FrontyKing Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Yeah, the good times are the best Dave. BTW, got six new moliro bubs from a female that was holding when I got them from Emmanuel! I stripped her last night and mum and the bubs are doing great! Andrea I know you weren't under valuing the loss of my fish. Cheers to you mate! Matthew, I agree with the statement "They are our pets and more important than some people I know". Believe me, I have to put up with a lot of arrogant, insensitive tool squeezers everyday. Thanks for your kind words. Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wui39 Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 how ironic now....2 days of cool weather Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Yeah and the air con finally got installed today FOC!!!!! Better late than never. It blasted the garage down to 16 degrees from 23 degrees in about 30 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 It sounds like some of you stand to lose a lot of money if your fish rooms heat up too much. So that being said, has anyone considered running a large chiller such as the ones used in marine aquaria? I run a chiller and my tank never gets about 25 degrees. Sure chillers arent 'cheap', but well worth the investment if they stop you losing hundreds of fish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoliroMan Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Nick....Congrats on the mouthful! I don't believe it...took me 5 years to start getting mouthfuls, took u guys only 5 months! Proof again that u have the nack for breeding fish. I think it is about time u get some more exotic wildcaughts mate!!! Was that the first mouthful? 6 is a small mouthful. How long was she holding for before u stripped it? May be other fry hiding in your tank? Blake...i did consider getting a chiller for my tropheus tanks but i couldn't make myself buy 3 chillers for my larger tanks! It would be much cheaper to aircon the whole fishroom! Has anyone used those portable aircon units? Are they any good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novafishy Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 Dave, I find that portable aircon units can work quite well to drop the heat down relatively quickly. It all comes down to the power the unit has and the capacity it can handle. it might be a good idea to invest in a small aircon unit that's powerful enough to cool down a fish room during the hot temps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travolta Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 FrontyKing, my heart goes out to you man! Good luck with your future projects, i hope it all works out Has anyone used those portable aircon units? Are they any good? ← Hey MoliroMan, i've never used a portable aircon unit but i've just installed a reverse cycle air con unit and it works wonders. Bunnings has got a 3hp unit for between $700 to $800, then your looking at about $300 to $400 to install it. regards James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waterboy Posted January 5, 2006 Share Posted January 5, 2006 wow. Lucky me my place doesn't hit past the 29c mark... My little fella's haven't had hard times like alot of you peoples Sorry to hear all the bad news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Thanks Travolta for your kind words. Dave, she was holding for 21 days before I stripped her and definitely no bubs hiding in the tank as it was only till today that I put the rocks/pots/ornaments back in the tank. This was her second hold so next ones should be better in numbers. In regards to portable air cons guys, from what i found out, the biggest you can get is 1.5 hp which in my opinion is only good for a bedroom or living room as I had found out while inquiring for a unit. No one(air con sales people and installers) guaranteed that they can bring a room down below 30 degrees when it's 40 degrees or so outside. Yes they are as efficient to run as a split system which will run into the $$$thousands for a good one around about 2 hp or above but funnily enough your basic window reverse cycle unit of 2.5 hp is more efficient than all of them and it will blast your fish room like it is doing mine, unless you're running a 3 phase ducted system or similar. My 2 cents worth. Cheers, Nick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Well, the heat has finally arrived in Perth...hit 40C odd out here today...everything seems ok. Luckily it is dropping again to low 30's for the next week so all should be good. Andrea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fman Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Sounds like you've had a pretty bad time over east guys. Sorry to hear of your losses. I was interested to hear that our illustious WA minister for housing was extolling the virtues of brick veneer homes earlier this week. She's trying to sell us the idea since they're cheaper to build. They're not very common in WA. Most homes here are double-brick, which have better insulating properties. As a child, I remember my father spraying the roof down with the garden hose on very hot days. I still do it now. Just a quick 5 minute spray, and you can feel the temperature fall. Cheers Frank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 My 'chiller idea' would really only work if all the tanks ran off the one sump, that way you could have the water chiller via the return pump and chill all of them at once. As you pointed out, if you had several tanks all running off their own systems, it wouldnt really be a very economical way of keeping things cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Racer Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Sorry to hear about your losses Frontyking. I was lucky I didn't have any fish losses over that hot weekend. I shut all doors and windows to the garage, turned on the cheapy evaporator cooler, and put ice in the ice compartment of the unit every 3 hours and my tanks remained at 31 degrees throughout the day and night. Air conditioning would have been a lot nicer though. As for my home airconditioning, the manual says the operating temperatures are between 10 degrees and 43 degrees and I tell you it was struggling on that hot day to keep the house cool - at times it was blowing warm air !