AngeleToR
03-05-2012, 06:19 AM
Dear all,
My name is Angel, I'm a spanish saltwater aquarist and have been running a 650 l aquarium with ONLY algae scrubbing for one year. Recently I moved from town and I am setting the whole thing up and I'm trying to improve an already working design (very BIG thanks for SantaMonica for sharing this with the world) to make it even better and easier to maintain.
My setup will be a 120 liters trash bin (squared one) with 4 nets hanging from top of every wall where one of the tank drains will be overflowing to. I plan to add a recirculation pump also to reach the 6000 l/h I calculated are needed for the lineal amount of one sided mesh I will have to cover. The bin is about 50cm every side, and as I have just finisished a new led fixture for the main tank, I have a great 250W HQI electronic fixture. My plan was to use this to drive a 250W warm white lamp to get those 33000 lumens 360º all around it promises and grow the most algae ever in my scrubbing history.
The problem is, of course, the heat. I've think of a system to drive heat away of the circulating water in a sealed acrylic container, the following way:
One 9 centimeters acrylic pipe where ligthing will be, placed inside a second bigger 20 centimeters of diameter acrylic pipe, which will be the exhaust pipe. I put a 9cm blower on top of the small pipe, blowing air in (or out, whatever is best) through the small pipe. Both pipes are glued in the base to a round acrylic sheet to make the setup water proof. That way, the air enters and exit from the top (I would redirect the in and out to avoid recirculating hot air). The inner pipe will be drilled in the base for the air going down to have some place to exit the inner tube and exit trough the outer.
I hope to have explained it well enough. Initially I though this system for 55W PL lighting. Those get hot when they have no air circulation and get to deform the acrylic over time, so this new 'device' will allow me to hold several of those in the exhaust outer tube near the nets. But if I where able to run the HQI it will be cheaper in lamps, brighter in lumens and easier to maintain, with less hours of lighting needed, and I do have all the parts already...
So the question is, will I be able, someway, to cool down enough a 9 centimeter acrylic pipe with a 250W HQI inside just forcing air through it??? Anyone ever tried something like this??? The HQI metalic casing gets as hot as 90 Celsius degrees, but the lamp itselfs gets over 130 celsius degrees, wich will melt the acrylic for sure. There would be as little as 2-3 centimeters between lamp and acrylic, but I've seen 50W fans able to move HUGE amounts of air relatively silently.
I wil make some schema to post it and help you understand the idea, so we can find the best design possible. SantaMonica, if you find this setup interesting you can use for your own designs, it will be my pleasure if it where that good.
Best regards from Spain!!!
Angel
My name is Angel, I'm a spanish saltwater aquarist and have been running a 650 l aquarium with ONLY algae scrubbing for one year. Recently I moved from town and I am setting the whole thing up and I'm trying to improve an already working design (very BIG thanks for SantaMonica for sharing this with the world) to make it even better and easier to maintain.
My setup will be a 120 liters trash bin (squared one) with 4 nets hanging from top of every wall where one of the tank drains will be overflowing to. I plan to add a recirculation pump also to reach the 6000 l/h I calculated are needed for the lineal amount of one sided mesh I will have to cover. The bin is about 50cm every side, and as I have just finisished a new led fixture for the main tank, I have a great 250W HQI electronic fixture. My plan was to use this to drive a 250W warm white lamp to get those 33000 lumens 360º all around it promises and grow the most algae ever in my scrubbing history.
The problem is, of course, the heat. I've think of a system to drive heat away of the circulating water in a sealed acrylic container, the following way:
One 9 centimeters acrylic pipe where ligthing will be, placed inside a second bigger 20 centimeters of diameter acrylic pipe, which will be the exhaust pipe. I put a 9cm blower on top of the small pipe, blowing air in (or out, whatever is best) through the small pipe. Both pipes are glued in the base to a round acrylic sheet to make the setup water proof. That way, the air enters and exit from the top (I would redirect the in and out to avoid recirculating hot air). The inner pipe will be drilled in the base for the air going down to have some place to exit the inner tube and exit trough the outer.
I hope to have explained it well enough. Initially I though this system for 55W PL lighting. Those get hot when they have no air circulation and get to deform the acrylic over time, so this new 'device' will allow me to hold several of those in the exhaust outer tube near the nets. But if I where able to run the HQI it will be cheaper in lamps, brighter in lumens and easier to maintain, with less hours of lighting needed, and I do have all the parts already...
So the question is, will I be able, someway, to cool down enough a 9 centimeter acrylic pipe with a 250W HQI inside just forcing air through it??? Anyone ever tried something like this??? The HQI metalic casing gets as hot as 90 Celsius degrees, but the lamp itselfs gets over 130 celsius degrees, wich will melt the acrylic for sure. There would be as little as 2-3 centimeters between lamp and acrylic, but I've seen 50W fans able to move HUGE amounts of air relatively silently.
I wil make some schema to post it and help you understand the idea, so we can find the best design possible. SantaMonica, if you find this setup interesting you can use for your own designs, it will be my pleasure if it where that good.
Best regards from Spain!!!
Angel