chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 it got to 30 degree's up on the hibiscus coast (north/north shore) today. am glad i was in an airconditioned office and not rennovating my house! (paying my builder mate and bro-in-law to do it!) anyways, the ambient temperature in the room the main tank is in was 32 degrees. im quite happy at my tanks water temperature as it only got up to 27.4 degrees and that was WITHOUT my chiller running (yeah, im lazy - or more so busy, havent had time to hook it up) when the main tank room is built, it will have two extraction fans hooked up to a "room" temperature controller and set to automatically come on when the room temp gets too high. now im wondering if (at 32 degrees room temp) the chiller is really necessary? its essentially $1k+ which i could put towards a set of streams. on the other hand, im too scared to sell incase i screw up and really do need it!... ...it's a money thing! can someone provide an answer to my little dilema? sell it or keep it?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 My tank was 30.2 c today, all looks ok, problem is that the coral grow too fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 The room my tank is in has been up to 35 most of the last few days. The tank is fan cooled which mostly handles it, however the chiller which is installed as a second line of defence, did run quite a bit today. I've noticed that humidity also has quite a bearing on it, the chiller will have to run quite a bit more on a humid day, than a not so humid day of the same temperature. Assume because it would slow evaporation. As this room is also my office & I spend quite a bit of time in it, I can see the effect the fan has on temperature, I'm thinking I may have wasted my money on the chiller. The fan I have currently is insufficient, but I think a bank of fans would be able to do a considerable amount of cooling. I think the ideal system would be a graduated system, where more fans would come on if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 Up to 30°C without problems? Hmmm, Ok, and I was getting a little concerned because mine was up to 26.5! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 ...but I think a bank of fans would be able to do a considerable amount of cooling this would make sense as (and more predominantely in a large tank) the largest impact on water temperature would be the lighting system (ie: hallides!). in a smaller tank, the room temperature would "heat" the tank up faster due to the small volume of water. i have around 1000 litres which i would find hard to believe (specifically with my design - ie: down to the sump room under the house which is quite cool) that a day of sun would heat that much water up substantially (as opposed to say a 100 litre tank) is that theory right or wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 Makes sense. What I've kinda thought, is with lights on etc, a tank may be inclined to run at some particular amount of degrees above room temperature. So, for example, if the heater is turned off and is not part of the equation, you may find the tank temp would tend to be say 3 or 4 degrees above whatever the room temp is. Then, with a big tank, as you say there will be a lag as the room temperature comes up, to effect the tank temperature. May not be quite as long as you think though. If you can find these numbers, and then find the hottest your room temperature would ever get, the maximum amount of cooling required could then be calculated, even by seeing how much one fan will drop the tank temperature, and then adding more as required. With my smallish tank, the fan I have will keep the tank around 2 degrees cooler than it would be without it. On a hot day, when this is not enough, the chiller which is set a tad higher, will come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 To help with cooling it is a good idea to start the metal halides after 3 pm. This will help quite a bit. and computer fans are great. but sometimes you have no option but to invest in a chiller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 i think i need to monitor the temperature a bit closer and make a call. i'd hate to sell the chiller (which i got for a reasonable price) then turn around and have to try and hunt one down again... oh dear, it's 2:47am... back to work :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 Back to work! What actually do you do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 heheheee, says the man who posts AFTER me senior network engineer for a computing company,... but i sell software on the Internet as a part time job... and a certain feature in it needs fixing as soon as possible as there are a number of people worldwide awaiting the update!!! anyways, just finished now, spent last 2 hours testing!!! this clock is wrong, its still an hour behind my eyes right now = Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 Don't you just love software projects... there is always just one more thing to fix! Looks like we're all a bunch of computer geeks here. Chimera, Pies, Me. Layton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 I think you'll find GEEKS is the optimal word The wives call us fish geeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 My tank crept up to 28 the other day, target of 25. No fans, 2500 litres of water, 6 halides. Which reminds me I must put the sump on a reverse cycle. Jane calls us fish nerds. I don't consider myself a geek, although I do run a team of geeks, so maybee that makes me the geek master, as oposed to master geek Pieek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 everyone tells me i dont look anything like a computer geek - more like a builder :lol: although, all my mates call me a fish geek - but hey, its an enjoyable hobby! with computers, i enjoy the challenge,... but probably more so the money maybe im just a geek wannabe... anyways, whats the general consensus with my chiller, keep or sell?!!!! i need STREAMS!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 keep it ....its not feb yet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 Streams 'may' help improve some coral growth, a chiller may save your tank from crashing. The hottest month of the year on average is Febuary. Hrmmm what to do.... Pie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted January 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 cool (spot the pun), good point. ok, in that case im starting up a "chimera needs streams" charity. any donations can be made at your nearest bank or post office. alternately, money can be transferred online via a paypal account. all donations in excess of $50 will receive a free set of ginsu knives (while stocks last) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RnB Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 I purchased Brendans chiller and installed it on the tank last week, tank got to 29 and room hotter, i not want to risk what might happen next and also not want to change the photo period... seems to keep tank at whatever its dialed in for. Chimera, having the downstairs sump room may be cooling your setup..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calvin Posted January 26, 2005 Report Share Posted January 26, 2005 cool (spot the pun), good point. ok, in that case im starting up a "chimera needs streams" charity. any donations can be made at your nearest bank or post office. alternately, money can be transferred online via a paypal account. all donations in excess of $50 will receive a free set of ginsu knives (while stocks last) I was a computer Geek, now I train them to become Geeks. 8) Unfortunately I will not be able to contribute as I would like to start up the CALVIN NEEDS A BIGGER SETUP FUND and I will be offering 2 sets of Ginsu knive sets and a chopping board for donations. (unlimited stock) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petplanet Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 I was wondering why my peral bubbles were starting to look pale. My tank hit 32 degrees yesterday and has probably been that high for a while. I brought a small $13 fan from the Warehouse, opened the hood, took the front lid off and put the fan blowing air accross it. Today it is sitting at 25 degrees. Evaporating water like crazy but its doing the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetskisteve Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Today is cooler than yesterday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Tank's down to 25.3. Raised the light a few inches and spun the louvers on the fan a bit so it's blowing more down onto the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Well I have made the purchase of a chiller Resun CL-650 for my 4ft tank, the unit runs a couple of time a hour and keeps the temp at 26deg. Down from 30deg. Cost $1200 which the wife freaked about. Must say I'm rather happy about the chiller the temp does not move more than 1 deg either side of the set point. The heater plugs in to the chiller to make sure there are no conflicts between heater and chiller. Onlu issue is the noise.... my wife calls it a 747. Bugger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 tell her you can take it ack for a store credit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seahorsemad Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 I too am suffering from the heat but my tank needs to be less than 22 degrees so have one fan on perm and help just brought another fan today to cope with feb. I also freeze salt water in ice cubes and ice cream containers and drop them in the tank in the morning and when i come home. Tank has got up to 24 degrees over the last couple of days, but hoping a second fan will do the trick. Cant wait for my electricity bill (not). Hoping it will hold out till bonus time when i can get a chllier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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