Decreasing my tank temp

What I would like to do is this. Get my tank temp down to around 76 to 78 degrees (tops). I do not want to invest in a chiller. My tank specs are down below. This is what I plan to do. Let me know if it is a bad idea.

I am running 80 to 82 degrees daily. 78 in the morning. I have air conditioning but my wife feels she needs a light jacket at 76 degrees if there is a light breeze. You get the picture. I'm not home, the air conditioning is not on.

I have glass tops on my tank. I know, I know. It's bad. They are there because of the way my lighting system is set up. Here is the plan.

1.) Rig my canopy to take both sets of PCs without any chance of them crashing down into the water.

2.) Fashion, out of acrylic, small spash guards on each corner of the tank to keep the salt water from eroding the wood (there is already some erosion due to splash....nothing serious....just enough to annoy the OCD part of me.

3.) Screw into the back, perpendicular to the canopy, two pieces of one by four evenly spaced.

4.) Get two of those really cheap desk fans. Attach them. Turn them on. All day.

Now, I tried turning my heater off. During August, even in the PNW, it seems that one is not needed. I checked all my equipement. Nothing is generating an excess of heat (except, of course for my two PCs).

So that's it. In a nutshell. If anyone has a better plan, please speak up. I am starting this project in a few days.

Thanks guys and dolls.......John.

 

i have pcs and they don't raise my tank temp at all,,,now that i think about it,just removing your glass tops should help a great deal.they trap alot of heat{i won't read you the riot act for using them}lol
your idea sounds good to me, just be ready for an increase in evaporation

 

somebody onthis site told me they used to freeze two liter bottles and put them in their sump. you could try that.

 

Ditto. As soon as you start blowing air across the surface of your tank, evaporation will dramatically increase. just means that you have to top up more regularally.

I would see how things look with an open top first. I have a closed top on my tank and leave it that way during the day (just incase anyone decides to try out carpet surfing). If its a hot day I'll open the lid when I get home and within a hour the temperature will drop by 2-3 degrees.

Then again, if you're looking for an excuse to build something sounds like a fun little project

 

I use an eight inch circular desk fan, pointed directly at the center-of-mass of my 20 gallon tank in my bedroom, as the bedroom is the only room in the house without AC. Tank temperature drops from 83 to 80 and stays there all day long. If the room were air-conditioned the temp would be even lower, but since the room temp is 80, it's not going to get any lower. Using the fan this way doesn't increase my evaporation rate at all.

 

Good thoughts...

another: Shop around and try out different desk fans, some much quieter then others...

May also want to consider:

DIY Fan Thermostat (ugly, but works!)

Don't need if you are just going to run fans around the clock, or have on timer to just run during high heat periods during day.

I live in PNW where really hot days are far and few between...so running fans all the time or certain periods is just not practical...:-/

Besides...sounds like a helicopter in living room when all 7 fans on tank kick on.

Noisy, but sure cools down tank quick...


Good luck.

 

a chiller would make life much easier

 

Yeah.....but I still need to spend about $400 on my lighting. There is NO way that I would get that past my wife. OMG. Tangster would be able to hear her scream at me in CT. I live in WA. I don't want to think about it anymore......I am getting scared.

 

hahaha
you could make a diy chiller with a minifridge and airline tubing? i want to do this pretty badly but am waiting to find a free fridge

 

Try a fan over your sump running all the time, it will be easier and cheaper as well as less obtrusive. A lot of heat get trapped under there so you can also crack the doors, leave them open or even add vents to let air circulate.

Just saw it was glass