My New Metal Halides

[Krish]

I just checked your photo gallery...Very nice setup man! I like how you have your sea-swirls setup out front. I wanted to do that myself, but I know you need a special mounting kit to do that without it getting in the way of a canopy etc. Very nice...

 

[Detri]

ROFL! Will that get rid of the toxins?

Hey man thats the best part. It's like licking a poisonous tree frog

 

[Krish]

Hey man thats the best part. It's like licking a poisonous tree frog

Oh...OK. I lick frogs all the time


Just an update...Temp swing was up 1.5F today (79.5 - 81F). Aw well, the water felt cool, I'm tired of playing with it so I'll just let it be until the end of the weekend. I'll see what happens by then

 

[Krish]

My temperature ended the night at 82.7F coming from 79.5F this morning! That was a 3.2F swing today rather than the 0.3 from yesterday...I don't know who I'm fooling here...It seems like I only have a few logical choices left to make. I'll make up my mind at some point of what that choice will be and I'll keep you guys updated. I'm not thinking very clearly right now anyways because (believe it or not) I have bronchitus (thus the reason I've been online so much these past 2 days) and all this medication the doctor has put me on has got me not thinking all that clearly. I'll see how it goes and what I come up with by the weekend.

 

[wrightme43]

Krish, how many CFM are your fans? There is something we are missing here. Just has to be, our systems are too much alike for that much difference in temp. Relax, it will be figured out. Too many good brains on here not to. You could maybe try running the system with out the skimmer pump running for a day, log the temp swing, then one of the tunzes off for a day and log it, and so on and so on.

 

[Scooterman]

Not to mention I'll be running a similar set-up myself, I do plan on using a controller this time around, I'm still torn on which is better chiller or fans both have good & bads, I don't like relying on a single chiller though. That is one thing I strongly agree with John, the less you can rely on the better, either that or have built in safety back-ups that can be costly. This time around I decided to locate my new tank in a room that is the coolest & easier access to run extra circuit breakers, easier to dump water etc.

 

[Krish]

Thanks for the replies...

I woke up this morning with my temperature sitting at 82.2F. It never came down from last night which means when the lights come on today, it will probably end up at around 86F if I have an almost 3 degree swing like I had yesterday. I honestly don't know who I'm fooling. It is only April and I can't keep things stable and cool and it's not even summer yet. I will have to pump the hell out of my AC to keep the tank cool because it is obvious the fans aren't going to cut it on their own. I'm not sure what the cfm rating is on them, and maybe a few stronger fans will do the trick for me now, but come summer time when it gets alot hotter here, I will be back with fighting with the same heat issue. The only logical thing for me to do now after already losing a closed loop, drilling my canopy to vent it, adding 6 fans total, removing the back off of my stand, and cutting back my photoperiod, is either to get a chiller or just keep my tank as a FOWLR. I personally don't like the idea of running so many fans as they make me feel real un-easy about things...Especially how I had to almost stick the whole head of my 6 inch fan down in my sump to cool the water. Id also hate to order a chiller and have something else for some reason not work out. I've got a child on the way which will be my number one priority, so the tank will have to be to the point where I don't really need to fool with it much at all. As a FOWLR, I can spend as little as 30mins to 1 hour a week to keep things in perfect condition. So I'll have to make a decision soon if I will take the plunge and just order the chiller and use maybe just 3 fans with it so it won't have to work so much and leave the other ones there for backup incase something goes haywire, or if I will just leave it a FOWLR and maybe get me 1 or 2 more fish. I kinda think it is pointless me wasting anymore money and space using fans when I'm almost back to square one with all I've done so far...

 

[Scooterman]

Krish, I feel your misery but let's not panic. First thing is let the tank run as you would normally run it see how high the temp goes, doing this for more than one reason, one you need a base line as to how much cooling you will need. Also you need to let it stabilize with the mh running. As hot as it gets there a chiller may be the best way to keep it running cooler but first we need to see exactly where the heat is coming from. One thing I see is a window, does sunlight hit it & warm it up during the day? I still don't like the placement of the two bottom fans, there blowing downward on the water, I think you can tweak this some. How much room behind that hood do you have to allow air to move outward? It looks like it is tight & air may be running up against that window. Can you relocate two fans in front of each mh lamp right below the lamp itself but low enough to push that hot air to the back of the canopy & out the hood?

