SM100 Design With Fans Built In

[johnarky]

Alright, so I have a machninist friend that works at a place with acrylic. I showed him the design of an SM100 and he said he could build me one easily enough. The only stipulation is that they only use clear acrylic, so the whole thing would be clear.
So, other than the whole thing being clear, I'd like to figure out a way to mount a couple of fans into the setup. I'm thinking something like 2 computer fans set into the lid maybe one blowing in and one blowing out to get circulation. I need to keep my tank between 72 and 74 degrees and I'm thinking if I do this right, then I can avoid a chiller.
This is going to go beneath my tank in the stand, so it doesn't really need to be as compact as an SM100. Anyone have any design ideas or has anyone seen any design ideas that would work good here?
Thanks,

[Rumpy Pumpy]

If it's going to go underneath in the cabinet you'll need to vent that too won't you?

Why not make an unenclosed scrubber in the sump and build a small extractor fan into the cabinet?

[Floyd R Turbo]

Don't use a fan to suck air out, it will get caked with salt creep and freeze up eventually. Fans should only blow into the unit. I would have 1 or 2 blowing in, and then just leave vent holes for the relief. Also might consider covering the vent holes with screening to catch condensation mainly to control salt adhesion in the cabinet. You might also consider connecting these to a controller for temp control. you will be surprised how quickly ventilation of the screen enclosure will drop the temp.

I"m surprised your acrylics guy only does clear. If I had to guess, I'd say it's because a black-to-black joint is not visible. The pro tank builders solvent bond these types of joints and then run a bead of #40 down them as an insurance policy, since you can't tell if there are bubbles in the joint or not. Clear-to-black joints don't have this problem.

[johnarky]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I currently have an "open" scrubber that hangs above my sump and it works just fine. The problem is just the mess, salt creep, clutter, clip on lights rusting, wires everywhere, etc... Don't get me wrong, I love my ATS but I would really rather have a "clean" enclosed style unit.
My friend is a machinist and he works at a pretty big company. They're not an "acrylic shop" but they use a lot of acrylic but I guess they only use clear, not sure why.
I like the ideas of vent holes instead of a fan blowing out. I didn't think about how mucked up a fan would get by the salt blowing out, good call. I will definitely have the fans, along with a heater hooked up to the controller, so no issue there.
Also, I was thinking to mount the fans into the lid, basically blowing down across the screen. And then, put vent holes in the lid as well.

Any other thoughts on this?

[vira]

Acrylic sheets come with brown papers stick on both sides.Take off just the side that need to be glued and keep the rest.That may help partly.

[Floyd R Turbo]

I would not leave the paper mask on, that will just absorb moisture and get moldy. Plus paper mask is usually on cast material, and film on extruded. If they don't regularly make watertight devices, they likely use extruded because it's cheaper and easier to work with, but is a little more touchy to work with (melts quick).

[johnarky]

Here's my basic idea, what do you guys think?

http://i994.photobucket.com/albums/af70/johnarky/100-example1.jpg

[SantaMonica]

That will work, just make sure they blow in and not out.

[johnarky]

Perfect, thanks.... Now I need to start researching what fans to get (since I know nothing about these things) :)

[midnight]

You can use a paint made for painting plastic. Lightly sand the acrylic with 220 grit paper and apply a few light coats of paint.

[vira]

I've built a double screen SM100.The unit carries 9 CFL 14 W to shine on both screens.It's working fine and I notice very little heat.Devices of some voltage working very close to sea water may be harzardous.

[johnarky]

Glad your scrubber isn't adding any heat, that's pretty good considering how many lights you're using (probably because they're so low voltage).
I don't think my scrubber is causing my heat, I have a feeling it's a combo of my powerheads, return pump and lighting.
As far as electricity and water not mixing... Well, I don't have much of an argument against you but I guess if I was really worried about that, I certainly wouldn't have a reef tank ;)
(don't worry, I'll make sure the wiring is well insulated and not exposed)

[oildalemonkey]

That's an interesting concept johnarky, however if your scrubber is going inside your stand and not visible from the outside, I don't see the need for built-in fans in the first place. You could just not use a top and place any kind of fan above the opening for extra cooling.

[johnarky]

I have thought about going topless ;) and then just adding a clip on fan or something and I may actually go that way.
I was just thinking that it would be nice to have it as a self contained unit with the fans built in.
Nice to see you on here.... That makes 3 of us from the CCRK site (you, me and ACE)

[mlogsdon]

I have thought about going topless ;) and then just adding a clip on fan or something and I may actually go that way.
I was just thinking that it would be nice to have it as a self contained unit with the fans built in.
Nice to see you on here.... That makes 3 of us from the CCRK site (you, me and ACE)


make that 4....lol

[Ace25]

I bought these covers (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999223&cm_re=fan_grill-_-11-999-223-_-Product) for my fans, never used them though. I would use them on the fans and vent holes to block light and prevent salt creep for what your talking about doing. I agree about making sure the fans are facings down. If you put the fans on a controller it is a very good cheap "chiller", but if you run the fans all the time you could be wasting a lot of electricity from heaters being on.

As for which fans, biggest thing is make sure they are ball bearing since you will be mounting them facing down. Sleeve fans are meant to be run standing up like in computers and will wear out quickly/get noisy if placed facing down. These are the fans (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119030) I went with on my 29G LED light, but I wanted the nice looks.

[Floyd R Turbo]

That is a great point Ace, thank for the tip. I plan on incorporating fans into the next couple scrubbers I build, one of them is on a tank that notoriously goes about 82 in the summer because they restaurant leaves the A/C off on weekends during the day.