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Biocube 14 DIY Evaporative Cooling Fans


spankna

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Just finished my install and its getting late so I am going to try and make this quick. I have had two near catastrophic events in my tank from temp increases that triggered this install. Causes for the temp increases were A/C failure in my apt and girlfriend settings temp too high on vacation. I haven't lost any fish/corals directly during or following the temps increases but when I see 86 on my Apex Jr screen, I get concerned.

 

This was a mock up of the two vent grills and filter covers. Idea is simple, cut two holes under each covers and mount fans in the openings. Fans/grills/filter covers are all 50mm.

NOTE: I recommend using 12volt dc fans/PS as the 5volt systems I started with was far too under powered.

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Here is the fan grill and filter cover broken down.

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First thing, pop off the feeder door. Once off, use a hole saw to cut a hole in the feeder door. I used a 1.75inch hole saw for the 50mm fans I used. Fit is almost perfect.

NOTE: Move your fans/covers closer to the front of the tank or the grills/filter covers will catch the hood when opening the door. Mine catches so don't be cool like me and think of it after the fact.

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Underside of the feeder door with fans mounted. Pictured fans are 5v but I ended up going to the OEM 12v fans from the Biocube hood. I soldered and heat wrapped all connections. I am not a professional so I am not going to tell you how to wire up your tank. Only thing I can say is that the fans connect to some sort of DC power source.

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Fans running with the wiring cleaned up a bit. Notice the hole I drilled through the back lip of the feeder door so I could zip-tie the wires to the door. Up and out of the water.

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All wrapped up.

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I think it looks pretty clean and almost OEM. Feeder door is the perfect angle to send air under the light cover. I will post a temp graph from my ApexJr in a couple days to see if there is a temp difference.

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Nice job. I moved the topic to DIY as it seems most appropriate there. Since you have an ACJR, are you considering running the fans only when the temperature reaches some trip point?

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Agree, nice, clean install! Looks great!

 

Does one blow in, and the other blow out? That is how the two stock fans work. Looks nice.

 

I have this question too. I would think the hood would be leaky enough that you could have them both blow inward, which I would think will help with the longevity of being that close to saltwater (air is less salty, warm and humid).

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Agree, nice, clean install! Looks great!

 

 

 

I have this question too. I would think the hood would be leaky enough that you could have them both blow inward, which I would think will help with the longevity of being that close to saltwater (air is less salty, warm and humid).

 

 

If you routed some slots in the hood somewhere I could see them both blowing in. However, the lids are pretty tight fitting. You could even take a drill and make a pattern of holes or something. Maybe be easier than adding slots...

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Actually, looking closely at the pictures, I think they are installed such that one blows in and the other out :)

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Something I noticed last night but was too tired to write out.

 

If you look at my pictures, I have the fans and grills only held on in opposite corners. 2 screws in each fan and 2 screws in each grill. This caused the corners that are not screwed down on the grills to distort and rise up. So in the pictures you will see the grill/fan covers having a gap between them and the feeder door. My plan is to replace the screws with stainless bolts/nuts to pull all corners down. I also plan on placing a fan silencer between the fan and feeder door. Below is a picture of the silencer I am referring to.

 

fss-03.jpg

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Here is todays the last 24hours from my ACJR.

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My Actinics LEDs cut on at 0830 and the 50/50 LEDs follow at 1130. I am sure I can level out todays temp. I purposely left both the fans and the heater on today and here is the results.

 

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I love data!

 

Seeing graphs like this make me want to purchase a controller that much more, just so I can play a bit.

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I just noticed that the heating-cooling cycle is ping-ponging in a very narrow range. What settings are you using for your heating trip point and cooling trip point? You may want to consider loosening up a little on the hysteresis just so you're not turning things on and off so frequently, and possibly causing excessive wear or stress.

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I just noticed that the heating-cooling cycle is ping-ponging in a very narrow range. What settings are you using for your heating trip point and cooling trip point? You may want to consider loosening up a little on the hysteresis just so you're not turning things on and off so frequently, and possibly causing excessive wear or stress.

 

I completely agree this is putting excessive wear on the equipment especially on the ACJR's power switches to cut the heater on/off. The graph showing the heater outlet on/off status is all the proof you need. I currently have the fans plugged into an unmanaged power strip with timer as my ACJR outlet are full. I have an Energy Bar 8 arriving today which I am going to setup the fans on. Should take me a couple days to even out the temp graph.

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Just grabbed this from the ACJR page on Neptunes site.

 

Modular Expansion through AquaBus

High reliability protocol with robust error correction

 

Plug and Play

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