[APD] Heat exchanger - was aluminum in the aquarium

["Tom Wood" <tomwood2 at flash_net>]

I finally got my aluminum radiator installed and got it to actually work. I 
used an aluminum transmission oil cooler from the local auto parts store. 
I'm getting about a 3 degrees F drop over the 13 1/2 hour night. The 90 
gallon tank has three 96W CF lamps, two on for the entire 10 1/2 hour 
daytime, plus one on for the middle 3 hours. This is a reduction from an 11 
1/2 hour day with all three on that sent the tank into a high temp death 
spiral into the high 80's. (CO2 injected from a cylinder, ferts added mostly 
daily.)

Now it tops out at about 78 degrees and falls back to 75, in a room at about 
72 degrees using a 1200 CFM computer fan to pull air across the radiator. 
(The fan is rated at 11 dB so air volume was traded for less noise.) So it's 
a mixed bag in terms of how much the radiator helped, but if I really chill 
the room I can feel the heat in the exhaust air so it's gotta be helping 
some.

Everything in the tank has perked up and I'm curious to see the long term 
effect of the shorter days on growth rates and algae. If, as the other Tom 
says, I can modulate both with the lighting, then that would be a good 
thang!

TW

PS: I've noticed that when the tank hits the 'sweet spot' and the plants are 
pearling, that is when algae vanishes. Is it possible that the algae is 
being 'oxidized' by the high oxygen level?



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