 Geo-Thermal cooler
I've been toying with the idea of geo-thermal cooling for a while now, and it just occurred to me during all this discussion that if you have access to a hole to the outside, it's not TOO difficult for a reef tank, and a lot more efficient than A/C.
The concept is to use the ground's naturally "coolish" temperature to absorb heat from a heat pump on a hot day, or warm cold water to add heat back on a cold day. For a smaller tank, all you need is a moderately deep hole in the ground, PVC pipe, a pump and a heat exchanger. (peltzer or compressor based)
For a larger tank, the more underground time you can give the water, the better, but the concept is the same. You use the ground as a huge heat sink basically, that you can both push to, and pull from, if necessary.
A more ghetto setup just pumps tank water through the outside pipes as needed to cool, but the risk of a tree root draining my tank is a little too unnerving for me to go the single loop route.
The rub in all of these: Getting the wife to let you dig up her flower garden (You can put it back when you're done) so you can dig a deep trench under it to run piping. Remember to tell her that it will help keep them from freezing in the winter [in a very minor way]. |