So we were looking at incorporating a fish tank into my water cooling system. Here's the basic concepts. Water from the tank passes through a filter then a radiator to cool it, then past the CPU and possibly GPU which would warm it back up again before it returns to the tank. Simple enough concept. Now, here's the issues that I'm trying to get past. Icky tube residue. We've all seen the filter tubes after a period of time. They get full of gunk and need periodic cleaning. Algae and bacteria can be avoided by utilizing UV inside the computer case, but that gunk is something you DON'T want in your CPU cooling block. Does anyone here have a similar setup and what did they do to avoid that simple issue?

I think the only way you're going to get past it is UV and something like a micron filter. That's if you want to use the actual tank water. Why not just have a small heat exchanger in the tank and keep the two water supplies seperate?

That's kinda cheating, don't ya think? Just kiddin, it's a thought...

As for the reasoning behind the thought, it's to use one pump for dual purposes. By setting up a sump-style filter with a simple return pump, you have nice fresh water going back into the tank. By diverting it through the water cooling system you utilize the same pump to do both functions...

I've seen case modders do this with simple tank setups where they dropped in a fish for character, but haven't ever seen a true aquarist do a setup with a proper tank. The biggest problem with this setup is lack of portability, but if it's a PC that's integrated into your home theater system (like Craig/suphew and a few others such as myself have) it's really not an issue...

UV will not be effective. Algae and other gunk will still build up as the UV is not perfect and films can also grow against the direction of flow. If you really want to harvest that heat, you could use a heat exchanger. I doubt it's worth it even in the long run though. You'd be better off keeping the aquaria well away from thousand-dollar electronics!

What if you have your water cooling system in the computer, but stick the cooling radiator in the tank and running a flow of water through it.

So fish tank gunk stays in the fish tank and your computer cooling system stays isolated.

You have any way to regulate the heat? My computer can get up to 35 degrees(according to the readout on the front panel, thats with the second fan on full and someone playing games)

As for the reasoning behind the thought, it's to use one pump for dual purposes.

Considering powerheads can be obtained off trademe for relatively little, is it worth the effort of having to dismantle and blow out the radiator all the time to clear gunk??

Separate systems sound a lot smarter.

Of course you are probably trying for a slashdot article???

So this is the closest that I've seen. Still not quite an integration between an actual tank and a computer, but close! Guess it's just easier to have fake fish...

As dimsum says, set it up the other way round. You won't need a radiator in the aquarium, just a coil made from stainless tube. I use a coil on hot days in summer to cool the tank. I just run cold tapwater through the coil to act as a heat exchanger. It usually only take 2-3 hours to knock 3'C off the tank with the tap on really low.

If you put a cooler block on the CPU, GPU and Northbridge, and circulate the water through the coil as above (instead of a radiator), you will get really good cooling...

Here's a way to eliminate the gooey residue!

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/co ... month.html

About half way down, April 2005

LOL! Oh man... that's something else. I can imagine it started with the idea to use a computer PSU to power the blue CC "night light" and then went on to try and figure out how to subnerge it and then decided to just put the whole PC in there. Ah well, at least he has a handy place to run his fishtank database from!

Back to the concept of tank-cooling the CPU... I've been brainstorming and it's going to be a tricky business keeping either a steady temperature in the tank or on the CPU with a heat-exchange system like that. While it will definitely shave a few degrees off the cpu if it's a cold-water tank (with average temps of 20-22 degrees) would it make a difference towards heating the tank? Would there be any way to stabilize it aside from running a secondary heater?

In the meantime, I'm working on stripping down an old radiator to extract the SS tube. I'll then start playing...

That's a cool idea you have there, BlueandKim!

Let us know how you get on, if you decide building something! :bounce:

Water cooling a cpu is ridiculously awesome, way way better than a fan. It means you can overclock heaps. But I dont think it will do much to the tank, and your comp will have to be running constantly even if it does produce enough heat. (my geuss is that it wouldnt)

If you are going to buy the water pipes for the computer, you might aswell just have normal water cooling.

Computers generate a lot of heat, most draw at least 100w, most power supplies are 2-300w or more, most of this power ends up as heat, if you like come and visit me at work one day and I'll turn the aircon off for 5 minutes! Damn the room heats up fast

Yeah, most current CPUs are in the 100+ watt of thermal heat range. May not be a problem for an average sized tank in cooler weather. But a hot day could easily overheat the tank.

But at least your CPU would be nice and cool and you can play Half Life 2 with really good frame rates...

I think the problem would be having the temp stable, like if the tank gets too cold, you cant have the computer fire up Halo 2 by itself. :lol:

I suppose as a suppliment it could work. Meaning the tank heater doesnt switch on as much.

My friends cpu gets up to 70 when its hot , the warning thing that pops up has a huge flame on it haha. Not too good for it I imagine.