keeping your canopy cool???

[am3gross]

i have 3 250 watt halides on a 210... tank temp swings about 4 degrees here during the winter months... keep it 72 in the house.... this is my thinking...

i raised the lights to 13 inches off the water.. was about 10 inches before..
i have 2 fans, 1 on each end blowing in towards the water...
i have a vent on each end of the canopy for air to get drawn in...
and today i hooked in a 130 cfm bathroom fan and vents thru the attic and outside...

my question is do you think that the bathroom fan is going to help me?

i am ok with a temp swing somewhere around 2-3 degrees.. but if i cant keep it stable in the winter then i wont be able to keep it stable in the summer.. as a back up i know i could always open up a door and let air in but that is not the reason why i put doors on the canopy...

what are your thoughts???

 

[sirreal63]

Don't worry about the temp swings too much. Many people here let our temps fluctuate daily a much higher amount than that and have been doing it that way for many years. Stability in a reef is stability in the big three, not temperature. Take a vacation to a reef and you will find that the temp is not steady, in fact it fluctuates greatly and at times rapidly.

 

[cordell]

I find that by letting my fans run 24/7, the tank cools down too much at night because the canopy fans blow right across the surface of the tank water, which moves a lot because of powerheads. The heater couldn't keep up with the evap cooling due to the fans.

So I put the fans on a timer so they only run when the MHs run. Lights go out, the fans turn off. That way temps won't drop so much at night and will stay closer to your max high during the day, so less of a swing.

Now, if you're having problems with the tank temp going too high during the day, then maybe you'll have to either position the fans to blow away the heat from the lights more efficiently, or get higher CFM fans.

I have 2 250w MH, and a fan on each end of my canopy. Each fan is around 120CFM... just little 12v fans from amazon, but they move a LOT of air if turned up all the way.

Isn't the bathroom fan noisy?

 

[NatureNerd]

When I ran halides, I found that a push pull configuration worked best for my canopy. I had a fan on each side of the canopy. One pulled in room air and the other exhausted the air after it traveled across the lights and the surface of the water. This configuration results in a higher velocity air flow directly where you need it. I did get more evaporation with this configuration too.

I only ran the fans when the tank temperature was at or near its setpoint.

 

[NatureNerd]

Forgot to mention I use an ACjr controller to turn the fans on only when they are needed. The fans I mounted in the canopy were ultra-quiet 5" computer equipment cooling fans.

 

[Silkyslim]

I use my ac3 to turn on my canopy fans when my mh turn on. I also set it to turn the fans on when/if my tank hits 80+ degrees

 

[am3gross]

I am thinking about the controllers to turn the fans on and off... Until them I think I am going to put it on timers.. The bathroom fan I put on a plug so I will be able to put that on a timer as well

 

[am3gross]

I will give an update of how day one went.. I ran the lights 4 10 hours.. Not a usual practice of mine. Usually 4-8 hours is all I do.. The temp stayed 78 the entire time..by satisfied so far... Today while the lights were out the temp went down to 77.. I think this will satisfy my needs. I think it may take some of the moisture out of the air as well.. I won't have to wipe down the windows as much

 

[davocean]

I also think you would benefit more by either the push pull method mentioned, or having the fans draw heat out, rather than push air in trying to cool the surface.

 

[am3gross]

For right now I am going to leave the fans blowing in... I will try having them blow out during the next phase of testing

 

[Entropy]

With the ceiling fan pulling heat through the attic, I don't think you are going to need anything else. 130cfm is a lot of air movement and if you are venting from the top of the canopy it should be very effective. The top of the canopy is definately the best place for a fan the pulls air out. The only draw back is the saltwater will kill the fan eventually, but for decent (sub 20db) 120mm fans at $5 a pop it is not an issue. Not sure how much your bathroom fan was, but the salt will kill it eventually.