Aquarium Cooling Methods.

It's that time of year again, and the aquarium thermometers are starting to rise. If this is the first summer your aquarium has seen, or if perhaps you have upgraded the aquarium's lighting since last summer, you might be finding yourself in a predicament - the aquarium is too hot. There are numerous ways to cool an aquarium, they range from the simple and inexpensive, to high tech and pricey options, all depending on how severe the aquarium's heat issue is. Even if your aquarium's temperature is just slightly warmer than optimal, there are a few simple things you can do to bring it down a degree or two.The primary methods of aquarium cooling fall under these five basic categories:

• Simple fans that run on a timer along with the lighting
• Fans regulated by simple temperature controllers
• Thermoelectric chillers
• Refrigerant based chillers
• Alternative methods

Most aquarium literature state that marine aquariums should be kept between 75° to 82° F. It is important to understand that each situation is different and the temperature of an aquarium depends on many factors including: the size and shape of the aquarium, the ambient room temperature, the type of lighting, the distance of the lighting from the water's surface, the presence of large water pumps, and the surface water movement of the aquarium.

How does our cooling fan system reduce the temperature of your tank:

A simple, effective and most importantly cheap method of keeping the tank cool is by evaporation. When water evaporates, energy in the form of heat is taken from the around the water to bring the evaporating water to the energy levels necessary to transform the water molecules to gas. (Pure water becomes a gas at 100° C at 1 atmosphere of pressure.) This causes matter from the surrounding area to cool. This is why sweat is cooling. In our tanks, it is the remaining water that becomes cooled. If water is heated to 100° C (at 1 atm) it all becomes gas, however, at water temperatures below 100° C, the evaporation rate is dependent on the humidity of the air. If the air at the air-water interface is already saturated with water (100% relative humidity) no water will evaporate. If the air is dry (low relative humidity), the water will evaporate quickly. If there is little air movement over the water surface, the air quickly becomes saturated and evaporation slows or even stops. Blowing air over the water surface, quickly moves the water laden air away and keeps the evaporation rate up. As the water evaporates the remaining water cools.

Source: Reef keeping Magazine