Ventilation Fan...Suggestions Needed

I prefer to have fans at one end of the tank blowing in, and then the air exiting the other end, not the front, back, or top. This way you get more concentrated flow across the lights and water surface (at least, on most tanks that are wider than they are thick).
 
The equipment arrived and making the connections was quite easy.

The Panaflo fans arrive with three wires connected to the motor...black, red and yellow. The yellow wire is the ground and so isn't necessary. Remember, these fans are intended for use inside a computer, so grounding everything is super critical...not so much the case in ventilating a fish tank hood.

The Syntech power adapter arrives with a cord and one of those little universal adapter receptors on the end so you can plug in one of the six different adaptor tips that come with it. You're not going to use the tips, so cut the end off and strip the tips of the remaining wire to connect to the fan(s).

Wire connections are as follows:

Panaflo red to Syntech black
Panaflo black to Syntech black & white striped
Panaflo yellow to nothing...the ground wire is not needed

I'll eventually be wiring 2 fans to the adapter so I tested to see what happens if I connect both fans at the same time....worked just fine.

I still need to install the fan in the cabinet to see how it works and sounds relative to the Radio Shack model I have now. I hope to do that work this weekend and will report after that.

But for now, cranked to 12v, the Panaflo seems to be a bit louder than the Radio Shack fan, but of course is also moving 75% more air. At 9v, the Panaflo is much quieter and is still moving more air than the Radio Shack fan. We'll see how they compare in terms of noise level once I have them both in the cabinet.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9062219#post9062219 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FishDad2
The equipment arrived and making the connections was quite easy.

The Panaflo fans arrive with three wires connected to the motor...black, red and yellow. The yellow wire is the ground and so isn't necessary. Remember, these fans are intended for use inside a computer, so grounding everything is super critical...not so much the case in ventilating a fish tank hood.

The Syntech power adapter arrives with a cord and one of those little universal adapter receptors on the end so you can plug in one of the six different adaptor tips that come with it. You're not going to use the tips, so cut the end off and strip the tips of the remaining wire to connect to the fan(s).

Wire connections are as follows:

Panaflo red to Syntech black
Panaflo black to Syntech black & white striped
Panaflo yellow to nothing...the ground wire is not needed

I'll eventually be wiring 2 fans to the adapter so I tested to see what happens if I connect both fans at the same time....worked just fine.

I still need to install the fan in the cabinet to see how it works and sounds relative to the Radio Shack model I have now. I hope to do that work this weekend and will report after that.

But for now, cranked to 12v, the Panaflo seems to be a bit louder than the Radio Shack fan, but of course is also moving 75% more air. At 9v, the Panaflo is much quieter and is still moving more air than the Radio Shack fan. We'll see how they compare in terms of noise level once I have them both in the cabinet.
Click to expand...

awesome thanks.

will be doing the same.

now I just have to build some mounts to mount 2 fans over my sump.

know of any mounts to start with and possible modify?
 
The panoflo fans are noisy.

After reading this thread, I decided to buy the Panoflo fans in the hope that they will be quiet. To my dismay, they are pretty loud, even when I have them run at only 6 volts....I turned them down from 12 volts.

This is the fans that I ordered. I orded 2 of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Panaflo-38mm-...r_1/104-9364318-7487924?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Then I went to Fry's and got the Stealth 120 mm fans. They are more quiet than the Panoflo. I compared them like this:

12 volts setting Stealth vs. 9 volts setting Panoflo

When I cut the voltage of the Panoflo down to 6 volts, the stealth and the panoflo are about the same in noise level. However, at this point, I think that the stealth push more air than the panoflo.

Now I am using 3 stealths for my canopy and putting the 2 new panoflo in my closet.
 
I completed the install of the first Panaflo today and must admit that I'm disappointed.

Running at 12v the fan is pretty loud...but I knew that going in, so that's not a big deal. At 9v the fan is much quieter but still makes a bit of a hum as it runs. I'd thought/hoped that when it was inside my cabinet the hum wouldn't be audible from outside, but it is. In fact, it's a pitch that, while not all that loud, carries through the house. So when I'm in the next room I can still hear it. Very annoying!

