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NFC: Evaporative cooling program
During the chat last Sunday, the subject of keeping aquariums cold came
up. I mentioned that I use evaporation to keep my sculpin tank cold,
via a small ventilator fan that pulls air out from under the hood. I'm
sure that other native fish aquarists have used a similar method, but
most people are unaware that the maximum amount of cooling can be
predicted from thermodynamics. Right now, I am working on a design for
an evaporative cooler that will approach these limits, unlike the crude
method of evaporation that I am currently using.
In the meantime, I developed a Windows program called Heat Calculator
that will determine the rate of evaporation necessary to cool an
aquarium to a given temperature, and also whether the desired
temperature is attainable by evaporation. Also, if any of you have
tanks that need to be kept warmer than the surrounding air, the program
will calculate the size of the heater you will need.
The site can be reached from the Aquarium Science link in my signature,
or you can go directly to
http://pages.prodigy.net/asdalton/calculator.htm.
--
Andrew Dalton
http://pages.prodigy.net/asdalton/
http://pages.prodigy.net/asdalton/aquariumscience.htm