Enclosed aircooled lights?

[Scooterman]

Better just post you a link of my thread, plenty of pictures, you can skip to the last few after seeing the first page or two.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14793

 

[RSD]

Wow. Nice set up.
That's alot of work. I built the stand for my 180... but I didn't incorporate a hood or side unit. That is really creative.

Let me see if I have things correct.

Looking at your system from the front. See link: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=23440&d=1186943740
Hood.
The left wall is solid... no vents... and is clear on teh other side.
The top is solid with no vent holes... but unobstructed on the top.
The right wall is solid, and obstructed by storage and electrical.
Tha back is open... looks like about 2" from the wall.
It looks like the left side has a gap between the tank and the left wall... is this open? can air travel up the glass on the left into the hood?
Stand:
Left wall is solid. Unobstructed.
Top is open to the glass of the tank
Right wall is open to the chiller. See link. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=23434&d=1186943291
The back looks enclosed... is it?

Now, my guess is that an air temp check would reveal this:
Hood: Hot and humid.
Below tank, hot and humid... VERY.
Storage, dry and warm.
Room temp: cooler, dryer.

We know this: We do NOT want to add moisture to the air in the storage.
We do NOT want to emmit tank lighting into the room through holes in the hood.
We DO want to introduce cool air into the hood, and below tank
We DO want to vent hot air out of the hood.

If this was me and i was very intimate with this system (which i don't feel I am). I would consider the following.

1: Place 2-3 4" fans mounted into the stand wall drawing air from behind the tank. These would be placed evenly across the back wall where ever convenient. Maybe 2 near the pump (1 high, 1 low) and 1 over the sump? (I'd draw from the area of the chiller... but the chiller produces hot air (I think) and we don't want to pull hot air in.)

This will pull cool air from behind the tank and force the air to vent through the open wall over the chiller and out into the living space.

Why: This eliminates hot air under the fish tank, and cools the water in the sump... also cools the air your pump is in.

2: Small fans (2) pushing air up on the left side of the tank into the hood. These will be mounted as if they are lying flat. "--" instead of "|".
3: Install 1 or 2 fans pushing air into the canopy from directly behind the tank. You can mount these to your house's wall on an L bracket to keep them off the wall.

This will draw cool air in from 2 different points and create a little cool air turbulance and random air flow... this avoids dead spots the same way we do with water in our tanks.

4: All of these fans should be plugged into an electrical outlet that is wired to a thermostate. The thermostate can be mounted in the hood if your home is airconditioned, or set on a timer.
I like thermostats because if my lights fail to light, the AC poops out, or what ever... I don't cool when I don't need to, and I don't quit cooling when the air is still too warm. Timers don't know that.

Last...
If possible, or necessary... create a couple vent points in the top of the hood. However, to avoid light escaping, i'd build out of plastic (not clear) or metal a scoop. basically a lid over the hole/vent that allows a ton of air to pass around... but not light to pass straight through. Think of the vents on the roof of your house that stop the rain from falling in, but let the air out of your dryer, stove fan, etc.

I'd only drill the wood if I HAD to and ONLY if I KNEW FOR A FACT that it was of great benefit. Otherwise I'd experiment more.

I'm going to build a topless hood for my tank this winter to block the light bleed that hits my TV. I will use alot of the baffles i mentioned above to alow freeflow of air... but not light.

Hope that helps.
My 1 disclaimer is this. i spent an hour looking over your system... you've got way more than that. you are far more intimate with the ins and outs of it. I am always here to help someone, let me know where I have something incorrect about your set up, and I'll rethink it.

thanks for the opportunity to give input. That is a really impressive set up.
And a ton of work. my hat is off to you.

 

[RSD]

Also... I'd add fans in a non permanent way... No drilling either... make sure you get the benefit you want before you make it permanent. Fans pushing air in are so efficient... you might be suprised where you feel air escaping the enclosure or how far the fans will open hood/stand doors on thier own. You may not need to drill any vents at all.

 

[Scooterman]

Very impressed with your thoughts & time as it isn't a short thread

Lets see If I can clarify a few things, your right the left side is open about 3" across the bottom edge, air can surge in easily. I have different lights, you may find them in the last few pages alone with some updates. I no longer have that large heat producing pump, I removed all of that plumbing & re-plumbed an Eheim 1262, average temp. dropped 5 degrees. I installed a 7" fan on the left side of the hood that blows across teh water surface, air can com from behind it, the back is open & even across the entire front of the hood bottom edge. The left side is open against teh back wall & allows wiring from the side cabinet, at least 4/5 inches from top of tank to bottom, just the hood height is solid but air can come in from all sides, nothing is air tight. In teh sump I have a large isolating fan that blows across the entire sump area toward the chiller area & the heat from teh chiller blows out the front, it don't run at all right now, maybe in the summer. I do need to add a fan blowing across teh sump water surface I agree. I covered the sump because of that big pump, loud but that didn't help, it is all gone but I do have some holes in it, maybe I cold add more there like you said but air can come in through the doors because of the way I built them, there are gaps, I'm not the best carpenter LOL

Maybe this weekend, I'll install the two large fans to just blow into the hood, right behind each reflector, which would be about 10", not blowing air on the lamps but just under them, that would be wicked. Running fans in the proper places, I may rarely need a chiller I hope. Thanks for the input & time & complements.

