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?

[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.