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 My 'chiller idea' would really only work if all the tanks ran off the one sump, that way you could have the water chiller via the return pump and chill all of them at once. As you pointed out, if you had several tanks all running off their own systems, it wouldnt really be a very economical way of keeping things cool. ← Even on a single system - whats a chiller cost that services a couple of thousand litres? Still well more than an airconditioner that will do the whole room I thought. Plus the AC keeps you cool and comfortable too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bignose Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 I'm speachless Frontyking. Sorry Mate. where do you dispose of so many fish? I luckily insulated only a few weeks ago and I know that saved me from any losses as the water still reached 31 Did anyone suffer any power outages during the Heat as well? Cheers Ivan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 True Ducksta, but A/C are more likely to deliver unpredictable temperature changes and on hot 40+ days most air conditioners simply cannot handle the workload so to speak. A chiller gives you precise control over exactly what temperature you want in your tank. Yes an A/C will stop the ambient room temperature from rising too high, however it wont be anywhere near as effective or precise as a chiller designed specifically for the purpose of lowering tank temperature. Marine tends to be a little different to cichlids though, on a reef tank you're usually running a much higher amount of lighting, more powerheads, filtration, a skimmer etc. which all produce heat in the tank. You're also trying to avoid temperature swings in excess of 2 degrees in most reef tanks aswell, something that isn't as much of an issue in freshwater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 6, 2006 Share Posted January 6, 2006 Just food for thought I've 8 tanks running only one was effected .I came home from work after the southerly hit and glanced at a few tanks with no concern all fine .Then the next morning arose to find the tank with the single 4foot fluro sitting on top of the lids 6 Brichardi were cooked mind you the multi cats were fine in the same tank this tank was 32.9 at 9am the next morning All other tanks have a 12" gap between the lights and the tanks and are in the same garage with no other losses. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrontyKing Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 where do you dispose of so many fish? ← HI Ivan, At 1 am once I finished pulling out all the dead fish and put them into garbage bags, I thought to myself, what am I going to do with them? I then remembered that the garbage truck that comes to my work to pick up the big dumpex bins arrives there at around 2 am. So off I hurried and what do you know, he got there the same time I did! Lucky me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wui39 Posted January 7, 2006 Share Posted January 7, 2006 I wouldn't want to leave that in your garbage bin for more than a few days. Even the garbage man might have a few second thoughts as to taking it away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 True Ducksta, but A/C are more likely to deliver unpredictable temperature changes and on hot 40+ days most air conditioners simply cannot handle the workload so to speak. A chiller gives you precise control over exactly what temperature you want in your tank. Yes an A/C will stop the ambient room temperature from rising too high, however it wont be anywhere near as effective or precise as a chiller designed specifically for the purpose of lowering tank temperature. Marine tends to be a little different to cichlids though, on a reef tank you're usually running a much higher amount of lighting, more powerheads, filtration, a skimmer etc. which all produce heat in the tank. You're also trying to avoid temperature swings in excess of 2 degrees in most reef tanks aswell, something that isn't as much of an issue in freshwater. ← I don't get it - if the ambient temperature is kept constant where are the temp swings coming from in the room? And why do you assume AC is more likely to fail at its designed purpose than a chiller? Based on that, can I assume it is also better to heat every tank in a room with an aquarium heater and do away with room heaters? Keeping in mind nobody is talking about single tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlakeyBoyR Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 I dont think the A/C is likely to FAIL at its designed purpose, I just don't think that when you set an A/C to say, 18 degrees, that it will necessarily guarantee a temperature of 18 in your tank. Whereas when you set your chiller to a temperature, you're guaranteed that the temperature INSIDE the tank itself will be what you want it to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 8, 2006 Share Posted January 8, 2006 OK I get that - but if the room is always 24 (for example) pumps etc might get the tank running a degree more than that but other than that, where is the extra heat coming from? There are no tank heaters to stick on and cook. Assuming you are not using lots of extremely hot running lighting (like you would if it were all reef setups). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash Posted January 9, 2006 Share Posted January 9, 2006 If you undersize the chiller it'll have just as hard of a time in 40+deg weather as an undersized A/C unit - a decent size A/C is similar money to a small chiller - I know what I'd use (if I had a fishroom). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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