Fans ????

[venom00viper]

hey I had my canopy built with 120mm fan holes. I am going to buy some computer fans. But I am having trouble finding the vent covers that will cover the holes once the fans are installed in the inside. Anyone know where I can find some 5" vents. I can paint them black to match canopy if need be. I looked at lowes but only saw larger ones for the house. Thanks for your help!!!


-ben

 

[lusenut2]

Try Sky Craft on Fairbanks. There right off I-4 on Fairbanks. They sell everything for electrical there. There normally cheap also.

 

[cschweitzer]

Most computer stores would probably have some type of fan covers...I know most that are generally used for tanks and canopies are the 4" ones, so finding the 5" may be a little more difficult for our hobby...

 

[venom00viper]

ok and does anyone know how I can wire up the fans that run for computers to run with my lights? I haven't a clue about electronics. Thanks!

-ben

 

[cham]

I know I have seen them at sea in the city

 

[tangers]

I got mine for either $1 or $2 on ebay with free shippping.

 

[mfp4073]

I saw someones fans here on reefcentral that were covered with something that they got at home depot. I cannot remember now what it was though. I just remembered that they looked really good.

 

[reef_doug]

120x120 fans would use a 4" round hole.
I purchased my 120x120mm fan covers at Fry's Electronics.

If your cannopy is 3/4" like mine, I had to use #10/24 2-1/2" SS Machine screws for mounting. If it's 1/2" you could probably use 2".

 

[mfp4073]

the ones I saw were more like rectangles, so one cover would cover 2 holes. Looked REALLY smooth.

 

[venom00viper]

hey doug do your fan covers block out all the light?

 

[reef_doug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9686456#post9686456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by venom00viper
hey doug do your fan covers block out all the light?

It's not running yet, I'm still in the set up stage. The covers are the 3 pc square filter type. Plastic grommet, grey/charcoal color foam insert, and outside snap on cap.

Just looking through it when the fans were testing, it looks pretty dark. The inside of the canopy is white and the ROIII black pendants are not in there yet or illuminated. We will see.

 

[tangers]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9685626#post9685626 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef_doug
120x120 fans would use a 4" round hole.
I purchased my 120x120mm fan covers at Fry's Electronics.

120mm is actually really close to 4 3/4", closer to 5" than 4" imo. I drilled mine out with a 4 3/4" bit (not a cheap bit to buy!) and used 5" covers and everything worked perfect. Imo, I would really think about that 4" hole/ and or cover thing. A lot of air resistance and with air resistance comes more noise. Hope that helps.

 

[Me No Nemo]

Sky Craft has black plastic ones...they don't rust like the metal. You can also put some filter material inside and it helps catch the dust and makes it easier to clean. The outer cover snaps off easily so cleaning is very simple. HTH, Marcye

 

[jsl6v8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9683287#post9683287 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by venom00viper
ok and does anyone know how I can wire up the fans that run for computers to run with my lights? I haven't a clue about electronics. Thanks!

-ben

Well wiring the fans is easy enough just get an ac/dc adapter cut the cords on both sides strip them red goes with the white lined adapter cord yellow is a ground and isn't needed and the straight black cords go together. As for Wiring it to your lighting I'm not so sure I would personally do that but you could just make another splice in the cable connect them together. If the wiring where you make your splice is going to be inside the tank don't use wire nuts there are some snappy things you can get at homedepot but if its outside the tank you could use the wirenuts but I'd still suggest the snappy deals.

Then to get them running with the lights a good ol electronics timer, AES has a neat 2 sided timer so the 2 things would turn on at the same time and turn off at the same time but really I would think you would want the fans to stay on a while after the lights go off.

 

[loosbrew]

if youre using anythign but 115/120v fans you wont be able to wire them with your lights without some creative work. You can use a good GFCI and connect them all to a heavy duty timer, but I dont really like that route personally. A seperate timer maybe?