The Fan

As the summer months get warmer and warmer, as did the water in this delicate system. Running a Nano system with a total of 5 pumps and a whopping 250 watts of light in 29 gallons, too much heat is obviously a possible issue. A high room temperature combined with the heat produced by the submersible electronics creates an environment very likely to get hot. Resulting in unhealthy inhabitants and an unstable aquarium.

Over the past week it has been too cool to run air conditioning, yet to warm to not be cautious about the rising temperature of the system. Shopping for chillers proved pointless and too pricey, and running full A/C 24/7 would just run up the power bill.

As a quick and incredibly easy fix an $8 mountable fan was attached to the wall behind the tank. Reluctantly purchased from Wal-Mart (forcing me to disregard political and moral commitments), this fan has proved to be quite possibly the best investment made for this system thus far. The fan also comes with a clip that can be screwed to the wall.

The temperature has dropped dramatically and is stable (From 85-87 degrees to a stable 77 with the lights on, and 76 in the evening. The only downside is the inevitable quick evaporation of the water. The silent fan cools the light, water surface, and back side of the tank creating an ideal cooling method that was both cost effective and energy efficient.

I recommend looking into a cheap fan option before doing anything dramatic for chilling or even losing livestock this summer.

-A.