Controlling temperature in larger systems

[FishWife]

Our tank/fuge combination is tough to control temperature wise. It fluctuates day and night, and with the ambient temp. in the "engine room." We have a digital thermometer in our sump; and the whole system turns over 12-15 X/hr, so we feel like the two tanks are about the same temperature.

 

We have three heaters in the sump, but they seem so wildly variable.

 

When we had the Mag 24 in the sump, we had trouble keeping the heat down, so we ran fans on the surface of the sump. It cooled well by evaporation, but if we leave the tank for hours at a time, it can get too chilly. Now we have the Dart, so heat isn't as much of a problem, but when the lights are on all day, it's still a concern. Our idea was to run a surface fan (thereby cooling by evaporation) and then have the heaters kick on at a certain temp (c. 79.5 degrees) to keep the whole system steady within a degree up or down of 80. So far, it's much harder than we thought.

 

Here's our setup:

 

Any thoughts?

 

(It would be nice if someone made a probe-controlled fan, wouldn't it???)

[phisigs79]

Get a controller!

[mogurnda]

One of the main reasons I use controllers on my SW tanks is the ability to control fans. Each fan can be controlled separately, so they can come on in stages as the temperature goes up. Worth the money, IMO.

[flowerseller]

My fans are also on my controller.

I also have the ACIII programed so if the temp still gets higher, at 84.4, it shuts the halides off. It then sends me a text message to my cell phone and email to my office since cell service is spoty inside the shop.

[rioreef]

The controller helps in this situation and coupled with cutoff temps for various hardware. This hardware can be tiered to be turned off. Main lights first, secondary light, fuge lights, powerheads, closed loops, etc. (just not the main pump) and even have a large floor fan turn on in your room there when a certain temp is reached.

 

I even have my controller turn off the fan cooling the sump for two ten minute periods during which my auto feeder dumps flake and small pieces of nori sheets into the return portion of the sump. This so the food does not blow everywhere.

Edited November 1, 2007 by rioreef

[mutley29]

Get one of these

 

HTH

[dhoch]

As everyone says at this point it's worth getting a controller... a temp controller could handle your fans & Heaters, but an overall system controller like the Neptune Aqua Controller Units is worth it in the long run.

 

Dave

[lanman]

I'm new at this, and I can already tell you that heaters in general are pretty darned unreliable. I just yanked one today. It turned off last night at 83 degrees, and didn't turn on again until 75.5 degrees. Thermostat shot. So now I'm watching a new one to see how it's going to work.

 

bob

[flowerseller]

I'm new at this, and I can already tell you that heaters in general are pretty darned unreliable. I just yanked one today. It turned off last night at 83 degrees, and didn't turn on again until 75.5 degrees. Thermostat shot. So now I'm watching a new one to see how it's going to work.

 

bob

perfect canidates since you can tell it to go off even if it does'nt want to.

[Eve]

"When we had the Mag 24 in the sump, we had trouble keeping the heat down, so we ran fans on the surface of the sump. It cooled well by evaporation, but if we leave the tank for hours at a time, it can get too chilly. Now we have the Dart, so heat isn't as much of a problem,"

 

I'm switching from MAGs in sump to a Dart for the same reason. This gives me hope that I'm not going through the trouble (and expense) for nothing :-)

[Gatortailale]

Looks/sounds by your post you have a "fish room" for equipment.

1) can it be vented to outside of house via in-line fan & ducts? You can put that on lamp timer and have fan come on at certain hours and vent hot-humid air outside house

2) with all the fans - is it humid and letting mold grow in room?

3) consider a chiller to control tank temp & reduce fan use - humidity evaporation

4) window AC unit to cool room - in combination with fans (trying to come up with ideas on controlling temp)

 

 

In my opinion it's worth the $ to get a Neptune AC III system. IF you search here, you can find a link to prior discussion about controllers and one thread has link to discussion on reef central about them and a chart of all brands with comparison on features. Or take it from the neptune AC III owners of the club [(not entire list of owners) dhoch, me, dbartco, flowerseller, johnnyBRK, mogurnda ...] somewhat cheap insurance - considering cost of all the livestock I have in tank it's worth it to me to have peace of mind that tank is fine.

 

Here is what it can do:

 

1) control fans, heater, chiller, and lights, ph monitor & control .... to name a few

2) you can set it up to email or text you stats of your tank & alarm messages if something goes wrong [ask dhoch about getting neptune email while we were at MACNA Houston & how it saved his tank by sending him alarm text to cell phone.

3) you can log on to webserver (at work and check tank stats)

4) you can program it to shut off lights if tank gets to hot - turn on more fans (stated by others)

 

 

NOTE: it is very safe to run your tank cooler than what you have posted (80). I run mine at 78.

 

If your going to be out Reston way, you can stop over and see how AC III works on my system; as well as a inline fan in fish room to vent room outside.

[Antiguan]

Here is link to The Big Controller Comparison Chart on RC:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...mp;pagenumber=1