Cooling fan for shrimp tank

**louis** · 17th Feb 2009, 12:41

Hi guys.

Any recommendation of cooling fan for my Nano101 shrimp tank?
Is such cooling fan really effective in bringing down the temperature and prevent shrimp fatalities?

Thanks

**Viper007** · 17th Feb 2009, 20:54

Originally Posted by louis

Hi guys.

Any recommendation of cooling fan for my Nano101 shrimp tank?
Is such cooling fan really effective in bringing down the temperature and prevent shrimp fatalities?

Thanks

Actually a small fan can only cool about 1C based on my used from 28C to about 27C. Also I on the Aircon at night with fan and aircon my nano tank temp is about 24C. So far my sakura's are doing well. They can handle between 24-28.

**torque6** · 17th Feb 2009, 22:20

Any PC fan. Im currently using Coolermaster 12cmx12cm. 12db at 6w. DIY version, courtesy of Sin Lin Electronics; Sim Lim Square. Mr aqua or Arista DC fans are either loud, noisy and ineffective. Didn't understand why people still buy them when there are better cheaper alternatives. I guess when you need fans to cool your PC, you head down to sim lim to buy fans, so to cool your fish tanks you head down to ......LFS.

**torque6** · 17th Feb 2009, 22:34

Originally Posted by Viper007

Actually a small fan can only cool about 1C based on my used from 28C to about 27C. Also I on the Aircon at night with fan and aircon my nano tank temp is about 24C. So far my sakura's are doing well. They can handle between 24-28.

By the way guys, this are my temps for my nano taken in the afternoon. 10L gex genoah. I was using a thermaltake 9x9cm. led fan bought from Cybermind Sim Lim Square.

25-26 degrees.. effective? yes ?

**Viper007** · 17th Feb 2009, 22:42

Originally Posted by torque6

By the way guys, this are my temps for my nano taken in the afternoon. 10L gex genoah. I was using a thermaltake 9x9cm. led fan bought from Cybermind Sim Lim Square.

25-26 degrees.. effective? yes ?

Wow that is good!!

My 2ft can do 25 to 26 but not my nano... cos the nano is place near the window with afternoon sun. And my windows are all close so is quite stuffy.

**torque6** · 17th Feb 2009, 22:53

Originally Posted by Viper007

Wow that is good!!

My 2ft can do 25 to 26 but not my nano... cos the nano is place near the window with afternoon sun. And my windows are all close so is quite stuffy.

Thanks, the general practice is to keep fish tank away from sunlight. If its near the window, install some curtains. I recently had my curtains customed made as I was always getting way too much sunlight into the fishtank

. New project, calls for a new precaution.

The pic i posted was taken a year back when I first had my nano. My windows were closed all the time and there were direct sunlight into the tank, which is why i had a losing battle against BGA/hair algae/green spot way back then. However, the water temp has been good. Although i didnt enjoy topping up water every day which was a hassle.

**Viper007** · 17th Feb 2009, 23:05

Originally Posted by torque6

Thanks, the general practice is to keep fish tank away from sunlight. If its near the window, install some curtains. I recently had my curtains customed made as I was always getting way too much sunlight into the fishtank

. New project, calls for a new precaution.

The pic i posted was taken a year back when I first had my nano. My windows were closed all the time and there were direct sunlight into the tank, which is why i had a losing battle against BGA/hair algae/green spot way back then. However, the water temp has been good. Although i didnt enjoy topping up water every day which was a hassle.

I see. Yup me do have curtains too. So far no algae yet.. touch wood...

my is a low tech with 11W lights... Sadly my moss takes donkey long time to recover.

**louis** · 18th Feb 2009, 18:50

So in the opinion of you brudders, is it better to have a 11W or a 9W PL light for a 20cm cube tank ?

