closed canopy design

[nycfatcow]

current for my tank i have a closed canopy. It is running 250x2 MH and 110x2 vhos...i have 2x5 inchs fans to cool down the bulbs...with spring soon coming as well as summer.... i am very worried about the temperatures of my tank in the future....i do not have a chiller....the fans are positioned shooting in and one shooting out....any suggestions to gut the canopy to create a better cooling system?

 

[fritz]

http://www.melevsreef.com/

Melev is good for most DIY projects, he has some info on his 55 Diy hood and how he cooled it down.
(Link to actual cooling page right here -> http://www.melevsreef.com/acrylics/cooling.html#12v )

 

[loismustdie]

You can raise the lights higher to help with cooling, but that would require modifying your hood. I don't know what your current photoperiod is, but you could first, consider lowering your photoperiod. Next, you can have your lights turn on later to avoid the hottest times of the day. For example, have them turn on at 4 pm, or at night. The best thing you can do is GET A CHILLER. It's worth it. You can put frozen bottles in your system, but you are going to have a freezer half full with frozen bottles to keep up.
When you say "closed canopy"... do you mean that the hood is enclosed, or you have a glass cover over the tank. If it's a glass cover on the tank, remove it. You can also place fans in your stand.

 

[Tonyscoots84]

what would also work is if you have the 2 fans shooting in air near the water surface one on each side... and 2 up top blowing air out... since heat does rise... i would try that out and see what happens...

 

[loismustdie]

placing one small fan pointing up in my hood actually helped out a lot. My chiller ran less with that simple addition. I forgot about that... thanks Tony

 

[charliethetuna88]

get a chiller bro i cheaped out for years man and its a headache man i finally bought one last summer and its great def worth the investment

 

[Rborgia]

hell I just hooked up my chiller... so much better with it! No worries about cooking anything. I need to get a backup controller to make sure it doesn't get too cold or too hot.

Redundency never hurts.

 

[nycfatcow]

You can raise the lights higher to help with cooling, but that would require modifying your hood. I don't know what your current photoperiod is, but you could first, consider lowering your photoperiod. Next, you can have your lights turn on later to avoid the hottest times of the day. For example, have them turn on at 4 pm, or at night. The best thing you can do is GET A CHILLER. It's worth it. You can put frozen bottles in your system, but you are going to have a freezer half full with frozen bottles to keep up.
When you say "closed canopy"... do you mean that the hood is enclosed, or you have a glass cover over the tank. If it's a glass cover on the tank, remove it. You can also place fans in your stand.

both lol...

 

[nycfatcow]

gotya guys..i th ink imma drill some holes in the canopy...and shoot both fans inwards...hopefully that will help

 

[Dmitry]

For those of you guys who just got chillers - how much did your electric bill jump? :tub: