Cooling

[tspors]

I need some opinion please. I am transfering from an 80 -150 gal. I did not have a heat problem in my 80. At this time I only have rock in my new set up. I went 4 days no lights. Now I have gon 4 days with my lights cycling. 3-150w Metals and 4-96w dual actinics. I have a 36 x 12 x 14 sump and 2100 gph Gen-x. The temp has now reached 86. I can bath in this. I have a brain child at work who says "guaranteed" he can brin the temp down without a chiller. The Plan... To take cold tap water... Run it through coiled stainless steel pipeing in the bottom of the sump. It would be regulated not to run non stop. The water would then run out to a drain when running.. I am sceptical he is willing to bet $1000 it will do the trick. I live in Wisconsin where cold tap water in the winter is 55 and 63 in the summer.
Thoughts Please??

 

[PJSEA]

It could be done but you would probably need a large amount of coiled tubing to make it work.
He's essentially suggesting a once thru drop in cooling coil.
What would you do with the waste water? The amount of water used would probably be pretty high.
Also after time the stainless steel might pose a problem. Drop in coils are typically made of titanium. Typical Stainless Steel used in coils can corrode in warm, stagnant salt water.
I think you would be better off buying a chiller.

 

[saleenpwr88]

I've had this idea before as well but have also run into the problem of putting metal in the tank...I wouldn't do it because of this reason. A couple fans can really work wonders! One blowing across your lights to move the heat and another blowing on your sump for evaporation cooling.

 

[tspors]

I grew up in Arlington Heights went AHS This is all of what I was thinking I am leaning towards the Chiller

 

[surfjeepzx]

Have a well ventilated canopy and a fan or two blowing in the sump and I'll bet the temps come down to ~79-80.

I have 5 computer fans in my canopy. 3 overhead blowing out. 2 more, 1 below and behind each MH blowing in. They are basically blowing along the length of the bulb. I have a personal fan, the type you sit on a desk to blow on your face, which blows down into my sump across the water.

My house stays at 78-80 and my tank never goes above 80. At night the canopy fans are off via timers. The sump fan stays on 24/7. At night the heater comes on to keep the tank from getting too cool. When I first had the fans without the heater the temps would drop to 76 by morning.

 

[tspors]

The light system I am using is the Outer Orbit HQI/Compact Fluorescent/Lunar Fixture. It has 3 fans blowing out the top. I will try adding some fans to blow across the lights and drop a fan towards the sump water. Thanks for the help. My house stays between 69 - 72.

 

[Toddrtrex]

I fan over the sump should make a huge difference. When I upgraded the lights on my 75 (( went from 6*65 PC to 2*250 MH + 2*54 T5 )) my temp got up to 84* (might have gone higher but that is when I noticed it ). I added another clip on fan over my sump and now the temp stays at 80*, and this was during the summer. Wintertime is different because I keep my place pretty cool.

 

[tspors]

Thanks for the help and saving me a huge sum of money. I started out by spending a whopping $10.49 for a clip on Desk fan. Clipped it on faced it down into the sump at 12:30pm temp was near 85. This morning at 7:00am the temp was 79. Saved my hundereds of dollars so far. I didn't think just the fan would do that.

 

[dots]

A thousand dollars could by a nice chiller. If you have the money to loose, you have it to spend. Yes, they are an added expense but good piece of mind and insurance for your investment.

If you get into SPS, I highly recommend one.

Evaportive cooling is a good place to start though.

 

[customcolor]

you could have put your sump in the basement like i did. i have problems keeping my 125 warm! i have 3 175watt halides and 2 65 watt compacts over my tank and my house sits at 69 in the winter and 76 in summer. with out my heater the tank sits only 2 degrees above house temp. AND NO I DONT HAVE ANY FANS RUNNING ON MY TANK. check out my build here. and if you want some local help like eather from me (kakukauna, wi) or others in the appleton area look at our Fox Valley club form. its free to join the club and we have monthly meetings at eachothers houses. next one is in Seymour. check the form for more info