Fan question for you

[djconn]

I've thought about this long and hard and can't come to a conclusion. I've got my fans setup different in a few of my tanks and can't make a decision.

Which direction do you want your light/hood fans blowing to? Do you want air blowing into the hood thus bringing in cooler air or blowing air out of your hood and sucking out hot air?

 

[Phischy]

In an ideal world, maybe one blowing in and one pulling out? Depends on how closed in your light fixture is. I would think blowing cool air in would force the hot air out. I'm not planning on having any fans on my system yet b/c it's usually in the 70's here so heat built up isn't a huge issue, but if I were to put some in, they'd be blowing in.

 

[incysor]

I believe that the best way to do it is so that however you set it up you have twice as much airflow out as you do in. For instance if you have one 1in fan blowing into your hood, you want two 1in fans blowing back out of it. I read this someplace online, and can't remember where. I asked some friends that are into overclocking their computers and they said about the same thing.

Brian

 

[Phischy]

Another thing I've read for heat management is to drill the top of your tank to allow hot air to rise away instead of being blown out the rear of the canopy. Therma induction (conduction?), anyway, hot air rises so give it a way to escape.

 

[djconn]

Hmmm...well I'm talking about a single fan in the canopy of my 5.5 gallon tank. Not going to drill any holes in my custom canopy :shock: I'm just going to leave in blowing air in and hope it circulates. There has to be a preferred direction for a single fan unit though. I'll research some more.

 

[incysor]

Do you not have enough space to put 2 or more? Being in Houston you can get some incredibly small fans over at EPO much cheaper than buying them at the LFS.

Electronic Parts Outlet
3753 Fondren Rd
713.784.0140

 

[djconn]

Yeah, I actually got mine at an electronics store for $16.00 w/o the power supply. I'll check out that EPO place. Actually I think I've been there before. Maybe I'd put one on one side blowing in and one on the other side blowing out. Sound good?

 

[incysor]

It seems like it would do the trick. If you go over there, ask them to power up the fans before you buy them, they can do it, and it's nice to check to see how noisy they are. My buddy had to cut 2 fans back out of his hood after he'd siliconed them in because they were really noisy with his plastic hood. When he went in the next time he made sure to ask and got 2 25mm(1in) fans that were much quieter for about $25 or so.

 

[Phischy]

Vents in the top of the hood would increase air flow and I was going to have pops do it to mine but I couldn't explain to him how I wanted it done. Looking at the hood now (it's great) but damn if it isn't heavy. I've got ideas for him for the next time he builds one to make it lighter.

As for fans, if you want them to be quiet make sure you get ball bearing fans, they'll be a bit more expensive but should last longer and will make alot less noise.

 

[incysor]

I just used a hole saw and cut holes in the sides of my stand and am planning on putting in large computer fans in it to replace the clip-on ones that took up so much space under there. Of course my stand doesn't look nearly as nice as yours. But you could do the same thing at the top of your hood since no one would be able to see the top easily anyway.