Aquarium heater / CPU cooler in one?

[PonzSpyder]

[brainstorming session]

I have been playing with this idea in my head ever since I got into fish keeping about a year ago. Basically, its a water cooling system that runs through a radiator submerged into an aquarium... The theory is that I waste money on power bills to heat a 55gal aquarium and then again to cool my cpu with various fans... If this could work well, the cpu and the tank would benefit from each other greatly.

Here are some guidelines I have thought of to take into consideration for the design:

- The water in the water cooling has to be separate from the tank water since algae and plant particles would clog up the line over time. This is where I got the idea for the cooler's radiator to be submerged into the aquarium.

- This radiator has to be of some material that will conduct heat well but on the other side... it can NOT be harmful to my fish's water. This probably narrows down what types of metals I would be able to use.

- The one hard thing to get an idea of is how hot the cpu will make the water, my fish will be happy anywhere under 80 degrees F. 55 gallons is a substantial amount of water so I would think that the cpu woulnt boil my fish easily but, you never know... I would need to have adequate amount of heat dissipation going on in the tank... Air bubbler along with a tank surface area of 4' x 1' and very good water flow ( right now I have a fluval 404 canister filter rated @ 350 gallons/hour inside the tank for filtration ) good enough?

- On the flip side of the coin I would still have a heater in the tank just in case the temp got too low.

[/brainstorming session]

Hmm, I will have more ideas but cant think of them right now... Anyone else?? It would be really cool if this could work!

Any thoughts / opinions out there? Really, ANY at all. Get those brains exercised

BTW, if you want to see pictures of my tank..
Click on the WWW below and enjoy

[PonzSpyder]

Hmm... Maybe I am losing my mind.

I'll also have to check a few fish keeping websites that I go to. What I really need, is to find out what type of material I can use for the radiator...

Are there any "normal" water cooling sytems that use a radiator NOT made of metal???

I am sure sombody out there has thought of this idea before, I just cant seem to find any websites that say so...

[RedFury]

You wouldn't want to use a Copper tank, it'll kill your algae sure, but it'll also take care of any snails, etc that you have.

The problem with running the heater/cooler in your fish tank is that the water temp won't be regulated ( particularily if it gets too hot )

Realistically, one would have to do the math on this one ( of which I am absolutely NO use for )

I've thought of a similar idea though. Mine was to incorporate an acrylic case into an acrylic tank. ( too much work and money for me at the moment however ).

[omc1jz]

Thatis the funniest thing i have read in ages...

Why dont u try like an automotive aluminium oil cooler?

Bury it under the stones in the bottom......

Good Luck...

a PC Heated Fishtank

[PonzSpyder]

You wouldn't want to use a Copper tank

Yeah, most metals would not work out good in this situation. Copper is a BIG no no. I do have various snails... but even if I didn't, I wouldn't want any metal that would corrupt the water over time.

the water temp won't be regulated

Thats my main concern ( after finding a radiator material ). I can keep the temps from going to cold by still leaving the heater in there, it wouldn't have to work as hard to heat the water at least with the CPU doing some of the work.

The overheating problem is a tough one... Maybe I could test it out with my 10gal tank and no fish to get an idea of the amount of heat that stays in there.

Thatis the funniest thing i have read in ages...

I know, its a rather unusual idea But compared to some PC mod sites and DIY fish tank sites that I have seen, it seems all the more normal to me, hehe.

Bury it under the stones in the bottom......

Actually, the way I have it in my head is to have the radiator vertical on the short side of the tank with a long air bubbler underneath to move cooler water around it and keep circulation going in the tank.

[cbuddha42]

wouldn't have thought you would get enough heat off your cpu to boost 55 gallons to 10 degrees above room temp

[Brainchild]

I would think the CPVC would work as a radiator material.They use it to pipe hot water through houses.You wouldn't need a "Radiator" just a long strip of pipe in the water would work I think.Just so it's long enough to disipate the heat.A radiatot is just numerous lines running crisscrossed to allow maximun air coverage.I really don't think it would be neccessary in this application.

regulation, I have no idea.If ya play a 6 hour session of 3d gaming it might be goodbye fishies

[omc1jz]

I have an experiment going at the moment...

A 4 foot tank 1 baby oscar and 1 baby red devil..
(both about 6months old)

They are going sick already we have placed wagers on wich one will survive... I guess the red devil even though the oscar is twice as large..


The pipes are a good idea , When we build some houses we put pipe in the slab and connect it to the hot water service with a tap, it keeps the ground WARM in winter..

If you do it ponz , We want some pics in the gallery!!!

[RedFury]

Hadn't really thought of it that way BC. Since it is immersion cooling, ( really quite the opposite of a typical radiator/air set up ) just the pips should do it. I wonder if the PCV will be too much of an insulator to get proper heat transfer though???

I suppose realistically a pcv type of tubing would work well, and if you ran the pipe at the bottom of the tank, lengthwise, convection would keep the cooling job working, without the need to air bubbles or powerheads.

[Omardeth]

hmmmmm ... don't think pvc with cunduct anuff heat off the watercooler . you would have to have lots of pipe . then you would have to have a very big pump to move that pipe useing more power than a fan . does your pump pore water into the tank ? if it does you could try an all alum type radiator with the water spilling out of the pump into the tank . so the cool water takes the heat out of the radiator maybe . you would never be able to heat the tank this way there is no way you could get that much heat off the cpu to heat that much water .