**inque** · 18th Feb 2009, 20:26

I'm using this currently

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...1/18022009.jpg

Temp. is 27~28 Lowest , Apparently mine area is very warm (Toa Payoh)
Temp Highest 30 Highest.

I've heard b4 from people the location of your home plays a role in the ambient temp also. Can anyone confirm this.

I'm also using 4X 36W PL lights, man tats hot !!!

**hann** · 19th Feb 2009, 21:28

Originally Posted by inque

I'm using this currently

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...1/18022009.jpg

Temp. is 27~28 Lowest , Apparently mine area is very warm (Toa Payoh)
Temp Highest 30 Highest.

I've heard b4 from people the location of your home plays a role in the ambient temp also. Can anyone confirm this.

I'm also using 4X 36W PL lights, man tats hot !!!

I am also staying in Toa Payoh and the lowest temperature that my tank can hit is 28C with fan on for 24/7. I am using 2x 55W 2ft lights and I suspect the lights could be the reason why the temp is not going southward after hitting 28.

**ghim** · 20th Feb 2009, 00:12

My 2 tanks' temperature hover between 25-27 . I stay in Bishan, which is not far from Toa Payoh

Light and ambience temperature would be the main factor. If you can keep the light set's temperature low, your ambience temperature will not be affected by the light.

Ambience temperature will be the main factor. My tanks are in my living room. Most of the time, the room's fan is on.

**inque** · 20th Feb 2009, 21:29

Originally Posted by hann

I am also staying in Toa Payoh and the lowest temperature that my tank can hit is 28C with fan on for 24/7. I am using 2x 55W 2ft lights and I suspect the lights could be the reason why the temp is not going southward after hitting 28.

Side Track abit these few days Evaporation rate for water is high also
mine 3ft cichlids tanks drop a good 5mm

and its not on heater or have exposed rain bars.

forget to mention i'm restarting mine 3ft Planted,
Currently cycling for 2weeks now, the fan is running for 6hrs max only
for Temp Testing.

Lowest for Temp is 27C without Lights on.
25 IMHO is not possible with fans.

Anyone can achieve 25c on fan/s blowing alone.

**torque6** · 20th Feb 2009, 22:20

Originally Posted by inque

Side Track abit these few days Evaporation rate for water is high also
mine 3ft cichlids tanks drop a good 5mm

and its not on heater or have exposed rain bars.

forget to mention i'm restarting mine 3ft Planted,
Currently cycling for 2weeks now, the fan is running for 6hrs max only
for Temp Testing.

Lowest for Temp is 27C without Lights on.
25 IMHO is not possible with fans.

Anyone can achieve 25c on fan/s blowing alone.

Yes, having a fan requires frequent top up. Normally on a daily basis. But it beats having to deal with a warm living room on hot days by having a chiller.

**inque** · 3rd Mar 2009, 23:59

Originally Posted by inque

Side Track abit these few days Evaporation rate for water is high also
mine 3ft cichlids tanks drop a good 5mm

and its not on heater or have exposed rain bars.

forget to mention i'm restarting mine 3ft Planted,
Currently cycling for 2weeks now, the fan is running for 6hrs max only
for Temp Testing.

Lowest for Temp is 27C without Lights on.
25 IMHO is not possible with fans.

Anyone can achieve 25c on fan/s blowing alone.

i've to eat mine own words after today .... saw in a friend's tank
24 degrees

w/o Chiller running on fans only.

the moss he have were soo nice

Today was a rainy day i forget, but 24 degress in his tank was still jaw dropping for mi.

Mine was 26 degrees lowest so far ...........

**yakie_19** · 4th Mar 2009, 00:46

Hi Torque6,

im interested in your DIY fan setup..
How do you attach the fans to your tank?
and can all the fans be connected to 1 adapter?

If possible, maybe you can share how to do the DIY setup.. thought of doing one myself..

Really appreciate for the help.
thanks

**Fuzzy** · 4th Mar 2009, 03:52

Another good place to buy fans is a shop called UVnium on the 3rd floor of Sim Lim Square, he carries all sorts of Industrial and PC Fans.

