Best way to cool a tank for new guinea species

[Jeff9]

I need more input on this, from what i read peltier chips for AIR cooling are nowhere near effective.

I am asking on the phase change cooling forum now, but it seems like the system would be bulky and hideous, not to mention there is alot of hazards including death and injury when working with the gasses to make phase changing work [if i am correct].

So maybe an alternative would be to chill the water using a peltier or something.
Would growing cooler orchids be viable if you apply cold water to the roots? The cold water circulation would eventually chill the air aswell if i am correct.

I am talking about chilling the water to 10-14c and circulating it with a pump and running air through the tank with a fan.

[Tindomul]

I do believe that cold water on roots works. It also works on leaves. Evaporation is a great way to cool an object. Water is such a handy dandy tool. Let us know how you decide to go.

[RogierT]

The people i know who keep Utricularia and keep them around 15celsius use aquarium coolers. Air is not known for keeping a stable temperature, water does not fluctuate as much in temperature.

[Jeff9]

Yes and aquarium chillers cost over 500 euros a piece, which is ridiculous for a small tank.

So far i have decided the best way might be to place my tank in my basement (15C) and then chill the air down to 13C using a modified wine fridge.

Also, i dont believe water cooling would be effective. You would have to constantly run cool water down all night.

Next to that, you would have to chill the water, and since aquarium chillers are too expensive, you would have to use a peltier chip, or a phase change cooler. I believe phase change cooler could be effective, but then it'd be expensive aswell.

So i will try my luck with a 50 buck thermoelectric wine fridge.
If it doesnt work i will have to spend significantly more on something more effective.

[tropterrarium]

Originally Posted by Jeff9

So maybe an alternative would be to chill the water using a peltier or something.
Would growing cooler orchids be viable if you apply cold water to the roots? The cold water circulation would eventually chill the air aswell if i am correct.

I am talking about chilling the water to 10-14c and circulating it with a pump and running air through the tank with a fan.

I have done an "indirect" cooler with cold water and air blowing over the water to cool the air. It does work. I need to cool from 85-105F to below 85F. This works with water at 60F running over a slab of rock as a sheet, and a computer fan blowing over it. The variables to consider are:
- desired air temperature
- outside/room temperature
- from that temperature differential
- how much heat input goes in (specifically from lights).
- Area of water to air volume of tank.
- Surface area of tank (determines over how much area the heat comes into the tank: sphere would be ideal, long skinny the worst).

To give you some idea, I use a 1/15HP aquarium chiller, and it runs 50% of the time at 95F, so has about 50% reserves. The tank is 90 gal volume, on the long and skinny side 63x24x14", the water surface is about 14x18". Heat input is 160 to 320 W of T5s.

I would not chill the roots, unless you grow siberian orchids acclimated to permafrost, or alpine species.

[s1214215]

This is how I used an aquarium chiller to cool. It works quite well.

A chilling experiment

Brett