Cooling Conservatory

[fredrickmore]

Hi, sorry if this in the wrong place but im not sure where else to put it.

Im having a large coldwater aqaurium built (around 900 litres) and its going in a conservatory however it gets really hot in there in the summer and i need the the tank to be around 14-16oC otherwise im going to have problems keeping the fish.

I need something to get the room temp down as much as possible (doesnt have to be 14-16oC as i can use other means to get the temp that little bit cooler. Also it needs to have a thermostat so that it'll turn its self on when it gets to hot. However im on a budget (i need it to be cheap as possible). Its also hard to fit anything to the roof or walls (other than the 2ft high brick wall around the the bottom) as it willnt supporting much weight.

Any advice would be very appercated.

Cheers
Phil

 

[Bahco]

How about some blinds on the conservatory roof.

Don't think they will come cheap though!

 

[fredrickmore]

Would it cool it enough though?

Could i just use normal blinds and just adpt them?

 

[crazycanuck]

Two possiblities come to mind.
can you vent through floor back into house with a temperature controlled fan.
Second.-- vent through house wall with same system.
Also a contolled window fan is possible.

 

[Symptoms]

phil - there's only one way to effectively keep a conservatory cool (coolish) and that's with rooflights (opening windows); blinds will help a little but you'll still suffer from temp gain. Fans on their own will only circulate the existing hot air. What you have to try to achieve is circulation in through low-level vents (or the bottom window) and OUT through the rooflights. The low level vents can be cut through your dwarf wall (as many as possible) - a good way of cutting the vent holes is with a core-drill; 3 close holes per internal hit & miss vent cover, the outside holes capped with circular soffit vents (obviously the core-drill hole dia should match the soffit vent size). The hit & miss can be closed in the winter.

I've got low-level vents and roof-lights as above in my conservatory but it still gets hot. My con has a lantern running the length of the roof ridge into which I fitted 3 extractor fans exhausting through vent slits to the outside, the fans are controlled via a room stat - this greatly helps with sucking out the hot air. I also put in some airbricks (with decorative cast iron grills) through the house wall into the void below the floor (suspended) so that air gets sucked from all the air bricks around the base of the house - this aids with circulation. BUT IT STILL GETS HOT(ish).

I'm not sure that you are going to get the temp massively down. Have you thought of directly cooling the fish water in some way?

 

[wms]

Have you thought of a small air con unit like the one the diy sheds sell, you could vent this through the dwarf wall, also in winter most have a heat facility best of both worlds for you needs.

if the sun shines directly onto your tank i see lots of green water.

 

[fredrickmore]

Cheers guys,

Someone has suggested that cause its a large amount of water it might not get that hot as waters a good insulater?

I was thinking of having a window in the roof, also might have to look at air con units, they are pretty cheap at argos (around 200 squid).

The place where the tank is going, direct sunlight shouldnt affect it apart from one side, which is going to be covered slighty. A tad bit of green water will be ok anyway.

Thanks again for the help guys.

 

[foxhole]

Had roof and wall blinds, tinted roof, ceiling fan and air con and it still reached 40 degrees in summer.[Candles on table melted.]
Put fish tank elsewhere unless you like them boiled.

 

[Chud]

What sort of aquarium - salt or fresh water?

Either way you will need a U-V steriliser plumbed into the tank - for salt water this helps keep the fish healthy but for fresh it'll stop your tank being overcome with uncontrollable algae due to the amount of light received in the tank. Normal procedure with aquariums is to put them in a spot where they don't receive any direct light.

900 litres is an awful lot of water (I hope you've got a solid floor underneath the aquarium) and I suspect the only problem you're going to have is if we have a heatwave where the temp doesn't drop below 20 degrees at night, I'm no expert on thermodynamics but water takes a lot of energy to heat up. You can get aquarium cooling systems - they're not cheap but I suspect with a 900 litre set up cost isn't too much of an issue!

Your water changes aren't going to be easy either - 50 - 75 gallons every other week! I hope you're using a sump and wet/dry filter for this set up.

 

[fredrickmore]

Dont worry i know enough about aqauriums lol

Its going to be a british coarse tank, so a tad bit of green water isnt a problem, but if i have to buy a uv i can easily.

The floors concrete so thats not a problem. You can get aquarium chillers however for my sized tank id be looking at a grand which is my budget for the whole set-up, which is why ill proberly get a air con unit instead with a thermostat.

In terms of water changes, its going to be linked into the external filter (having two filters capable of doing a 700litre tank to be begin and might add more later) so all i have to do is turn a couple of taps and it'll drain down. Then ill have a auto top system at some point. Also cause its overfilterated i can get away with monthly water changes easily.

 

[masona]

I was thinking of having a window in the roof,

Just an idea, I did my conservatory roof by using caravan roof vent but they also do which I didn't know then is a Fiamma Roof light with a built in fan to take out the hot air

 

[fredrickmore]

Cheers, thats a great idea, although the roof it basicly the correlated plastic stuff, so depends if thats heavily and if the roof can take the weight.

 

[Chud]

"Its going to be a british coarse tank, so a tad bit of green water isnt a problem, but if i have to buy a uv i can easily. "

Well you've got a choice - you can get a pond UV which will just keep the water clear of algae or go for a UV sterilizer e.g. Vecton which will also kill all the nasties in the water - http://www.reefstore.co.uk/cart/Vecton-600-pr-17458.html

Personally I might go for a pair of vectons - that way you cut the risk of disease in the tank.

 

[breezer]

chud the one you lik to is just a uv in a novel shaped package.

UVs do not steralise, they never have, (they may give the algae a head ache, if it had a head) they do however cause floculation, (make lumps) the lumps are then collected in your biologial filter.

Too much uv light has been known to stop some pond cures working though

 

[Chud]

UV's DO work but the flow rate through the sterilizer, the tubing through which the water passes and the 'thickness' of the void through which the water passes are critical - this is why pond UV's just deal with algae and proper aquarium UV's also deal with pathogens.

I know the old vectons (I've got one) use a specific quartz tube around the UV light as normal glass blocks too much UV, also the gap through which the water passes in the tube is very thin to maximise exposure.