He has all sorts of fierce fans in most sizes, 50mm, 80mm, 90mm, 120mm. NMB, Delta, Panaflo the major brands and is fairly cheap too, some of the fans are working pulls from surplus equipment so quite cheap.

If you bring along a 12V adapter and ask nicely he may even tail it for you!

That said though, while a fan can definately get you to a maintainable 25 - 26C, the evaporation is really a killer. On my 2ft Fiveplan when I was running on fan, the water level could drop as much as 4cm in 24 hours.

On my 3 footer currently being cooled by 3x 80mm fans the evaporation rate is about 6cm - 8cm a week, that translates to about 30 - 40 litres of water evaporated every 7 days, quite scary.

**Viper007** · 4th Mar 2009, 10:38

Well after playing with DIY fans and aqua fans so far my conclusion is, you can bring down temp at most 2C sometimes 3C at most... But you need to top up water everyday. For me is 2lt per day and you have to bear with the noice from the fan. Most fan that gives high RPM are noise.

**blue33** · 4th Mar 2009, 11:31

PL light is more warmer and difficult to bring down the temperature as compare to T5. In most of the light, the longer the light is switch on, the ballast inside gets warmer and heat up fast thus making the tank ambient temperature high, get a fan to blow the light casing and a fan to blow the tank water do helps alot to cool down the tank. That way you can achieve a better low temperature of your tank.

Note: Ambient temperature greatly affect your tank water temperature.

**Navanod** · 30th Mar 2009, 21:20

Hi, I'm recently noticing a 3 degrees C increase in my tank temp and is considering getting a fan as well, which is why I'm in this thread

Here are some of the heat source I've identified:

1. Sun (recently damn hot!)
2. New light (BOYU 13W)
3. New canister filter replacing HOF (the water pump inside)

I've been fooling around with PC watercooling for quite abit prior to this and know for a fact that water pumps also generate heat which must be transferred to the water in order not to burn out. Hence, people with hight power pumps may wanna look into that to reduce temps

As for fans, 2 things are of interest to us. Airflow and noise.
These in turn are affected by 2 other things. Fan size and rpm.
The larger the fan size, the more airflow per rpm.
The higher the rpm, the more airflow but the higher the noise.

So ideally, we can have the same airflow by getting a larger fan on a lower rpm (hence lower noise) rather than a small fan (or worse, many many small fans) with high rpm.

With that being said, it may actually be better to get a normal table fan for this purpose since:

1. Specialist aquarium fans are just glorified/modified computer fans marked up to chop our carrot heads.
2. Large PC fans are commonly 120mm and runs on 12V DC, requiring a regulator
3. Table fan need not be "clipped" or DIY onto the tank and have little risk of falling in. It also have larger coverage and longer range so it can be placed a short distance away instead of getting in the way. Best of all, it can be "recycled" for normal use if cooling the tank is no longer required.

Challenge is to find a table fan that consumes as little energy as the AC PC fans
I'll try to hunt for a nice cheap fan and post here again. Cheers!

**inque** · 31st Mar 2009, 11:25

Originally Posted by blue33

PL light is more warmer and difficult to bring down the temperature as compare to T5. In most of the light, the longer the light is switch on, the ballast inside gets warmer and heat up fast thus making the tank ambient temperature high, get a fan to blow the light casing and a fan to blow the tank water do helps alot to cool down the tank. That way you can achieve a better low temperature of your tank.

Note: Ambient temperature greatly affect your tank water temperature.

THINK Ambient temperature AND relative humidity is the problem here
if u on the fan but the water has no way to evaporate faster due to
the high RH in our country. i've read about people puting Dehumidifier to
combat the high RH but thats a luxury for some ppl here.

some theory behind Latent heat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_heat

and relative humidity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_humidity