Maxi jet heat exchanger

[BCreefmaker]

Hello Ladies and Gents I am looking for some input on a little problem of mine from someone with a similar experince. I have two tanks in the same room. I has recently come to my attention that one of the tanks is over heating. Thanks again Neptune Systems, my lights shut off to warn my of impending doom. Now I am looking for low cost solutions to my tank troubles. First off a fan is not really an option since my system is in a enclosed space with vapor barrier tuck tape and super 77 sealed staples to make the humidity stay in one room so the dehumidifier can better cope but this traps the heat too. To make the situation worse I also sell fish out of my system to local saltwater enthusiasts, so I use glass tops on my tank tops to reduce evaporation, salt creep, splashes, and fish escapes. Right now I was looking at possibly building a small heat exchanger out of vinyl tubing and a small maxi jet pump.

http://i.imgur.com/L7ooRTe.jpg?1
Here is a picture from my controllers temperature graph. I was wondering if I could cool my full of equipment 120g main tank (temp) and save a few dollars by running the heat exchanger into my other 150g tank (tempx5) instead of just outside and wasting the heat.

Additionally I could also just add an exhaust fan on the ceiling of the fish room to vent out the hotest air outside, but I am looking for alternatives since that means more A/C costs and will likely let cold air in during the winter months (brrrrrr, Cananda :cool:)

Any thoughts or suggestions would be grand. I am still unsure of how to build my exchanger. I am have seen a few threads describing how they work well and the principal behind them seems pretty foolproof.

[salty joe]

Looks doable. Plastic does not transfer heat real well, but does work.
Could you make the Neptune control the pump?
I'd guess you'd need at least 20' 1/2" hose in each tank.

BTW, I use 100' 1/2" PEX in my filter/refugium that is connected to 500' 1/2" PEX buried along my house's footer for cooling my 800 gal system and it works well.

Good luck, I'd love to see how it works out.

Just noticed when one tank was the hottest, the other was coolest. What's the correlation?

[BCreefmaker]

The plan was to make my exchanger's maxijet connected to the neptune and go on a after 78.3
I think that was just a coincidence. The colder tank is also topped off manually so it might have something to do with that.

Would I need 20' in the refugium as well? My initial thought was using the maxijet to pump the hotter tanks water in to a coil of vinyl tube that that sits in the colder tank, the water transfers its heat in the coil and is returned back to the hotter tank.

I was thinking I might need to have a blast of water every few hours to make sure I don't build up a anaerobic environment.

[Crush Coral]

I am of the opinion that your Temps are not a concern. 82 degrees is where I do not want to get past. Some reefer posted recently that he was snorkeling on a reef and measured the water temp at 83.

If you wish to cool things down keep in mind that dehumidifier put out a lot of heat. Is there another option other than heating your room up with the xehumidifier? Air exchange? Especially during your 10 months of winter? The humidity is good for your house then.

[BCreefmaker]

I am of the opinion that your Temps are not a concern. 82 degrees is where I do not want to get past. Some reefer posted recently that he was snorkeling on a reef and measured the water temp at 83.

If you wish to cool things down keep in mind that dehumidifier put out a lot of heat. Is there another option other than heating your room up with the xehumidifier? Air exchange? Especially during your 10 months of winter? The humidity is good for your house then.


The main reason I would like to control this is I believe in as much homeostasis as possible is beneficial, this might sound minor, but when I get corals shipped in they don't normally come with heat packs in the summer, so in my mind them going from 70 to 77-78 is less stressful then 70 to +82.

What are you referring to by an air exchange? I have in the past setup ventilation fans to exhaust humid air, but I found they let in massive amounts of cold air with they are not in use. Before vapor barrier my upstairs windows would have a thick crust of ice and mildew growing in the sill during the colder months. I have a very modern HVAC that keeps the air perfectly humid so the tank is just too much.

I should also add that this is really only an issue for a few months of the year. In the winter there is no heating issues.

[salty joe]

The plan was to make my exchanger's maxijet connected to the neptune and go on a after 78.3
I think that was just a coincidence. The colder tank is also topped off manually so it might have something to do with that.

Would I need 20' in the refugium as well? My initial thought was using the maxijet to pump the hotter tanks water in to a coil of vinyl tube that that sits in the colder tank, the water transfers its heat in the coil and is returned back to the hotter tank.

I was thinking I might need to have a blast of water every few hours to make sure I don't build up a anaerobic environment.

That should work as long as tubeworms and such don't muck up the tubing.

[Crush Coral]

Air exchange same as running exausted fans. I understand why that will not work for u now. I burn a fireplace 24.7 so adding moisture to my house is very welcome. Let us know how the in house heat pump design goes. I wonder if coils at the top of the inside of a stand with a fan would work to control temp spikes.