Fish Room Heat Help & Ideas

[dustinc]

Hey reefing family!

I’m trying to figure out the best way to expel heat from my fish room that houses the display tank and all equipment. It’s fully enclosed with cabinetry with an HVAC vent that splits inside the fish room and inside our bedroom where the tank resides.

Today I turned on the Metal Halide lights for the first time, so the room heated up quite a bit, which caused the water to heat and chiller kick in for the first time since starting the tank. This took care of the water temperature issue, however the chiller added a ton more heat to the room as well.

So what are your thoughts for the best way to combat this. Below are a few ideas I have.

1) Install an exhaust vent in the ceiling with a decent CFM motor to exhaust heat/humidity out of the room and outside the home (https://acinfinity.com/hydroponics-...h-temperature-humidity-vpd-controller-4-inch/)

2) Install a portable AC unit for the room behind the tank

3) Install a vent kit that circulates air between the bedroom and the tank room to balance it better (https://acinfinity.com/equipment-co...ipment-closet-and-room-fan-system-17-exhaust/)

I’m open to any and all options you guys have. Look forward to your feedback.

 

[JGT]

Switch to LEDs.:)

 

[mpatterson42]

This may be a little extreme but my office is typically 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house (I have quite a lot of computers and other electronics in it) so this last year I installed a mini split. I found a DIY model at Costco (MRCOOL) and had an electrician help me install it (no HVAC person needed). It does a great job at cooling my office and at the moment it's my plan to set up a small 10 gallon tank in here to use in case my home AC ever dies (I live in Phoenix where it gets 120+) and a chiller can't keep up, I'll relocate my fish there until the AC is fixed.

 

[dustinc]

Switch to LEDs.:)

Nope! Ha ha. Used them for years, this tank I went back to my first love! Can’t beat that Radium color on a magnetic ballast!

This may be a little extreme but my office is typically 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house (I have quite a lot of computers and other electronics in it) so this last year I installed a mini split. I found a DIY model at Costco (MRCOOL) and had an electrician help me install it (no HVAC person needed). It does a great job at cooling my office and at the moment it's my plan to set up a small 10 gallon tank in here to use in case my home AC ever dies (I live in Phoenix where it gets 120+) and a chiller can't keep up, I'll relocate my fish there until the AC is fixed.

Not extreme. I’ve installed one before on my office I built in my back yard.

 

[Fish Fan]

I'm just hear to say I recognize your build from your prior posts and it looks amazing! I'm hoping you get this heat/ventilation issue figured out :)

 

[braaap]

Mini split if it’s in the budget. If not the fan. Portable AC units work but add heat to the room too and they take up quite a bit of room.

 

[dustinc]

Mini split if it’s in the budget. If not the fan. Portable AC units work but add heat to the room too and they take up quite a bit of room.

My biggest concern with the mini split is installation on our brick wall and even the smallest unit will be way oversized. The room is about 60 square feet.

 

[Borat]

Put a fridge in the room- that would cool it!

 

[Subsea]

My biggest concern with the mini split is installation on our brick wall and even the smallest unit will be way oversized. The room is about 60 square feet.

Why is window unit not installed?

I use window unit and portable humidifier in my fish room.

The display tanks are controlled by ductless heat pump in living/dining/kitchen area.

 

[Reefering1]

Exhausting the air from chiller outside will make a big difference.
Min split is excellent choice, many can provide heat also. A single 1" hole, through the brick wall is all you need for the required 1/4" and 3/8" lines to exterior unit(and power ).

 

[dustinc]

Why is window unit not installed?

I use window unit and portable humidifier in my fish room.

The display tanks are controlled by ductless heat pump in living/dining/kitchen area.

No windows in the fish room. What you see above it the bedroom and it isn’t effected at all.

Exhausting the air from chiller outside will make a big difference.
Min split is excellent choice, many can provide heat also. A single 1" hole, through the brick wall is all you need for the required 1/4" and 3/8" lines to exterior unit(and power ).

I’m really leaning towards the 4” duct fan out of the ceiling right now. It seems the simplest to do and won’t require much modification. If it doesn’t work, I believe the next step would be a mini split.

Other concern of the mini split is if/when we ever sell the house, would be easy to convert the room back to a normal bedroom, and the mini split would definitely not be needed as we have a great HVAC system throughout the house. It honestly seems that the chiller adds more heat to the room than the MH’s do.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Same issue I am having and will eventually say had.

- I have a ton of lighting, and I am putting 2 more halides and 12 additional feet of T5s. (Swapping frag tank out for a much larger one in 2 weeks, this will also allow for what I explain below)
- I do not want to vent any air on purpose to my living space
- I have a whole house dehumidifier rated for 2,200 sq ft in my fish lair. Keeps it at 55%, I can go way lower if I wanted. It also helps me get more Kalk in my system too.
- The portable AC “could” work, if I either A) build a shelf so the top of it is near the ceiling or b) acquired one with a remote thermostat. It can literally be 30 degrees different from 2 foot to 9 foot in height.
- I have not hooked up a vent system to take the hot moist air above the tank and expel it outside, yet. I’m not fighting humidity issues (I have 2 separate monitoring systems related to humidity also). I’m fighting hot air. I’m playing with exporting this hot air now.
- I found these window fans that can either bring air from the outside or vent the room out. They work great.
- the portable AC is a 12k btu unit.
- I accepted the fact, it’s a “dry heat”, like Arizona..
- 12k BTU can get the jump done with some assisting.
- I purchased a mini split, 12k BTU that is being installed in a couple weeks.
- mini splits will not work when it’s cold outside. This winter, I shut the portable AC down and used these window fans to bring the ice cold air from the outside into the room. I used a PM1 and a temp sensor hung at 5 foot to monitor the room. I set rules to shut the fan down if the room got too cold. There were a couple times that I ran my 500g+ system down 5 degrees over night from it being so cold in the room. So I think I have winter figured out.
- The problem with portable ACs in this situation is cold air sinks, so it’s kinda like pushing a rope, from my perspective.
- I’m on the verge of needing a chiller. If I loose control of the room temps, my fans are the last line of defense before my apex shuts everything down. Over my display I have 4 halides, 8 XR30s and T5s, I run all for 8 hours and my overall lighting period is 14 hours.
- it’s a delicate balance. But yeah, my room is not the same level of comfort as the rest of my house.