Aquarium Dude Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 I have 4 58 watt tubes in an enclosed hood on my tank, It gets very hot in there. Should I set up a fan to circulate air? What have other people done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 yeah you can just get some of those computer fans and stick them in the side of your hood if you want. thats what us reefers do to cool metal halides. fans blowing onto water surface causing evaporation seem to work best but mean more water-topups. otherwise one blowing in one side, one blowing out the other side works well also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted April 21, 2007 Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 should note however that the hot air is not a problem if it is not overheating the water. what temp is the tank sitting at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted April 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2007 about 25, but before lights about 24. So I guess it may have effected it a little. I just wondered about the effect of the heat on the ballast etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Magnetic ones run hot, and don't really mind, electronic ones run much cooler and don't really appreciate being heated up too much. If the hood is made of wood or mdf it may warp with the constant temperature difference between sides of the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarium Dude Posted April 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thjey are magnetic, how would you cool the hood, its made of mdf and I really dont want it to warp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 Airflow will do it, you can put holes in the top to allow some convection thru the hood, this will also need somewhere to pull air into it. Otherwise you are looking at some computer fans. They cost stuff all and just need a 12v powerpack to run them. Don't bother looking for mains fans, they cost much more and tend to hum when running Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 I had conventional flouros in the lid of a cabinet and spent megabucks to replace them with fittings with electronic ballasts and the heat output was much the same (contrary to advice) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 I wouldn't bother with computer fans, go straight for a small desktop fan. You can get them for much cheaper than a computer fan especially once you include the transformer. I've got a little desktop fan, was something like $10 at the warehouse moves heaps of air and is pretty quiet. Been running for a few years now non stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 I wouldn't bother with computer fans, go straight for a small desktop fan. You can get them for much cheaper than a computer fan especially once you include the transformer. Depends on your connections :lol: Brad set up his discus tank with computer fans for nothing :roll: Lucky bugger has friends in a tech shop. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 How do you mount a desktop fan in the thing so that it can blow over the tubes and ballast? the smallest desktop fan I have seen is about 180mm diameter. Computer fan has mounts, is thinner and is only 80mm typically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted April 22, 2007 Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 You'd only really need a fan if using convection was impossible. Convection is also the cheapest method as all you need to do is drill a couple of holes (hot air rises, sucks in cold air below). Ballasts are designed to get quite hot, so I wouldn't worry about that unless they give off a smell. Setting up fans would be beneficial at summer time though if you have fish that dont like the higher temps (africans or natives) by using the fans to blow over the water surface. If you wanted to get all fancy pants you could get a thermostat wired in, so that the fan only cools the lighting when tank temp exceeds 28C or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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