New idea for a nano "heater"...

[Anonymous]

I just got this idea, no idea if it will work or not. You guys have all been looking for the smallest heater available, and it got me to thinking about how to create one with enough wattage and also with a thermostat.

My idea is to make a poor man's heat exchanger: Create a "sump"-- it could be a 2 liter soda bottle with the top cut off, if you like--with a return pump that pumps water through airline tubing. The tubing will not actually flow into your tank, but just right back to the "sump". There is no circulation between the "sump" and tank, so you could fill it with tap water, or kerosene if you feel like it. The liquid simply serves as a medium to transmit heat energy.

Loop the airline tubing around to create a bunch of surface area, and dip the loops in your main tank or refugium. This would be ideal if you have a small refugium, because you could loop the airline around rocks and plants without sacrificing any space. The water could be pumped by a microjet pump with an adapter placed at the bottom of the "sump". Place a heater in your "sump", and set it to whatever temp you feel is best. Ideally, the "sump" water and the tank salt water should eventually equal the same temperature. I have no idea if this will work or not, but if it does it would be great. I can't imagine it working on a tank much bigger than 1-2 gallons. It could be remotely located, in a closet or cabinet underneath the tank. The actual space taken up in the main tank would be very small. It could be used to heat several small tanks near each other, all at the same temperature. It could use any heater on the market. It wouldn't cost much more than the heater itself.

I was thinking the high tech way to do it would be to fit it all in a 1-2' section of 2" PVC, with caps at both ends. Stand this cylinder on its end, and fit the heater and pump inside. Drill holes through the endcap for the wires and airline tubing, and use grommets. There would be very little evaporation.

 

[Reefer High]

That is a good idea but airline tubing will insulate too well and may not tranfer heat to the tank. Copper hose would be a better idea but not as attractive.

 

[Reefer High]

never mind copper probably wouldn't work in the reef. :idea:

 

[brandon4291]

Matt I have been thinking about your design since I read this thread. What ways do you think would work well to plumb the pico or nano reef for this external device? Are you thinking of an overflow/siphon-suction setup or an actual mini bulkhead approach? Im going to start a new M75 soon with upgraded features, and if I can think of a way to plumb it for external devices while eliminating leakage I feel this will open the doors widely.

PS, do you know of any 1/2'' bulkhead setups, where the seals and seats would be about the size of a quarter> thanks!
B

 

[reefann]

Since the water will never enter the tank you could just run the line up the back of the tank and back out and down to the "sump". Thats what I thought he was talking about.
This idea will work the water in the sump will just have to be higher in temp than you want the tank.
I have seen this idea on a board a while ago but on a larger scale for cooling. I think he used a bucket with a old AC elements.
Brandon cant wait to see the new tank
JJ
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[Anonymous]

Reefann,
That's where I got the idea. Folks have tried to run coils of tubing through a little refrigerator via a pump to chill their systems. Apparently it doesn't work that well, but they're doing it on large systems.

You're absolutely correct about the water having to be a higher temp, the insulating properties that Reefer High mentioned will slow the heat transfer to the tank. The best way to do it would be to have thick airline tubing from the sump to the edge of the tank, and then use a thin wall plastic (or platinum!) tubing inside the tank. RO/DI semi rigid tubing might transfer heat a bit better than silicone airline tubing, I don't know for sure.

B-
I think they may have what you're looking for at www.aquaticreefsystems.com If not there, at any place that carries RO/DI components. They should sell 1/4" bulkheads, about the size of a penny or so. One of the ones I got had small aluminum or stainless steel springs in it, making it unusable in saltwater, but they should have all plastic ones.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.aquaticreefsystems.com/dm_fittings.htm This is the page I got mine at. The quick disconnect feature means it has metal in it. You could try ripping it out, or find an all plastic one. www.premiumaquatics.com may have something like that.

 

[Anonymous]

Just got another idea. You could actually have this thing be a genuine sump, rather than just a "sump"...

What I mean is you could actually have recirculating water from your tank going into the sump, getting heated, and then getting pumped back up to your tank without having to drill holes in your tank, add an overflow box, etc. The only drawback is that if you're trying to create as tiny a tank as possible, this would add on to your total water volume.

Here's how you do it: Your intake, the way water gets down to the sump, is an airline tube sitting right at the surface of your main tank. It will siphon water down to your sump, and it will siphon water down to as low as it sticks down into the tank. Connect the end of this tube that goes down into the sump to the intake of your pump. (You can do this by supergluing a piece of rigid airline tubing to the inside of the intake of your pump and fitting the soft airline tubing over it. Incidentally, CAP pumps already have little tubes built into the intake for just this purpose. You can use them to create very efficient venturis for skimmers, if you're so inclined. Anyway....) This suction will cause the siphon to continue, even when air bubbles are eventually sucked up, and even after the power goes out. AS LONG as nothing gets plugged in the tubing, which could happen easily enough. Then it's a simple matter of pumping the water back up to the main tank with more airline tubing.

I know for certain this method works, because I've used it. You just have to take precautions to prevent the intake from getting clogged. The flow between the tank and sump would be so low that there would need to be additional flow created in the tank, of course.

 

[playfair]

On my 7gal minibow (no sump) I used a type of heating pad adhered to the back glass and run off a temperature controller. I covered it with a thin piece of packing styro and it's been great for almost 3 yrs.

Not being able to find the stuff I used, I did find this flex tape that many planted tanks use...
https://secure.ioncart.net/beanfarm/sho ... g+Supplies

These guys put in under the bottom glass of the tank, but I don't think that was the best option for a reef. Just make sure you only use a similar amount of length (wattage) as you would for a normal heater.

 

[Anonymous]

That's cool, thanks playfair.
I had thought of one of those reptile heaters, but no way to control the temperature. A controller makes perfect sense.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a cool project, but I've found a tiny heater that can keep my .68 gallon pico reef at a stable 78 degrees (F). It's only 6" long, too. There's a 25-Watt model (which I use) and a 50-Watt. I didn't even have to tweak it that much, the thermostat is very good.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3925&Ne=40000&Nao=9&N=2004+22787