Jumping In! My tank diary begins. - Page 4

TheReefGeek · #31 03-20-2006, 04:00 PM

Looking good!

If heat becomes an issue you might want to have your ballast outside your lighting hood.

lastlight · #32 03-20-2006, 05:38 PM

I'll actually have a second ballast in there as soon as I have the funds. I'm putting 3 4" fans in the canopy to deal with this. one blowing fresh air in the side and two in the top blowing it out.

Anyone foresee any problems there?

Brett

TheReefGeek · #33 03-20-2006, 05:42 PM

I would put 1 fan on each side, one blowing towards the other one that is sucking the hot air out. Start with two, if two isn't enough, use 4.

Before you buy the fans ask to run them in the store to see how much noise they make.

Delphinus · #34 03-20-2006, 05:46 PM

The only thing about the "1 fan in, 1 fan out" method is that you're only moving the same amount of air that one fan would move.

E.g., if the fans are rated 110cfm then you only get 110cfm through the hood. But if you direct both in, or both out (and vent for the other direction) then you get 220cfm through the hood.

Not saying it's wrong to do 1-in, 1-out, I have 2 hoods this way, but thought I would point out that about the fan directions because it is often overlooked.

lastlight · #35 03-20-2006, 05:47 PM

I wanted to avoid a fan in the visible end of the canopy. Is it that much better to have them on opposing ends rather than blowing horizontally in and vertically out? If so I'll do what's safer. My wife hates house fires for some odd reason! The fans I intended to buy are these:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...ID=pfo-pmcfan4

TheReefGeek · #36 03-20-2006, 05:55 PM

I used to run one of those, not super loud, but not super quiet either. 3 of them is going to make quite a hum I think.

Maybe the icecap ones run quieter, does anyone know?

Good point on the fans.

I have no proof on this, but I like one pointing to the other end and having it sucked out because it just seems as though you are dealing with the heat more "directly". By passing onefan right over the bulbs and ballast the heat is getting "pushed" to the other end of the canopy where the other fan sucks it out. Like I said I don't know that this is more/less efficient.

In terms of safety I don't think it matters.

lastlight · #37 03-20-2006, 06:01 PM

one fan would be in the end and blow the heat to the other end and on that end the fan would be in the top of the canopy. I figured if heat rose it'd work as well but maybe i'm wrong here. luckily i can try one in the top first and if it isn't great patch it without messing my finish up. unless a guest is 6'6" or higher the top can be torn up a little without fear of it looking too ghetto.

Delphinus · #38 03-20-2006, 06:02 PM

I run Icecaps (DC) in one canopy and Orions (AC) in another. The Orions are actually quieter. The Icecaps are neat though in that they come with heat sensors and will run at slow, medium or fast speed depending on temperature. At the slow speed I couldn't hear them, but when my halides are on they switch to 110cfm (the max speed) within seconds. They do make a bit of a noise at that speed (could be worse, but we're not talking "whisper silent" unfortunately).

I think one thing to try, when you mount the fans onto your canopy, put some small o-rings over the screws to act like a bushing or whatever the term is, they'll (hopefully) suck up some of the vibration and prevent it getting transmitted to the hood.

It's amazing how a simple oversight here or there can accumulate into a lot of tank noise. One of my canopies just howls sometimes, it's because it just barely touches one of my sump return pipes, and the vibration is transferred to the hood and it just resonates.

There's never a shortage of "Oh I never thought THAT would happen" moments in this hobby, you'll always make it better "next time" and even then you'll still think "Dang, I wish I could have forseen THAT such-and-such happening..."

lastlight · #39 03-20-2006, 06:12 PM

i totally hear you. i had the system getting pretty quiet. i added the canopy and now all the weight resonates with the dang return pump! maybe some rubber bands under the canopy will help...

GMGQ · #40 03-20-2006, 06:14 PM

Looks Great!

My only concern are your ballasts and the outlets etc inside the hood. It can get pretty humid in there, and salt creep will always reer it's ugly head when you least expect it, or a fish may decide to jump and splash water some day. It would be Much safer to mount that stuff outside of the canopy. I personally try to have as little eletrical stuff inside the canopy as possible. Just in case, y'know? Maybe you can extend the wiring and put that stuff lower on the stand or something.

When I was researching my fans, the concensus was to have 2 fans blow IN. Air will travel in the path of least resistence, so it will find a way out of the canopy. In my case, I actually cut vent holes too, so that's where most of the hot air exhausts out of. FYI: Hot Air Rises. So have vents higher if possible.

But if you have 1 in and 1 out, the OUT one will break down pretty fast. Since it's exhausting humid air, which will corrode the fan. Unless you spend $$ and get marine grade fans, none of these other fans are rated for the humidity that a SW aquarium under MH lights will put out. Also, the point of fans is to speed Evaporation. Evaporation = Cooling. The faster it evaporates, the faster the tank temperature will cool down. You want maximum CFM from your fans. So as Delphinus pointed out, 1 x In and 1 x out wont achieve this.

Also, if you're ok with soldering, you can just get a couple of 120mm Computer Case fans (cheaper), and hook them up to any old AC/DC adapters you have laying around. I just got a couple of female plugs from Radioshack, and soldered the leads of some fans I had lying around, and plugged them right into the AC/DC adapters I had. No need to spend $30 on a fan from JL. You can even find the quieter case fans if you want (that JL one looks like an AC fan, which run pretty loud).

BTW, I'm helping a buddy setup his RO/DI and auto top off. Your creative mounting of the float valve is very ingenious! No need to drill a hole to mount the float valve then. I might steal the idea. Cudos!