titanium cooling coil

[JG]

I have a new 125 gallon tank that I'm just getting set up and it's
running a little hotter than I'd like - 81F
I'd like the temp to be about 77F, so I only need to cool down 4
degrees.
I have a clip-on fan blowing on the sump, and two 3" Radio Shack fans
blowing on the lights.

I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.

Would this have any affect, or is the coil too small?

The other thing I haven't tried yet, is replacing the solid glass
cover on the top of the tank (that the lights sit on) with eggcrate.
The eggcrate will allow for more evaporation, but now the water is
more directly exposed to the heat from the lights so I don't know if
that will make it better or worse.

Jeff

[richard reynolds]

> I have a new 125 gallon tank that I'm just getting set up and it's
> running a little hotter than I'd like - 81F
> I'd like the temp to be about 77F, so I only need to cool down 4
> degrees.
> I have a clip-on fan blowing on the sump, and two 3" Radio Shack fans
> blowing on the lights.
>
> I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
> for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
> Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.
>
> Would this have any affect, or is the coil too small?
>
> The other thing I haven't tried yet, is replacing the solid glass
> cover on the top of the tank (that the lights sit on) with eggcrate.
> The eggcrate will allow for more evaporation, but now the water is
> more directly exposed to the heat from the lights so I don't know if
> that will make it better or worse.
>
> Jeff

remove the glass it holds in more heat than it keeps out, as for a 3' coil and air alone
probibly not, if you can get something colder running through that coil then definately
also larger fans will do better at heat removal than smaller fans (kinda duh :) )

--
--
richard reynolds

[Jim Brown]

JG > wrote in message
om...
> I have a new 125 gallon tank that I'm just getting set up and it's
> running a little hotter than I'd like - 81F
> I'd like the temp to be about 77F, so I only need to cool down 4
> degrees.
> I have a clip-on fan blowing on the sump, and two 3" Radio Shack fans
> blowing on the lights.
>
> I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
> for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
> Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.
>
> Would this have any affect, or is the coil too small?
>
> The other thing I haven't tried yet, is replacing the solid glass
> cover on the top of the tank (that the lights sit on) with eggcrate.
> The eggcrate will allow for more evaporation, but now the water is
> more directly exposed to the heat from the lights so I don't know if
> that will make it better or worse.
>
> Jeff

If the tank is set up in an place without air-conditioning, the water will
rise and fall with the room temperature. As a new aquarium, the extra heat
above what you are aiming for will promote quicker plant growth, and faster
cycling. That 4ºF isn't much of a spread.
A fan blowing on a coil won't do much for that volume of water. The
powerhead in the tank will add more heat. Eggcrate will allow better
evaporation and cooling, but means more water for top-ups. I have no heat
problems with my fluorescent lights and wonder what types of lighting you
use.
Personally, I wouldn't worry about it for now. Summer's half gone so the
ambient temperature should come down a bit, unless you are in an extreme and
constant weather area.

Jim

[Chief Ephor]

> > I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
> > for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
> > Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.

hi.
Two points.
1, titanium tubing is a real PITA to bent, even if you get the softiest
grade.
2, the fact that the fan cools your sump is because of accelerated
evaporation. The evaporative cooling is what take the heat out of the tank.
With the fan blowing on a titanium coil with warm tank water, you might try
to cool the tank by blowing air on the front of the tank. It won't work
since it does not promote evaporation. You need to put the coil in some
cold water bath or something.
bye -ck-

[PaulB]

81 is not excessive, unless you have some non tropical animals that need
colder water.

http://www.rshimek.com/reef/Default.htm


JG wrote:

> I have a new 125 gallon tank that I'm just getting set up and it's
> running a little hotter than I'd like - 81F
> I'd like the temp to be about 77F, so I only need to cool down 4
> degrees.
> I have a clip-on fan blowing on the sump, and two 3" Radio Shack fans
> blowing on the lights.
>
> I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
> for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
> Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.
>
> Would this have any affect, or is the coil too small?
>
> The other thing I haven't tried yet, is replacing the solid glass
> cover on the top of the tank (that the lights sit on) with eggcrate.
> The eggcrate will allow for more evaporation, but now the water is
> more directly exposed to the heat from the lights so I don't know if
> that will make it better or worse.
>
> Jeff

[richard reynolds]

> 81 is not excessive, unless you have some non tropical animals that need
> colder water.
the only way I would disagree is in the part about "I have a new 125" if its going to be a
problem now when its *new* is the time to fix it, not next summer when all the sudden its
back up to 90F indoors, to many people complain about it down the road because they didnt
do something now.

--
richard reynolds

[Pszemol]

"JG" > wrote in message om...
> I thought about buying a piece of titanium tubing (can buy a 3' length
> for $40 or so) and bending it into a coil.
> Then pump water through it and blow a fan across the coil.

What tubing diameter you are thinking about?
If you never worked with titanium before
you should be aware, that bending thick pipes
made of it is not an easy task to do...

> Would this have any affect, or is the coil too small?

I have similar problem with my 30gallons reef - need to lower
down the temp only a couple degrees - I run a coil of compression
tubing (polypropylene or something similar, milky colour) and
use cold tap water to drip through it. Make some experiments
with it, if the tap water is not expensive in your area and using
it for cooling is not forbidden you could achieve this 4 degree
target doing the same.

[Marc Levenson]

It better be, considering the newsgroup you are posting in! :)

Marc


JG wrote:

> Also, not sure if it's obvious or not, but this is a SW tank.

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[richard reynolds]

> I will need something to set the lights on top of.
> And I was also thinking that eggcrate would prevent fish jumping out.
> How much light will actually be blocked by eggcrate?
>
> Instead of covering the whole top, I guess I could just put a few
> strips (of eggcrate or glass or acrylic) on to support the lights.
> Still worried about jumping fish though...

cover the open areas with eggcrate/acrylic/glass leave the part under the lights open,
also most fish wont jump if everything is to there liking

--
richard reynolds