here in central PA...

:D
 
people have been using a system very simular to that for cooling overclocked computers for a while now.. i never thought about using it for reef though
 
i got my prototype air cooler design made yesterday. i gotta take it to my work monday to solder together the fans to the powersupply and do some sanding on the epoxy i used. i'm going to try to post a picture on here once i figure it out lol.
 
Here is my cooler...not done yet but gives you a basic view of it. I still need to sand down the epoxy, solder up the fans and mount them to the black squares. Basically I am going to have 3 92 mm computer fans blowing air from the top. Water will come in from the 3 barb fittings on the right. I have glued step ridges to help the water move in a baffle to get more air flowing around it. The 2 inch hole on the far right will be for hot air exhaust. The 1/2" holes on the lower half of the stock will be for water from the sump flowing through it. Water will be pumped from 3 different locations in the sump. I did not want to add any more pumps to the sump, so I am using water coming out of my UV sterilizer, phosban, and carbon reactors to feed the air cooler. More to come later.....


90533air_cooler.JPG
 
You can do as my pal. Hoked up his tank to a drinking water faucet. You just remember to use the blue side for cold and disconect the red hot side. JD
 
lone star where do you have the air coming out that pipe near the inlet of the water?

I'm assuming the holes in the bottom pipe will be under water.

Are you packing the cooler with anything?

Looks neat... let me know how well it works.
 
cool! I just saw this thread. I had something along these lines setup for my 37gal... and will be making one for my next tank!
 
jimbo

are you saying he is basically using the cold water from a faucet and running that through a coil or something in the tank for cooling? How is he controlling the flow or is it always on>

Don't you think that is pretty wasteful (I guess he doesn't pay the water bill).

I suggested something similar for your RODI waste line that is why I'm wondering if this is in the same vane.
 
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