ExpensiveSushi
Community Member
Howdy Fam - Thought I'd share my budget DIY no-mod solution to my rising tank temps. Clearly this is inspired by a few other DIYer's solutions, with a no-drill, no-mod adaptation.
The Situation and Inspiration
I have a 3 month old Biocube 32 in my office. Work-at-home means I'm on web meetings most of the day so my office door is closed quite a bit, reducing normal house AC circulation. This combined with Texas summer temps saw my tank temps accelating toward the 84deg mark.
I bought the Biocube for the clean profile and wasn't going to go open lid and didn't want to do a lid mod. I couldn't have somethings overly noisy because of work calls.
I saw a couple of DIY cooling fan mods, positioned on the back of the hood, and liked the general direction those were headed. Those solutions generally involved a custom mount (bracket, drilled holes, etc). My Hygger Mini magnet got me thinking about a magnet solution that would allow for a less intrusive, easier-to-remove install.
The Solution
The Biocube has two openings in the back of the hood to allow power cables to pass through. Those were my target for creating improved air movement. There was a little room above those openings that would allow for a mount. I purchased two 12CFM 40mm x 20mm USB fans (think CPU sized) from Amazon - just slightly larger than the rear hood openings. The fans had vibration dampeners, secured to the fan with small screws (made a bet they were steel). I grabbed two of those strong mini magnets (once holding kid's artwork now proudly displaying bottle caps on my beer fridge) and stuck them on the screws on the fan (no glue - just magnetism):
Next I grabbed two more of the mini mags, this time a couple push pin style (simply for ease of manipulation). I made sure my polarization was correct, and with a tiny dab of glue, secured those magnets to the inside of the hood:
Magnets in place, the mini fan held on perfectly. i oriented the fan to draw air out of the tank. I opened the feeding door on the lid for a little extra airflow, and let it rip.
The Results
Overnight, the tank dropped from 84 to 80. Of course just returning to the hobby and it being a new tank i freaked a bit ("watch out for param swings!") but everything settled out perfectly. Night two my tank was running at 78. The fans i bought had a speed switch so I backed off from high to med and things calmed down. I mentioned i bought two fans, but have only installed one. As expected, this definitely increased the evaporation, so now thoughts drift to the ATO...
Thanks to those who shared their solutions inspired me - I'll find your posts and give proper credit.
E/S
The Situation and Inspiration
I have a 3 month old Biocube 32 in my office. Work-at-home means I'm on web meetings most of the day so my office door is closed quite a bit, reducing normal house AC circulation. This combined with Texas summer temps saw my tank temps accelating toward the 84deg mark.
I bought the Biocube for the clean profile and wasn't going to go open lid and didn't want to do a lid mod. I couldn't have somethings overly noisy because of work calls.
I saw a couple of DIY cooling fan mods, positioned on the back of the hood, and liked the general direction those were headed. Those solutions generally involved a custom mount (bracket, drilled holes, etc). My Hygger Mini magnet got me thinking about a magnet solution that would allow for a less intrusive, easier-to-remove install.
The Solution
The Biocube has two openings in the back of the hood to allow power cables to pass through. Those were my target for creating improved air movement. There was a little room above those openings that would allow for a mount. I purchased two 12CFM 40mm x 20mm USB fans (think CPU sized) from Amazon - just slightly larger than the rear hood openings. The fans had vibration dampeners, secured to the fan with small screws (made a bet they were steel). I grabbed two of those strong mini magnets (once holding kid's artwork now proudly displaying bottle caps on my beer fridge) and stuck them on the screws on the fan (no glue - just magnetism):
Next I grabbed two more of the mini mags, this time a couple push pin style (simply for ease of manipulation). I made sure my polarization was correct, and with a tiny dab of glue, secured those magnets to the inside of the hood:
Magnets in place, the mini fan held on perfectly. i oriented the fan to draw air out of the tank. I opened the feeding door on the lid for a little extra airflow, and let it rip.
The Results
Overnight, the tank dropped from 84 to 80. Of course just returning to the hobby and it being a new tank i freaked a bit ("watch out for param swings!") but everything settled out perfectly. Night two my tank was running at 78. The fans i bought had a speed switch so I backed off from high to med and things calmed down. I mentioned i bought two fans, but have only installed one. As expected, this definitely increased the evaporation, so now thoughts drift to the ATO...
Thanks to those who shared their solutions inspired me - I'll find your posts and give proper credit.
E/S