 

[Krish]

Hey Scooter! The window behind the tank, no light comes through at all. That is to the back patio which is enclosed. There is a window on the opposite side of the room which my tank faces but that is quite a distance away from the tank and the window is facing south so I don't ever get direct sunlight from that. I though about moving those side fans as well. Infact, I had just mentioned it to Martin. I think I can relocate them to the back seeing I have those brackets I made on them to angle them to push in cool air and allow the 3 fans to catch the hot air and suck it out of the canopy or like you said, push the hot air from the front of the canopy out the back. That one, I will have to look at though and may not work so well because for one, it will be in the way if I have to put my hand down in the tank quickly and also the bulbs sit so low I may not be able to clear them from the front without the fans directly blowing breeze on them. I'm home sick today so I can take a look at it and see what's what. I'm not giving up hope, but just being kinda realistic with the fans. I know that what works now, if it is only just enough just to keep things stable now and nothing more, will not be sufficient enough come summertime. If I can keep things pretty stable at 80F then I may only go as high as 83F summer, but I have to see if I can get it down from 82F now or else it would probably never work unless I got a chiller or added a few more fans.

 

[Scooterman]

You could mount the fans directly behind the Mh lamp & make it suck air from it & blow that heat out the back, just try to mount the fans slightly under the lamp.

 

[Krish]

You could mount the fans directly behind the Mh lamp & make it suck air from it & blow that heat out the back, just try to mount the fans slightly under the lamp.

Yeah, that may work as well...My canopy will look like a pin cushion soon with all these holes:lol: I love it! Gotta laugh man with this hobby, otherwise you'd end up crying

 

[Scooterman]

They make epoxy filler just plug them up later when you figure this out.

 

[Krish]

They make epoxy filler just plug them up later when you figure this out.

LOL...Or build another canopy Joking...I don't really care about the holes. You can't really see them. I'm going to adjust those fans pretty soon, probably...

Here's one more picture of what I used to be able to disconnect the canopy with all the fans and lights without having to cut any wires and re-connect after. It is a harness I had lying around at work which we use for installing cd players. I just got the male and female plugs with enough wires in it incase I needed to add more fans so I'd have enough wires to add them in the harness as well. Right now I am using 2 seperate ac/dc converters so I am only using 4 of the wires. If I needed more than 6 wires, I have harnesses to work that have up to about 13 wires. Pretty neat! I just unplug this plug and the 2 cables out of my ballast and that's it. Literally 5 seconds

 

[Scooterman]

I have a thread that details how to make them & where to buy the parts but already made up connectors are even better.

 

[Krish]

I have a thread that details how to make them & where to buy the parts but already made up connectors are even better.

Yeah...We stock all the harnesses, dash kits and antenna adaptors for any car you can think of targeted for the US market at all times and on the more popular cars like Nissan, Honda, GM, Ford etc, we stock the male adaptors as well (thus the reason I had both male and female there in the picture which is for a Nissan), but usually it's only the female harnesses that will plug right into the cars factory harness after pulling out the original radio. That way, you don't have to cut out the original plug to install an aftermarket radio so in the event you want to sell your car, you can always just unplug our harness and plug the original radio right back i to the factory plug. Very cool...Plugs for cars used on fish tanks

 

[Scooterman]

Hey maybe you could pull the A/C out of a Honda & hook it up to your tank, & run it off a motor with a Pulley?

 

[Krish]

Hey maybe you could pull the A/C out of a Honda & hook it up to your tank, & run it off a motor with a Pulley?

ROFL! Gas is over $4 per gallon here now! I'd be broke!!!:shock:

 

[Krish]

How's this now? I moved the fans to the back and have them behind the lights, but angled to blow underneath the light pushing in the cool air. I figured the fans on top will catch that hot air and exhausted it out through the vents. Was this what you meant? It is similar to what John had suggested. The only difference would by I moved the fans rather than rotating the halides. The fans will still blow behind the lights like he suggested. You know, this was how I had them set up first. I just mounted them higher and adjusted the angle so that it won't blow on the bulb, but under it...Remember my first pics that caused a stir???(LOL)

 

[Scooterman]

Flip the fans around & try that 24 hours, if you leave it the way they are now you will blow all the heat from the lamps on to the water when the hood is closed. This way the fans will suck the heat out & blow it up against the window, hopefully then the air will not bounce back into the tank, which defeats the purpose. I think if you flip them & angle them like you have it will blow that air up over the hood & the hood fans will farther blow that air away into the room.

 

[Krish]

WELL BY JINGLE BELLS! I thought I was blowing in cool air because of the heat that falls under those lights? You don't think that the heat will just fall on the water if no cool air is being pushed in the canopy from anywhere? I think I may be screwed on this one for today, because I kinda moved the wrong way when lifting that canopy and pulled my left side of my back and now I can't stand up straight! I have a history of back problems and now I gave myself a spasm! I tell you, this tank is gonna end up killing me soon:lol: