Do fans work???

[Deleted member 143833]

Currently sitting at around 210 G system, soon to be 300 G. I am in the process of evaluating upgrades for my cooling system which is mostly for heat generated by tank lights. There are a few days during the summer where it is warm but in Washington state the temps are relatively mild.

To that end I was thinking that fans (~5 fan unit) might be a good alternative for much of the colling requirements (meaning the effect of lights). On adverage the lights raise the tank about 1.7 F after being on a few hours.

Question, for those running fans, how much cooling to you find you get when they run? Is it enough to easy the running of a chiller?

I'm also looking for a VERY quiet chiller if anyone has personal favorites I'd be interested in hearing which one.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[invincible569]

Fans make a HUGE difference. I would recommend a chiller on every system. You dont want to gamble away your livestock.

 

[Deleted member 143833]

Thanks, I am not suggesting to not have a chiller; I have one now I am just increasing its size but I was curious of the 2 (chiller and fan) would help lessen the demands on the chiller and it sounds like the answer would be 'yes'.

 

[GMFett]

Yes It would.

 

[bbehring]

The 2 would compliment each other. Here's the system I have on my tank. It works great and is controllable. Have been running it for about a year now.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Quad-Fan-BIG-5-...20755QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

 

[Deleted member 143833]

How quiet are the fans when running?

 

[cioutlaw]

One of the best upgrades I have done is put a ceiling fan above my open top canopy. My tank is a penisula type, so I was able to do this, might not be possible with a tank on a wall. It has dropped temps 3-4 degrees. I have it wired into a timer that comes on same time as lights & hour after they shut off. I still have a chiller hooked up but it NEVER comes on.

 

[mflamb]

I do not have a chiller on my 390. I have a celing fan above the open canopy and two house box fans, one blowing across the sump and one blowing across the tank. (Both house box fans are temporary) The temp stays around 80.8 during the day and 78.6 at night. I anticipate is being lower with the 8 smaller fans that I'm currently working on.

 

[bbehring]

I've bought other fans before and these are pretty low level on the noise end. I'm not sure what the db is on them though? They are controllable and run wisper silent in the lowest mode and the db goes up slightly with each speed level up. There are 6 speed levels from 3v to 12v. I have them set to level 5 and they cool my tank down 1 deg in about 30 min or there abouts. I have the fan controller on my RK2 on a temp control so they come on when the tank reaches a 80 deg and cool the tank down to 79. I currtenly don't run a chiller. The fans run longer and more frequently in the summer of course with our hot temps here in So Cal and my MH lighting. T5 lighting or the Solaris I4 would cut down on the heat dramatically which could reduce the need for a chiller. I'd still employ fans of some sort. The Ceiling fan over the open canopy sounds like a good idea.

 

[datablitz]

i keep my house around 70 year round, have a 265 with a 150 gal sump in the basement. with 4x400watt MH and 4 4'vhos on the tank my tank does not get above 80. i dont even have any vents in my canopy. fans is all you need unless you dont have adequate ventalation on your tank or sump. since i have a large surface area of water in my cold basement, i dont have any issues. if i had my sump under the stand i would have probably 2 4" fans on one of my tank blowing air into the canopy, which should be suffecient.

 

[nickjj]

Fans definately help. I have a cheap 8" clip on fan blowing air directly on the surface of the display tank. Make sure you have a reliable way to control the temp in your tank. Mine is controlled by an Aquatronica along with my heaters. Basically you can set a desired temp and it will either turn on fans or heaters keeping the temp very stable.

 

[danskim]

As stated, fans definitely help. The limit of their being able to help is the relative humidity wherever the tank is located. If the air is very humid, it won't help as much as it could. To combat this, you can (if you don't already) install an ERV/HRV on your central air. It'll cycle air and basically dehumidify your house. Cooling generated by fans also means you will need to top off more often.

Chillers of course add heat to the room and take a lot more electricity.