Maybe I need to yank these post & move them to my thread, we may of derailed the original thread, Cracker, If no of this helps you I'll clean it up for you, no problem. Sorry!

 

[RSD]

No Problem... thanks for your support.
This time of year I have more time on my hand.
Some thoughts:
If you can have fans push air in from the back or from the edges pushing fresh air into the hood... I wouldn't worry about where it escapes... it will find a way. Only if it remains very hot at the top will you need to worry about it. It sounds like you can have plenty of potential circulation.

The 7" fan in the sump... is it positioned to pull in fresh air... or does it really just circulate the air in the tank? If it just recirculates it... it will reach a temp and humidity level and get stuck there.

I thought I'd have to buy a chiller... after reworking my fans and studying air flow in my tank (lots of temporary set ups) I found my heater was still running in mid July. That's when I added the thermostat. Then i upgraded to add the MH's and replaced alot of my smaller PC's with the 8 96's. My tank never even blinked. By evap rate climed by 1 gallon/week and my fans started earlier in the day (around 1pm) and ran long after the sun went down outside... and sometimes about an hour after my lights shut off.

 

[RSD]

NOISE! I almost forgot. If air is too turbulent or the fan is cavitating too badly... it will be extremely loud. 1 thing to do is to turn the fan down if it is adjustable... or baffle the fan. Most fans have a shroud (spelling sucks). This is a cover on 1 side fo the blades that looks like a apple-pie that is cut, or an orange (peeled and looking down on the stem). Try covering 1 or 2 holes in the shroud with your finger. Is it quieter? If so, I used black gaff tape to keep a more permanent baffle there. Just a thought.

 

[Scooterman]

The sump fan isn't as efficient as I'd like, it sucks air from the sides some but I need to get more air in on that side of the area, I may make some sort of intake port, like a dryer hose & pull in air across the sump. It is a work of art & I don't want to run the chiller If I don't have to.

 

[cracker]

Thanks Gentlemen! Very good infomoration. I like the testing methods! Very well thought out. I see this hood I'm working on will be changed out many times! Where does it end? :badgrin:

 

[RSD]

It ends....?

 

[cracker]

It ends....?

I'm still on it! The slush fund took a few unexpected hits. I still have to install a breaker, pull some wire & mount some receptacles 1st.

 

[Scooterman]

Well since we posted here last, I installed two fans blowing into the hood from the back. They are 4 1/2" AC fans each blowing 65cfm's & 25db's, little loud but they move the air. I have yet enough heat to really test them but so far I can't say they help at all, we'll have to wait until it get hotter t see the results.

 

[RSD]

No, it never does end. I just built the stand for a 20 gallon that will pull water from my main tank, and dump it back into the refugium of my main tank... all for a Mantis. I've wanted to do it for a while... and looks like after this weekend I'll be ready to order one. It never ends.

 

[cracker]

I "temporarily" hung the hoods today,each with MH 250's They have huge DIY 6" vents installed. A lot bigger than I expected. I may have to remove the vents or cut off a few inches to fit. Consider these have a glass pane to enclose them some what. If I can use flexible (dryer Venting) between them & use a sizable fan at one end it will remove a lot of heat if it becomes an issue.

My opologies for the poor pics. More when I get them mounted better. We will have to see how it turns out! Will they fit? Will the glass cut the light too much? They are not fancy but fit the budget!
I agree Gents, "It never ends"!
All I wanted was an aquarium with a couple of fish!:lol:

 

[RSD]

remember the glass in the light's hood is more than a safety shield... it is a UV shield. Removing that glass will result in a flood of UV over your tank and will kill most everything in hours. We recently had a school in seattle that the janitors forgot to put the glass back in the metal halides that were hung in the Gym... they had an assembly and sent quite a few staffers and kids to the hospital for UV radiation sickness (headaches, vomit, sunburns, migrains, dizziness).

Also an LFS removed the glass from thier hood and left if off for 4 hours... wiped their little 20 gallon display. It's like running your entire tank through a UV sterilizer.

 

[cracker]

Interesting I heard about that! I thought the UV danger was from a type of double ended bulbs. These are single ended 250watt mh bulbs for regular mogul sockets. .I had heat issues after just two days. so I do plan to use the glass. I'm looking for some type of 6" or close AC flat fans. To mount on the back of each hood. Like Scooter has. Again My opologies if the pic is confusing.