Aquarium fan

[Steven Garland]

I have been thinking about this and I think this go around I am going to use a "clip on" aquarium fan to keep my tank cool. So that being said,is it more efficent to point it:

A. At the water of the tank

B. Up towards the fixture to blow the heat away from the tank,and keep the bulbs cooler ?

C. Both A & B and maybe retro a fan dead center of the fixture to blow cold air into the fixture. We keep our house at 74,so I feel like all the added "cooling" shoukd be suffice.

If need be I can run a smaller one,2-3 fan setup at one end blow across the tank,and or a bigger 4-6 fan across the back blowing up at the fixture pushing the heat away from the water surface.

 

[blaxsun]

Probably C.

 

[mtraylor]

I think it would be best to give details about your setup. That includes all equipment in sump if you have one, tank, and lights you have. Are they in canopy etc. What region you live in etc. All that info is needed to help give some good advice.

 

[Steven Garland]

Probably C.

I was thinking the same thing,honestly. Only thing I am finding difficult is finding onea that have decent reviews on Amazon. Majoirty of them have don't have good reviews but also probably didn't take care of them either.

 

[blaxsun]

I was thinking the same thing,honestly. Only thing I am finding difficult is finding onea that have decent reviews on Amazon. Majoirty of them have don't have good reviews but also probably didn't take care of them either.

Try to find ones that are corrosion resistant, as the saltwater environment will probably lead to a shorter lifespan with a lot of the cheap ones.

 

[Steven Garland]

I think it would be best to give details about your setup. That includes all equipment in sump if you have one, tank, and lights you have. Are they in canopy etc. What region you live in etc. All that info is needed to help give some good advice.

24"x10"x10"
No sump
24" 4 bulb t5 9" above tank
No canopy
I live in Central Florida
AC sat on 74.

 

[Steven Garland]

Try to find ones that are corrosion resistant, as the saltwater environment will probably lead to a shorter lifespan with a lot of the cheap ones.

What I was thinking to was maybe taking it apart and maybe putting epoxy or hot glue or something on all the connections if possible but then that seems like a lot of work for something that might not work.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I mounted mine like this, it lowers the temp by 3.5 degrees

 

[doubleshot00]

I just got a clip on fan yesterday for my wifes fluval and it blows directly onto the side glass. It works great at cooling it now. I didnt want a ac powered device hanging over tank water incase the clip came off.

 

[exnisstech]

Just curious. If you keep your house set on 74 are you really having a heat problem? No sump so I imagine not a lot of heat being generated by equipment. The only time I have a heat concern is when in home temps aprouch 80 or so.

 

[Steven Garland]

I just got a clip on fan yesterday for my wifes fluval and it blows directly onto the side glass. It works great at cooling it now. I didnt want a ac powered device hanging over tank water incase the clip came off.

I plan using Gorilla tape or even heat shrink to secure any connectors together so mositure stays out.

Just curious. If you keep your house set on 74 are you really having a heat problem? No sump so I imagine not a lot of heat being generated by equipment. The only time I have a heat concern is when in home temps aprouch 80 or so.

Well,it is Florida and I don't know you are from here or not but if not,AC units have a struggle to keep even apartments at 74-76 when it is almost 100 outside. Out AC being set on 74,the temps outside crept into the 90's a week or 2 ago and the thermostat crept up to 78. So with T5's heat will become an issue. With all 4 bulbs on,a good amount of heat was emitting from the light.

Once the tank is full of water and cycling,if I see temps steady I won't get any fans. If I see the temps get above 78,I will indeed get some.

 

[exnisstech]

Ok I get it now. I thought it was a consonant 74 degrees. I've been to Florida so am familiar.

 

[Steven Garland]

Ok I get it now. I thought it was a consonant 74 degrees. I've been to Florida so am familiar.

Thermo doesn't get touched. Set on 74 and we don't touch it anymore. Temps down here climb so fast once the sun pokes its head up and units cannot cool it fast enough. Problem is they don't use big enough units to cool apartments. The smallest they use,they will. I am hoping since my building is a block building I won't experience our apartment getting too hot but if I need to I will drop $60 on fans,no biggie.

 

[Biologic]

24"x10"x10"
No sump
24" 4 bulb t5 9" above tank
No canopy
I live in Central Florida
AC sat on 74.

