MH Fixture cooling using tank water?

[jwaka11]

I was on RB and saw a post where a guy heats-up-his-tank/cool-down-his-light-fixture by pumping his tank water thru a long hose that is running behind his reflector.

http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/19/watercooled-aquarium-led-light-recaptures-heat/

I'm thinking of trying this but afraid that my MH's will run too hot and possibly melt the plastic hose? Do you think it'll melt the hose?

I suppose I can use some sort of heat conductor directly into the tank but I'm afraid of contamination/corrosion into the water since most heat conductors are made of copper.

If this works, it will eliminate my noisy hood fans and possibly lower the electric bill

Thoughts?

 

[Turbosnail]

You could use pex hose for home heating.You can get most of the stock at homedepot or lowes it would be able to take the heat without melting.

 

[Muddskipper35]

So I guess my question is this~ you mentioned saving electricity... How are you going to pump the water up to the light? If your trying to save on ele. then I woud figure a pump that can push water up there is going to eat up alot more than that fan ever will use. I understand that it wont be on all the time but those fans dont use much ele. Guess my next concern is "WHAT IF...." what if you sprung a leak.. what if whatever your using to control the pump fails and continously pumps water through there heating the tank up beyond exceptabe levels... What if the tubing pops off the output of the pump or up by the hood? how much water would you loose and spray all over the outside of the tank and or the electrical components?

Do I think it can be made safely? YES- do I think it woud be feasible? NO.. Do I think It would save $$ ? absolutely not and not worth the inherent dangers of mixing this bad combination.

This is strictly my opinion and to each there own don't bash me for it.

 

[Takara]

I don't understand why the hood fans would be removed if you did this? Couldn't you just shut them down when it is cold? Then more heat would be transfered to the water depending on how well the hood is sealed.

 

[RiverReefer]

yah???...your water isn't going to be cooled your bulb is...i assume the fan is there to cool down the tank ultimately right?

 

[JohnK]

I can see how this made sense with the LED set up in the link, but I don't think it would be practical at all with MH.

I agree, I also think it would cost more to pump the water through the light hood, than it would to run fans.

Also, if you channeled most of the heat from a MH set up into the water (and having less heat dissapate into the air) you'd likely over heat the tank and or need a chiller.

Cooling LED's would add very little heat to the tank, and would require a very modest cooling loop/pump. Cooling MH would be a whole different animal IMO.

 

[jwaka11]

As far as pump is concerned, a small powerhead should be able to push the water up thru my fixture (ie MJ1200) and thus *possibly* reducing the amount of time my 3x300w heaters need to come on. I dont think it would make sense to do this on a smaller tank but I have over 350g total volume where the heat provided by MH *could* heat up the tank.

Im not concerned about the energy consumption of my hood fans, its the noise that bothers me. I have 2x120mm PC fans running @ 30db each... I know some people will think its nothing, but when there's no other appliance on, the noise gets to me.

While I can get a less noisy hood fans, the downside is that it wont have enough CFM to push/pull the air in my 72" fixture. The fans are strictly used to cool down my MH fixture. Fortunately for me, my basement sump keeps my water cool.

Muddskipper35 brought up a good point of it malfunctioning. A broken connection along the water route would spell catastrophe. Back to the drawing board...

 

[number1gsxxr]

It sounds like it would be more cost and effort than it is worth.

If you just wanted to cool the light you might be able to use something like a heatpipe? They are typically used in computer CPU coolers. Here's an explanation of how it works. http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling/382271-guide-how-heatpipes-work.html

You wouldn't be able to heat your water but you might be able to get away with less fans.

 

[JohnK]

You could just replace the canopy fans with quieter ones

http://www.acousticpc.com/silenx_ultra_quiet_pro_series_fans.html

http://www.acousticpc.com/noctua_store.html