computers

[Salmon King]

A word of worning.I had a 1 year old computer in the same room as my reef tank.It started acting up.I ended up taking it to 3 separate stores to get it fixed at 70 bucks a shot.The third time they told me it was full of corosion.Nothing could be saved.Exspensive lesson.The fan sucked in all that salt air.I have the tower off the floor.Ihope this works.Has anybody else have this happen or any advice.Actually it/s the second time this has happened

[bubblepuffer]

Depend on how far is the tank from the computer and how big is the tank and what kind of vaporation you looking at from the tank.. I never hear about it before but I can't say it wont..

Just like leaving near a bay area, most metal, car and stuff getting corrosion after long exposure to the salty air.

I have reef tank, 30g in my bedroom, next to many metal thing around and so far no corrosion and my computer in the same room too...

Did the tech give you see inside the computer?? Hard to believe about corrotion inside a computer from a fish tank. HDD is tightly shielded, no air or anything possible to get inside..if strong enough to cause corrosion inside the system, then on your computer chassis should show some kind of corrosion too.. ...

[Salmon King]

It was a 90gal.I know it was from the salt in the air.It happened before on another computer.I gave that one to my sister She said it was full of rust.I didn/t spill any water in it.It/s because the fan sucks in the air.

[Matt]

Salt air? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Unless you've got an onshore breeze blowing up the salt spray, there is no salt spray. The evaporation water doesn't have any salt in it -- that's why we topoff with fresh water.

[Salmon King]

It happened to me twice.I had 2 90 and 255 gal.I thought the same as you but it happened.My computer was on the other side of the room

[kwirky]

i don't know about corrosion from salt. probably a reaction with the alkaline chemicals in the evaporated water, not corrosion from salt. I'd be more worried about minute short circuiting from moisture, than corrosion of parts.

It's like how some cell phones kick the bucket if they've been brought indoors from the freezing cold outside many times. The minute condensation inside slowly kills the phone over time from the tiny short circuits that happen.

Being in calgary, our air's too dry to make much of a difference I think. Before we got the tank we had a humidifier on the furnace. After getting the 120g, the humidistat for the house hasn't changed much, since the humidifier aims to keep it up anyways.

Maybe if somone lived on a coast, or next to a large lake they'd have to worry about large ammounts of humidity emenating from their tank, damaging things other than their jiprock.

[bubblepuffer]

I think could be related to where his location is.. I believe he is from Victoria.. is that an island surrounded by the Pacific ocean? I think combination of Air from the surrounding sea area, plus tank.. could be possible.. as most of the air in your house or room mostly will be from the mixture of salt breeze, plus reef tank.. hmm create a combo there

[Matt]

I've never heard of anything like this, and I've maintained computers from coast to coast, including locations that were literally within a stone's throw from the ocean, and in locations that were within a foot of a reef aquarium. A lot of things go wrong with computers, but I've never seen one fall to corrosion... They do go badly wrong when they get wet.

I'm not saying it didn't happen. I'm saying I'm strongly suspicious of either the story or the competency of the tech, or there is something else at play.

[Kabong]

I'm from the island as well, I do get a fare amount of moisture in the air,
But even though I have my tower like right next to one of my tanks I've never had a problem.

On a side note I'd go back to the first 2 stores and demand my diagnostic fee back.
If they didn't notice rust and corrosion they mustn't have taken a very close look.

[Salmon King]

I had 2-90gal. reef and a 255.The humidity was pretty thick.I have a airconditioner dehumidifyer but can only run it when i/m home.I would get a gallon a day out of it.I have cut down to a 33 reef and 255 because of that.I really want to get a big reef again.I know my sister never saw anything like that or the other computer guys.Does anybody else get that much humidity in there place.I even had my monitor sent to Vancouver becouse somebody said it must be the problem.It took 3 weeks and they said they fixed it.There was nothing wrong with it.

[bubblepuffer]

hmm.. if you haven't got the computer repair.. dont say anything. Take it back and try to bring it to another computer store and see what will be their story for it....

[untamed]

We'll find out because my controller laptop is probably in the worse possible location for exposure to salt as it is mounted just above the sump, under the stand of my 400.

If there is any splashing anywhere in the system, then you will have salt in the air. Just wipe any horizontal surface with your finger and have a little taste.

[Salmon King]

I have hang on filters on the tanks splashing abit/aqua clears/prism pro .There are some other things showing rust. My dads metal tool I inherited.I showed a fellow reefer the damage he is also a computer guy.I have alot of salt buildup on my 255 on the glass.

[Decz]

I've had this happen before, but never to that extent. Of course, my situation was a little different. I was living on a boat on the coast of BC, in the summer the windows were always open so there was a fresh sea breeze going by the computer all the time. I lived there a year and the connections on the back of my scanner had slight corossion, as well as the PS2 connection on my computer. The inside wasn't touched, not evenly slightly.

You've really got to have a breeze or serious air movement happening in the room for any significant salt damage to electronics. If that's the case then you should consider socking your fan intake on the back of your computer. Just get some light filter foam, similar to what you would put in your furnance vents and place it on the outside of the fan intake (external side of the computer). It'll look rather bleak, but will help filter some of the salt and media in the air. Before you try something like that though, you should take a good look at your home system. There shouldn't really be that type of movement with the salty air. Do you have a fan blowing off your tank lights and towards the computer? My home office and aquarium are the same room. Granted it is a 20' long room, but still, haven't yet to experience/feel/see/taste/smell any salt of other reef substances on the computer side of the room.

[Salmon King]

I will try the foam.i know the humidity gets really bad in the summer.I/s like being in the Amozon. Thank you.

[KrazyKuch]

You All do know that their doesn't have to be salt in water to make things rust...You can put a piece of metal in a bucket full of pure water and it will still rust!!!