I live in Louisiana, so I know your pain lol. TBH, I rather be hot than cold.

I am running LED's but I am using a simple clip on fan on the LED mounting arm, blowing at the water. My LED's sit really high off the surface at 11.5 inches, but I think similarly, blowing them at the water will accomplish the same thing. My tank stays plenty cool, cool enough to where the heater has to click on.

 

[Steven Garland]

I live in Louisiana, so I know your pain lol. TBH, I rather be hot than cold.

I am running LED's but I am using a simple clip on fan on the LED mounting arm, blowing at the water. My LED's sit really high off the surface at 11.5 inches, but I think similarly, blowing them at the water will accomplish the same thing. My tank stays plenty cool, cool enough to where the heater has to click on.

Oh yeah you cerrainly feel my pain. If not its worse for you lol.

I do have a ceiling fan about 5ft away from my tank as well so maybe with the ceiling fan and if I habe to run a 4-6 fan set up along the back like I attached below I can blow enough heat away from the tank to where I don't have any issues.

 

[Floyd-]

Im in NW FL and keep the house at 77 in the day and 75 and night. I just use a little fan pointed at the water in the sump and it keep the temps to max 80f

 

[Biologic]

Oh yeah you cerrainly feel my pain. If not its worse for you lol.

I do have a ceiling fan about 5ft away from my tank as well so maybe with the ceiling fan and if I habe to run a 4-6 fan set up along the back like I attached below I can blow enough heat away from the tank to where I don't have any issues.

Haha totally. Humidity inside my house is kicking at 65 RH. lol

Ok, first, I nearly bought that fan you posted, or similar on eBay. It's really cool in thought, no-pun-intended. Until I just tried a little USB powered, rechargeable, that my wife had in the house. The USB part was broken, so I took it for myself. Link for it here --



Seeing how expensive it is, I'd probably would have went with this one (eBay link below) if I didn't have a broken amazon one to fix.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174722536777?hash=item28ae465549:g:~dcAAOSwhwhga9LS&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAA4P+/Slz09F2Vt8lpoIdOrr37QuSakLOUYOz8fJrzd9lkBXEPvQa9PwCDpKFjHtTgwuYjU4aaiL40EDKrxV/QhmHFP6KxCw9ZHvkeKtirE45i7MuIFGvKROViyhF+8m6lzfuQ7G/9kcFY8ASuqMxXbGfaZ1oeDcWAqDZfLKc1YEqMrHM6V+q0K9tlqFnSzjphY7En2SmTjTWDyu+dRHrFvetDbBg7y2N0yxdONuoHpSH/+24Bf1mfAeay6D6Apt90nQiqyZSGBLxE7iukJSdxHmPJx45uZ1NMTBZA73Tmk8Rk|tkp:BFBMpobDpJ5g



That one amazon fan, on it's lowest setting, took my 50 gallon total system volume aquarium down from running in the high 70's (like huge swing to 79.8F in the afternoon) to 75F easy -- just one fan. I think the two fan on that eBay post is plenty for your tank. Three would be overkill and I dont think it would fit on the 10 inch section. You can always add more.

 

[Koh23]

Fan blowing into anythin will newer be able to bring down temperature below ambient temperature, its impossible.

What makes it possible in tank is evaporation, principle of different temperatures, same as you could cold beer on sun, just wrap it with wet cloth...

So, fan needs to blow at water surface, primary....

How efficient is this, my opinion, on large water volume is useless, of course, by using small fan. Big fan, maybe just enough to bring few degrees down, below "killing line", but without help from ac or similar way to actually cool ambient.....

If your room temp is 38-40 (typical summer here), no fan will keep water at 26-28C....

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I mounted mine like this, it lowers the temp by 3.5 degrees

That is an electrical fire waiting to happen. Just the slightest bump is enough to toss that whole fan in your tank, kill everything in your tank and possibly start an electrical fire.

I would screw that to your wall in a way that if it becomes disconnected it will fall on the floor not in the tank.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Blowing at the waters surface works best. The reason for this is because what cools a tank best is evaporative cooling.

If you had an enclosed canopy, then you would need to go with route C, but just a fan blowing at the water surface will be plenty with T5s and no canopy.