The tank has been up and running since December 2008 for those that haven’t seen the pictures of the making of “The Tank” check out this link:

http://www.texasrarebooks.com/tank

By Feb. 2009 I was battling heat exchange in the tank (the tank was running around 84 degrees) versus the humidity the tank was leaving in the house. I had to find a happy medium for both fish and me!

Solution Number 1 – The Hood:
The first solution to the tank heat was to raise the temporary hood away from the surface of the tank by about a foot. So I built a one-foot tall wall surrounding the tank, that sits on the top of the tank by 1-inch triangular feet. The temporary hood now sits on the temporary walls! LOL! I built 5 doors into the wall so I could get to the surface of the water. This seemed to drop the tank temperature by a few degrees, but also added to the humidity that was going into the house. The humidity in the house was running in excess of 67 percent. Not good!

A temporary fix to the humidity problem was to buy a dehumidifier. But the drawbacks to running a dehumidifier was the extreme costs on the electric bill, probably $185 extra a month in electric charges. So a better solution needed to happen fast!

Solution Number 2 – The Filtration System:
When I designed the filtration system, I submersed the submersible/inline 4000 GPH pump into the second 45 gallon tub that was inline with the filters. Well this size pump, puts out a lot of heat, which was adding to the heat in the tank. So the next chore was to put the pump inline (outside of the second filtration tub). This involved re-plumbing the filtration system to accommodate the now inline pump. Once the project was done it dropped the tank temp by about 2 degrees. Still not enough for happy fish!

Solution Number 3 – The Lighting:
When I designed the lighting for the tank I was using (4) —> 40watt, 4-foot, Coral Reef 50/50 Fluorescent Tubes. Nice look these lights put out! However that was 160 watts of heat I was putting into the mix! Not to mention the strain on the electric bill the ballasts were putting out! So my solution was to get (4) – 4-foot, 12 volt, LED tube lights that I found at LEDLight.com. Not only did it significantly drop the heat exchange in the tank, but it also dropped the usage on my electric bill (they don’t need ballasts). The only problem I found with the LED lights was that their “warm” look couldn’t match the look of the Coral Reef 50/50’s, but being the lighting person that I am, I fixed this by putting L201 filters over the LED’s, and the beauty of this is, I can change the color in the tank to whatever I like in the future.

Solution Number 4 – Air Circulation:
I put a fan that blows across the water to cool the tank.

After solutions 1-4 were complete the tank temp was down to 80 degrees, very nice, but I still wanted it down to 78. And I was still getting a lot of humidity in the house. That was the next problem that needed to be addressed.

Solution Number 5 – Enclosure:
I decided to enclose the top of the tank inside the one-foot walls with plexiglass. However, I didn’t want the heat to be trapped inside the tank and the plexiglass. So to battle this I installed 2-feet by 3-feet sections of plexiglass across the top of the tank and left (2) 2-inch spacing between two of the sections, and still left the fan blowing across the top. Wow! what a difference this made! Humidity dropped! I could now stop running the dehumidifier! WooooHoooo!

Solution Number 6 – The Heaters:
Well they (those pesky little experts in the aquarium field) always tell you to leave your heaters plugged in, since the temperatures could drop during the night. Well those experts must have never lived in Texas! LOL! I unplugged my heaters — all 5 of them, and the tank temperature was now at a VERY stable 78 degrees. With the fan blowing across the top off the tank I am now able to set my Air Conditioner in the house to 80 degrees, and the tank will stay at a stable 78 degrees. Humidity in the house is around 42 to 50 percent without running the dehumidifier. WoooHoooooooo!

My electric bill is happy again, and so are all the inhabitants of The Tank!