Cold Water Nano?

[summat fishy]

has anybody got a cold water nano aquarium? and if so any pics? if so are they any more demanding than conventional marine aquariums?

thanks in advance summat fishy

 

[smithrc]

I am actually going to be doing this with our nano marine once I've sold the contents.
It'll be LOADS easier than marine.

I want some Hill stream loaches

 

[summat fishy]

I am actually going to be doing this with our nano marine once I've sold the contents.
It'll be LOADS easier than marine.

I want some Hill stream loaches

actually i meant cold water marine mate, as in british species from around our coast. thanks in advance summat fishy

 

[smithrc]

my fault - didnt look what section the post is in

temperature will be the main issue - normal room temp will be too hight - you'll need to be running a BIG chiller all year round.

 

[summat fishy]

yeah i was thinking about chillers, how do these work? and how much is a small one? small enough for a 10 gallon say...

 

[chrissaysyes]

Ive never seen a chiller for that small volume of water. The smallest I've seen is or 80 gallons and down and that's usually close to $300.

 

[smithrc]

I'm running a 34l nano marine with a "small" chiller on it - The "small" chiller is for upto 120L and is doing a great job at keeping the tank at 27º (even during the summer when other fresh water tanks are at 32º
BUT its £400 worth of chiller!

They work in different ways but the end result is that the chiller removes heat from the water and gets rid of it into the air. so you need good air flow round the chiller.. the other thing that dictates the size of the chiller is the difference in temps... if you need the tank at say 16º (I don't know the UK average water temp) and the air temp is at 22º your going to be needing a big chiller and it'll have to work very hard in the summer.

It might be worth getting an air conditioning unit in the room instead / as well (and not one of those evaporation ones either as they suck )


[edit] My chiller is a Teco Micro Chiller (just looked and found them online for about £300)
It works differently to the larger units and uses peltier device with BIG heatsink and fan to remove heat.
The bonus of this is that by reversing the current to the peliter device the process is reversed and it can be used to heat the tank also

 

[dilbert]

if so are they any more demanding than conventional marine aquariums?

I believe having read a comment in a post from Neale Monks saying yes, that is, it would be more difficult.

When you live in the UK you could maybe try to cool down the water with the help of the cold water from the tap. At the moment, our tapwater has around 9°C. I always measure the temperature in the bucket with an infrared thermometer pistol and I am always wondering how cold the tap water is, in summer not really much warmer, maybe 15°C.

As the cold water consumption in our region is on a fixed rate you could let stream tap water through your chiller or similar device.

 

[summat fishy]

if so are they any more demanding than conventional marine aquariums?

I believe having read a comment in a post from Neale Monks saying yes, that is, it would be more difficult.

When you live in the UK you could maybe try to cool down the water with the help of the cold water from the tap. At the moment, our tapwater has around 9°C. I always measure the temperature in the bucket with an infrared thermometer pistol and I am always wondering how cold the tap water is, in summer not really much warmer, maybe 15°C.

As the cold water consumption in our region is on a fixed rate you could let stream tap water through your chiller or similar device.

hmmm yeah i get you i heard rumours you can use beer chillers? if so can anyone quote a price? there is no way i would pay £££ for a chiller, its just rediculous! were not all loaded you know! lol

 

[chrissaysyes]

Hah never heard of that

 

[smithrc]

I'm always looking for wacky DIY ideas.... just to set your mind thinking...
If I remember rightly, in the UK ground water temp is a constant 12 degrees...
so just drill a big hole into the ground and pump water through it

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I have been thinking of this before as well. I have used chillers in electronics before (overclocked PC's with phase coolers to take chips down from 50°c to -5°c). These units cost about £300 too and have be tuned to their heat load. You might be able to use two cheap chillers in cascade. One chiller chills the water while a second chiller chills that one (making it more effective).

Depending on where the tank is you might be able to run some piping from the tank to outside the house then back to the tank. You could pump the water through it to cool it. Not sure how well it would work in the summer but most rock pools get pretty warm in the summer anyway.

I was thinking of have a large trickle tower style plate with fans on it running down to a sump. I have used this method with water cooled electronics as well and if it can cool a chip down 15°c then it should be able to do the same for a largish body of water with no high heat source.

 

[summat fishy]

I have been thinking of this before as well. I have used chillers in electronics before (overclocked PC's with phase coolers to take chips down from 50°c to -5°c). These units cost about £300 too and have be tuned to their heat load. You might be able to use two cheap chillers in cascade. One chiller chills the water while a second chiller chills that one (making it more effective).

Depending on where the tank is you might be able to run some piping from the tank to outside the house then back to the tank. You could pump the water through it to cool it. Not sure how well it would work in the summer but most rock pools get pretty warm in the summer anyway.

I was thinking of have a large trickle tower style plate with fans on it running down to a sump. I have used this method with water cooled electronics as well and if it can cool a chip down 15°c then it should be able to do the same for a largish body of water with no high heat source.

sounds good to me, yeah beer chillers can be used apparently... number 14.

beer coolers

 

[chrissaysyes]

Depending on where the tank is you might be able to run some piping from the tank to outside the house then back to the tank. You could pump the water through it to cool it. Not sure how well it would work in the summer but most rock pools get pretty warm in the summer anyway.

I like that idea a lot!

 

[andywg]

The problem is that if you have the tank indoors you are really going to struggle to get winter type water temperatures. While the seas don't get as cold as inland lakes, they do still drop into single figures. Unless you like your house very cold you are probably going to have the temperature a good 8-12 degrees higher than a winter sea will be. That is the problem.