Jumping In! My tank diary begins.

[GMGQ]

Looks Great!

My only concern are your ballasts and the outlets etc inside the hood. It can get pretty humid in there, and salt creep will always reer it's ugly head when you least expect it, or a fish may decide to jump and splash water some day. It would be Much safer to mount that stuff outside of the canopy. I personally try to have as little eletrical stuff inside the canopy as possible. Just in case, y'know? Maybe you can extend the wiring and put that stuff lower on the stand or something.

When I was researching my fans, the concensus was to have 2 fans blow IN. Air will travel in the path of least resistence, so it will find a way out of the canopy. In my case, I actually cut vent holes too, so that's where most of the hot air exhausts out of. FYI: Hot Air Rises. So have vents higher if possible.

But if you have 1 in and 1 out, the OUT one will break down pretty fast. Since it's exhausting humid air, which will corrode the fan. Unless you spend $$ and get marine grade fans, none of these other fans are rated for the humidity that a SW aquarium under MH lights will put out. Also, the point of fans is to speed Evaporation. Evaporation = Cooling. The faster it evaporates, the faster the tank temperature will cool down. You want maximum CFM from your fans. So as Delphinus pointed out, 1 x In and 1 x out wont achieve this.

Also, if you're ok with soldering, you can just get a couple of 120mm Computer Case fans (cheaper), and hook them up to any old AC/DC adapters you have laying around. I just got a couple of female plugs from Radioshack, and soldered the leads of some fans I had lying around, and plugged them right into the AC/DC adapters I had. No need to spend $30 on a fan from JL. You can even find the quieter case fans if you want (that JL one looks like an AC fan, which run pretty loud).

BTW, I'm helping a buddy setup his RO/DI and auto top off. Your creative mounting of the float valve is very ingenious! No need to drill a hole to mount the float valve then. I might steal the idea. Cudos!

[TheReefGeek]

Fans are not just for evaporation, they also remove the air that is heated from the MH bulbs and in this case, ballasts.

I would get the electrical and ballasts out of there myself as well.

[TheReefGeek]

Maybe put two fans into the hidden end on the canopy, each pushing air towards the other side, and just have some nice vents in that side to let the air out?

[GMGQ]

Well it's hand in hand.

Heat above water = Evaporation.

When I researched on RC, it's generally the removal of the evaporation that cools the water. If there was a sheet of glass above the water to prevent evaporation, and you only removed the heat build up, the water would not cool down.

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

Fans are not just for evaporation, they also remove the air that is heated from the MH bulbs and in this case, ballasts.

I would get the electrical and ballasts out of there myself as well.

[TheReefGeek]

I would say that is enough for electrical, but others should advise you better here. I might also put it into a plastic box to combat splashing if it is by water, these boxes are available at electrical stores.

I think the two purposes of the fans are seperate, not really hand in hand.

1. Remove the heat before it heats up your water.
2. Increase evaporation by moving air across the surface of the water.

You can use a fan passing cold air across the surface of your water to increase evaporation, it is not tied to the hot air necessarily.

[lastlight]

that makes a lot of sense!

now how do i extend the wires safely? the placement was a direct result of the cord lengths! just use maretts and then elec tape?

Thanks everyone.

Brett

[GMGQ]

I made my own Quick Disconnects for the ballasts, by using extension chords:

Quick Disconnects (scroll down)

I prefer soldering all connections, and using heat shrink around them.

Originally Posted by lastlight

that makes a lot of sense!

now how do i extend the wires safely? the placement was a direct result of the cord lengths! just use maretts and then elec tape?

Thanks everyone.

Brett

[TheReefGeek]

GMGQ, great pics on your site. I think I am going to have to steal your quick disconnect idea too

[GMGQ]

Heh, I stole it from someone else too, so it's all good!

Just be sure to get Heavy Duty extension chords, rated to handle the wattage of your ballasts.

Originally Posted by TheReefGeek

GMGQ, great pics on your site. I think I am going to have to steal your quick disconnect idea too

[TheReefGeek]

Will do, thanks.

Back to lastlight's question, how do you heatshrink? Does a hair dryer provide enough heat?