blindside Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I'm running a 250watt, which gives me almost 8 watts per gallon, which I think is pretty good for my sps, but it is insane the heat that the thing produces. I got home after work tonight to see my temp all the way at almost 86. Not good. I added a 4 fan fixture to clamp on on the back pointing directly to the water and where the light hits. I just added it. Can anyone chime in with some advice and or experience to a temp so high? Can corals survive? If not how long do you think it will take for them to die? The temp has only been that high since maybe around 12PM this afternoon. Its been 9 hours. Halides is the only light I run, so I run them from about 10am to 8PM. So there on for a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpio69 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Add a chiller or raise the hieght of your lights. I'm running a 250watt, which gives me almost 8 watts per gallon, which I think is pretty good for my sps, but it is insane the heat that the thing produces. I got home after work tonight to see my temp all the way at almost 86. Not good. I added a 4 fan fixture to clamp on on the back pointing directly to the water and where the light hits. I just added it. Can anyone chime in with some advice and or experience to a temp so high? Can corals survive? If not how long do you think it will take for them to die? The temp has only been that high since maybe around 12PM this afternoon. Its been 9 hours. Halides is the only light I run, so I run them from about 10am to 8PM. So there on for a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindside Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ha, give me your chiller my light cannot go any higher as of now. Not till I figure another way out on mounting my fixture. Ill have to rely on my fan fixture for now I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Ha, give me your chiller my light cannot go any higher as of now. Not till I figure another way out on mounting my fixture. Ill have to rely on my fan fixture for now I guess. fan grid on your sump.... and use a heatsink "chiller" like the "ice probe" series they can cool 10 gallons 20degrees....so do the math i guess...really don't think that is a viable option..or convert a dorm fridge to a chiller..they are cheap on craigslist...same basic idea as a kegerator...spool up hose inside cooling chamber...tada more contact time more chilling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindside Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 I have a small fridge like that! But don't think I can build something like a chiller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnoburns Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I ran across the cooler made from a dorm fridge recently. Here is a DIY link http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dyiprojec...ydonchiller.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindside Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Anyone want to help make a chiller out of my small dorm fridge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Anyone want to help make a chiller out of my small dorm fridge? sure lemme know when...i"m not all that far from you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjohn Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Do you think the plastic tubing will get enough heat exchange? Copper or stainless steel tubing would be better? Would the copper leach into the water causing problems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cool Breeze Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 (edited) take the fridge apart and ditch the casing or shell paint the coils with an epoxy coating. Buy an after market thermostat or rob one out of a heater. Put the coils in the tank and run the t-stat in front of the main power for the fridge and bam there is your chiller. Edited February 14, 2009 by Cool Breeze Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Capt. Obvious Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 take the fridge apart and ditch the casing or shell paint the coils with an epoxy coating. Buy an after market thermostat or rob one out of a heater. Put the coils in the tank and run the t-stat in front of the main power for the fridge and bam there is your chiller. tada! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 as you know you and I have pretty much the same setup. I keep my lights about 10 inches off of the water, and run a 4 fan cooling unit that is aimed to run across the top of the water. Anytime the light is on the fans are on. With both running together my tank barely ever breaks 79 degrees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caferacermike Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Dorm room fridge chillers are a joke. Do more research and you'll find out why. The single most obvious point is that PVC and vinyl tubing are INSULATORS. Thus trapping the heat in the water and preventing the exchange of heat. You must have metal tubing for this to work. It should be pretty obvious to everyone. Your refrigerator, your AC unit, and our expensive hobby chillers DO NOT use plastic tubing for the heat exchanger. If they did the prices would be cut in half. No they use copper, which would be horrible for our reef tanks, and titanium which is very expensive thus the high price of a quality chiller. It's a very simple and basic principle. The plastic parts of your fridge are used on the inside to insulate it and keep it cold. Beer kegs, which need to be cooled very quickly, come in aluminum. Thick plastic kegs would take forever to cool down. But hey it's just my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismunn Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 (edited) my tanks stays at a constant 86 degrees in the day if that takes any worry off your mind? ive had no problems with it... Edited February 15, 2009 by chrismunn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 The fan should do a decent job of cooling your water some. It will interrupt the heat being transfered from your light fixture to the water. You have a Solana right? With the open top and the fan, should keep it at 80 or below. Also, try keeping the fan on overnight and this will give you a cooler starting temp before the lights come on. I have done that for a long time with success Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erock Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I'm running 5.5 watts per gallon right now and if i leave it on for that long it gets up to about 84 so I've been having it on from 6am to about 11 and then again from 4 until about 11 or something like that. It works great for keeping the temp where it should be and its getting a good amount of light. A big reason i did it is because i typically get up really early and go to sleep pretty late and with no one to show this thing off to during the day, it might as well rest. could i be doing damage of any kind? I never really thought to see if that would work but while reading this thread it got me thinking. thx eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nano_Steve Posted February 16, 2009 Share Posted February 16, 2009 I agree with Caferacermike, the coil needs to be metal to work best but unfortunately titanium is expensive, aluminum doesn't come in hollowed tubing very easily, and copper is awful for a reef system. Ric, yes copper is a bad choice. Saltwater corrodes copper quite readily and it will put copper particles into your tank effectively killing all crustacea, including copepods and micro-crustacea, and the fauna of your tank will be heavily affected. Copper is often used for fish treatments so I doubt a little copper would do much harm to a fish but in this setting it would not be good at all. If all else fails, you might find an aluminum box to put inside the dorm fridge and have it act as a sump/chiller, although your surface area will be far less than if using tubing making this setup much less efficient. Just some ideas. -Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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