Like many living in warmer climates (AZ), I have been fighting to find ways to consistently and practically keep the temperature in both of my aquariums at a reasonable level. The average temperature in the SE Asian tank has been as high as 84 F, and the Lake Tanganyika tank has been hovering at 81 F. While these are not catastrophic temps., they are certainly higher than I would prefer and have contributed to explosive growth in the size of my 5 gold gourami (from 1.5 to 3.0 inches in just ~3 months). Compounding the problem is the fact that the 'cold' water coming out of my tap is 83 F on average due to storage of water in metal reservoirs by the city before release to the public. Using frozen water bottles gets very old.
After investigating the costs associated with chillers :wall: and hating the idea of another in-line hardware installation, I decided to buckle down and try the install of fans inside the hood itself. I purchased five AZOO 4 fan units from DFS at ~$36 each and velcroed them to the back of the hood:
I do not have room for mounting directly to the light brackets, nor would the fans blow effectively across the surface of the water, so I was initially skeptical that simply adding air movement 1 foot above the tank would make a significant enough difference.
Paint me WRONG:
SE Asian before: 83.5 F
SE Asian after: 79.5 F
Lake Tang before: 81.5 F
Lake Tang after: 77 F
Even more impressive, these measurements are with the furniture hood lids closed. Now, I'm kicking myself for not having committed to the install sooner. For those still struggling with heat issues, try the install of fans somewhere... anywhere above the tank. Even if they don't blow across the surface of the water, you might see an impressive drop in your average tank temperature.
After investigating the costs associated with chillers :wall: and hating the idea of another in-line hardware installation, I decided to buckle down and try the install of fans inside the hood itself. I purchased five AZOO 4 fan units from DFS at ~$36 each and velcroed them to the back of the hood:
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I do not have room for mounting directly to the light brackets, nor would the fans blow effectively across the surface of the water, so I was initially skeptical that simply adding air movement 1 foot above the tank would make a significant enough difference.
Paint me WRONG:
SE Asian before: 83.5 F
SE Asian after: 79.5 F
Lake Tang before: 81.5 F
Lake Tang after: 77 F
Even more impressive, these measurements are with the furniture hood lids closed. Now, I'm kicking myself for not having committed to the install sooner. For those still struggling with heat issues, try the install of fans somewhere... anywhere above the tank. Even if they don't blow across the surface of the water, you might see an impressive drop in your average tank temperature.
