I posted this last night on my local marine aquarist forum but also decided to post it here on RC to get it out to a larger crowd.
I have had two near catastrophic events in my tank from temp increases that triggered this install. Causes for the temp increases were A/C failure in my apt and girlfriend settings temp too high on vacation. I haven't lost any fish/corals directly during or following the temps increases but when I see 86 on my Apex Jr screen, I get concerned.
This was a mock up of the two vent grills and filter covers. Idea is simple, cut two holes under each covers and mount fans in the openings. Fans/grills/filter covers are all 50mm.
NOTE: I recommend using 12volt dc fans/PS as the 5volt systems I started with was far too under powered.
Here is the fan grill and filter cover broken down.
First thing, pop off the feeder door. Once off, use a hole saw to cut a hole in the feeder door. I used a 1.75inch hole saw for the 50mm fans I used. Fit is almost perfect.
NOTE: Move your fans/covers closer to the front of the tank or the grills/filter covers will catch the hood when opening the door. Mine catches so don't be cool like me and think of it after the fact.
Underside of the feeder door with fans mounted. Pictured fans are 5v but I ended up going to the OEM 12v fans from the Biocube hood. I soldered and heat wrapped all connections that reside outside the light cover. The connections in the light cover and only connected via wire nuts for now. I plan on making them quick disconnect to match the quick disconnects used on my Nanotuners LED kit. Simple PC fan male/female connectors. I am not a professional so I am not going to go into detail on how to power the fans. Only thing I can say is that the fans connect to some sort of DC power source.
Fans running with the wiring cleaned up a bit. Notice the hole I drilled through the back lip of the feeder door so I could zip-tie the wires to the door. Up and out of the water.
All wrapped up.
If you look at my above picture, I have the fans and grills only held on in opposite corners. 2 screws in each fan and 2 screws in each grill. This caused the corners that are not screwed down on the grills to distort and rise up. So in the pictures you will see the grill/fan covers having a gap between them and the feeder door. My plan is to replace the screws with stainless bolts/nuts to pull all corners down. I also plan on placing a fan silencer between the fan and feeder door. Below is a picture of the silencer I am referring to.
Overall, I think it looks pretty clean and almost OEM. Feeder door is the perfect angle to send air under the light cover. I will post a temp graph from my ApexJr in a couple days to see if there is a temp difference.
So here are some of the numbers from my ACJR. Fans are higher effective. Proof is in the numbers.
The 2 hour frame after I cut the fans on and shut the feeder door for the first time at 22:15. Temp drops 2° in 1.5hours. All lights off during this time.
22:00 09/26/2011 80.0
22:10 09/26/2011 79.9
22:20 09/26/2011 79.9
22:30 09/26/2011 79.8
22:40 09/26/2011 79.7
22:50 09/26/2011 79.4
23:00 09/26/2011 79.1
23:10 09/26/2011 78.9
23:20 09/26/2011 78.6
23:30 09/26/2011 78.3
23:40 09/26/2011 78.0
23:50 09/26/2011 77.9
Last 24hours with fans on.
I woke up this morning to find my temperature .4° below my heater low point(seen around 8-8:30am on the 27th). Looking at the ACJR data log, I noticed the heater(50watt) cut on at 2:15am at 77.5° and fought a losing battle. The tank lost .1° every 1.5hours all through the night/morning. My low temp last night 77.1°. That low temp does not concern me regarding my fish/coral, but I don't want the heater and fans to clash through the night. The temperature began to rise at the time the actinic LEDs cut on.
I have had two near catastrophic events in my tank from temp increases that triggered this install. Causes for the temp increases were A/C failure in my apt and girlfriend settings temp too high on vacation. I haven't lost any fish/corals directly during or following the temps increases but when I see 86 on my Apex Jr screen, I get concerned.
This was a mock up of the two vent grills and filter covers. Idea is simple, cut two holes under each covers and mount fans in the openings. Fans/grills/filter covers are all 50mm.
NOTE: I recommend using 12volt dc fans/PS as the 5volt systems I started with was far too under powered.
Here is the fan grill and filter cover broken down.
First thing, pop off the feeder door. Once off, use a hole saw to cut a hole in the feeder door. I used a 1.75inch hole saw for the 50mm fans I used. Fit is almost perfect.
NOTE: Move your fans/covers closer to the front of the tank or the grills/filter covers will catch the hood when opening the door. Mine catches so don't be cool like me and think of it after the fact.
Underside of the feeder door with fans mounted. Pictured fans are 5v but I ended up going to the OEM 12v fans from the Biocube hood. I soldered and heat wrapped all connections that reside outside the light cover. The connections in the light cover and only connected via wire nuts for now. I plan on making them quick disconnect to match the quick disconnects used on my Nanotuners LED kit. Simple PC fan male/female connectors. I am not a professional so I am not going to go into detail on how to power the fans. Only thing I can say is that the fans connect to some sort of DC power source.
Fans running with the wiring cleaned up a bit. Notice the hole I drilled through the back lip of the feeder door so I could zip-tie the wires to the door. Up and out of the water.
All wrapped up.
If you look at my above picture, I have the fans and grills only held on in opposite corners. 2 screws in each fan and 2 screws in each grill. This caused the corners that are not screwed down on the grills to distort and rise up. So in the pictures you will see the grill/fan covers having a gap between them and the feeder door. My plan is to replace the screws with stainless bolts/nuts to pull all corners down. I also plan on placing a fan silencer between the fan and feeder door. Below is a picture of the silencer I am referring to.
Overall, I think it looks pretty clean and almost OEM. Feeder door is the perfect angle to send air under the light cover. I will post a temp graph from my ApexJr in a couple days to see if there is a temp difference.
So here are some of the numbers from my ACJR. Fans are higher effective. Proof is in the numbers.
The 2 hour frame after I cut the fans on and shut the feeder door for the first time at 22:15. Temp drops 2° in 1.5hours. All lights off during this time.
22:00 09/26/2011 80.0
22:10 09/26/2011 79.9
22:20 09/26/2011 79.9
22:30 09/26/2011 79.8
22:40 09/26/2011 79.7
22:50 09/26/2011 79.4
23:00 09/26/2011 79.1
23:10 09/26/2011 78.9
23:20 09/26/2011 78.6
23:30 09/26/2011 78.3
23:40 09/26/2011 78.0
23:50 09/26/2011 77.9
Last 24hours with fans on.
I woke up this morning to find my temperature .4° below my heater low point(seen around 8-8:30am on the 27th). Looking at the ACJR data log, I noticed the heater(50watt) cut on at 2:15am at 77.5° and fought a losing battle. The tank lost .1° every 1.5hours all through the night/morning. My low temp last night 77.1°. That low temp does not concern me regarding my fish/coral, but I don't want the heater and fans to clash through the night. The temperature began to rise at the time the actinic LEDs cut on.