I'm going to let it run for a while in the hope that the fan "breaks in" and the noise stops. If it doesn't though, I'll be looking to get rid of the Panaflos.

I'll keep everyone updated.
 
how would I connect 2 stealths to the Syntech? What type of wire would you reccomend for extending the length? Got any pics?
 
Here is a pic that may help.
fan_wiring.jpg


You cut off the end of the adapter wire, strip the insulation off of the last 1/4" or so of wire, and then attach the two wires such that the smaller red and black wires for the fans receive the juice from the adapter. The blue things in the pic are called "wire nuts" and should be available at home depot or radioshack if you don't have any. You can also just twist the wires together to test it out, but wire nuts would be more secure.

Here is the thread the pic came from:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/s...747#post7330747
 
One Panaflo has been installed for 5 days now and there's no sign that the high pitched whine will be going away any time soon. It's not that the whine is all that loud, it's more that the pitch really carries...which makes it far more annoying than the Radio Shack fan.

For my situation, given that I have the option to install the fans in the garage behind the tank, I'm going to look at alternatives. Possibly install the Panalo's in the garage with some flexible duct or perhaps look at more powerful fans referenced earlier by Torpus. It'll require drilling holes through the wall and such, so I'm not going to rush into it right now...plan first, cut later.

I'll leave the Panaflo in place for now, but I'm fairly certain at this point that they're not going to be the longterm answer I'd hoped they would be.
 
I got my fans from a computer surpluss store lots of fans to choose from there and cheep to only about $2 they also have about 100 different sizes.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9123315#post9123315 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BFisher244
crumbletop...what type of adapter is used to connect the two fans toger before connecting to the powersupply?
Click to expand...

The white connector stuff in the pic comes with the fans, so I just plugged those together...

piscivorous, RE trying out the stealths -- they really are quiet, especially at 9v.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9077127#post9077127 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by CyberGuy
The panoflo fans are noisy.

After reading this thread, I decided to buy the Panoflo fans in the hope that they will be quiet. To my dismay, they are pretty loud, even when I have them run at only 6 volts....I turned them down from 12 volts.

This is the fans that I ordered. I orded 2 of them.

http://www.amazon.com/Panaflo-38mm-...r_1/104-9364318-7487924?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

Then I went to Fry's and got the Stealth 120 mm fans. They are more quiet than the Panoflo. I compared them like this:

12 volts setting Stealth vs. 9 volts setting Panoflo

When I cut the voltage of the Panoflo down to 6 volts, the stealth and the panoflo are about the same in noise level. However, at this point, I think that the stealth push more air than the panoflo.

Now I am using 3 stealths for my canopy and putting the 2 new panoflo in my closet.
Click to expand...

Panaflo
Fan Speed: 2750 RPM
Air Flow: 114.7 CFM
Voltage: DC 12V
Current: 510 mA
Power: 6.12W
Noise: 45.5 dBA

Vantec Stealth
1500 RPM
53 CFM
12 V
0.08 Amp

0.96 W
28 dBA

As you can see, at full 12V, the Panaflo is ~ 2x the rpm and moves 2x the air as the Stealth. Panaflo also makes lower rpm, lower flow fans that would be quieter. I'm running 4 of the 92MM Panaflo fans in my hood (lower speed models), but they are also too loud @ 12V. At 9V, they are very good. I'd like to find some 92mm fans that are quiet and move more air. It seems it is always a trade off.
 
has anyone came up with a nice way to mount any of these fans above their sump nicely?

summers coming will need to get some fans and would like to get these more efficient fans in stead of Wal-Mart's plastic fan. Just want a nice mount for these cpu fans?

I actually just picked up a few of these-

Azoo Cooling Fans
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14701

probably going to be sending them back as they don't give off much air. The Plug for the 2 fan unit is only 300mah, maybe I'll just get a 600mah plug to run it, like the one mention earlier in this post by crumbletop

http://www.outpost.com/product/4011642

think that would work?
 
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