Cooling your tanks

Nella

Nella

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In you're opinions what would be the best to cool you're akwaruims
putting in a air conditioning or running a chiller?
keeping in mind that I have two separate akwaruims in one room I'm leaning towards a aircon.
but surely that will amount to a greater eskom bill
on the other hand buying two chillers is also going to be expensive :(
 
Or maybe someone has an ingenious idea on a other means of cooling you're tank?
 
In Polokwane it is very hot at the moment. I have two tanks both fitted with chillers and both run at 26 dergrees. Even during the night it does not cool down in Polokwane so if you go the aircon route you will have to run the aircon 24/7.
 
For best results with a chiller, it should be mounted externally to the house. No point in the heat output from chiller heating up the room.

Aircon would be most cost effective, depending on the room. If it is a big open plan area with high ceiling, the results would be different from a smaller closed up room.

Alternative option is normal 12v PC fans blowing across the tank surface and or sump area to help increase evaporation cooling. But then an ATU with big enough reservoir will help out a lot.

Last question, might sound stupid, anyway, do you have ceiling isolation in that part of the house?
 
I recently saw a cheaper option/DIY cooler on youtube. All you need is a second hand bar fridge, hose pipe and small pump.

You drill 2 holes into the side of the bar fridge -> 1 for the inlet and 1 for the outlet of the hose. The entire hose is coiled up inside the bar fridge with nothing else inside.

As soon as you temp reaches the upper setpoint (lets say 26C), the pump switches on via a STC controller and pumps water from your sump into your bar fridge resulting in colder water exiting. Ofcourse, the pump switches off as soon as the lower setpoint is reached(lets say 24C).

This sounds like a very cost effective way of having a chiller but I'm not sure of the heat transfer capability of a hose pipe and therefore the efficiency of the system. Maybe RO tubing could also work?
 
RiaanP. Interesting point about where to mount a chiller. Makes a lot of sense.
The room isn't to big let's say 35 square feet and it do have a ceiling but it's right up against the roof. That's part of my problem the roof is really high So there's n way of getting insulation in there.
I do have fans that I have installed and it did helped a lot but still not good enough. Came home to a tank yesterday evening pushing temps close to 30. As Francois said polokwane is very hot . Was yesterday close to 36
Bigbone. ..how do you prevent the bar fridge from freezing you're pipes when the circulation pump is not running? Can't really switch the fridge on and off it would take to long to cool down again. But I do honestly feel that just maybe with a bid of tweaking that might work
AND I can keep a cold one close buy
 
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Fridges arent very efficient at cooling. If you look at the btu units of your average fridge, there's no way it will be capable if cooling a medium sized tank
 
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@459b, true...this would probably be viable for 200 litre tanks and less.

Maybe build a small cooling tower lol...
 
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Nella said:
The room isn't to big let's say 35 square feet and it do have a ceiling but it's right up against the roof. That's part of my problem the roof is really high So there's n way of getting insulation in there.
Click to expand...

Not sure if the product Therm Guard is available in Polokwane, old Pietersburg. It is loose fibres made mainly from paper, but treated so that it does not burn. They blow it in with a think pipe so they only need an opening. No need to get inside the roof.
Roof Insulation - Ceiling Insulation - Eco Insulation - Roofing Insulation | Thermguard

Cheapest and quickest temporary option is to get a nice standing fan and aim it to blow across the tank.
 
and which lights do you use?

Is the canopy open or enclosed, same for sump. Is the sump cabinet open at the back or at least got fans extracting air and moisture?
 
The houses ceiling board is basically directly under the corrugated sheeting with only a brandering to separate them. Looks cool and give a feeling of space but dam hot...

I'm on 8x80w t5....can't believe how much heat they produce
I am looking at a diy build on leds.
I can get a 24000 btu ac for 4k
maybe I must do that...
My one tank is about 480L and the other is a boyu tl.550
it's the boyu that I'm not sure how to go the chiller root with
 
I only have a few kenyan trees and a few zoas...so no serious corals as in yet. Coral availability in piet er burg is a bid tough.
I'm only going to run 2 globes for now and I must seriously make a plan with ventilation for my sump
it's currently totally inclosed
 
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