ChadO Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 So, this was something that I stumbled across the other day by just random observation. I have one of our small bedrooms in our house dedicated to my shrimp tanks - wife absolutely loves it BTW, she always comments how good of a use of space it is... Anyway, my room, my rules. We've been warming up here the last number of days as I am sure a lot of folks have, and so I have been keeping a much closer watch of my temperatures. What I noticed the other day makes a lot of sense (I think), but something I never thought of when setting up my tanks on the racks. The tanks on the bottom rack - much closer to the floor - are staying at 72-73 degrees with no trouble. The tanks up on the upper shelves are warmer - like in the 75 degree range. Granted, this is just a few degrees, but I think it makes sense that this is due to the warmer air rising up and the cooler air staying lower to the floor. We do have AC, so none of my tanks are in real danger, but it just got me to thinking that if you're setting up racks, maybe put your warmer temperature shrimp on the upper racks, and the crystal, TBs, and cooler shrimps on the bottom rack. It might help with the temps just a bit. Now, I'm no thermal engineer, so maybe someone can chime in discuss if my theory here is right, but on general observation, my lower tanks are all cooler, and in some cases, their heaters need to come on to keep the temp up for the neos. My plan is to now - as time and maintenance allows - to move all my cool temp tanks to the bottom racks, and put the neo tanks up on the top. Anyway, throwing that out there for thought and comments. MableBile, Amyers22, aquariumlover10 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mayphly Posted June 27, 2015 Report Share Posted June 27, 2015 Great observation! Thanks for posting this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrymprdan Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 ChadO, I USED to be an engineer and I was proud of my C in thermodynamics! Never worked so hard for a C..... Before you go through with your switch, what about upping your ventilation? Do you have any fans in the room? How about windows? In my shrimps dorm room I used a blackout shade on the windows and the fan runs all the time. Cuts down on the heat coming from outside and it keeps the air constantly mixing, so not as much layering of temps. Pretty darn good observation you made by the way! sewoeno 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dendrobatez Posted June 28, 2015 Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 How much higher are the top tanks than the bottom ones? Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChadO Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2015 The bottom rack shelf is 10" off the floor (hindsight, wish that was higher for siphoning water out to the 5 gallon bucket for changes - live and learn) and the top rack is at 36". There is one vent in the room that is in the ceiling and it is like 5" x 12". Looks to be the standard vent size that you can get at the home box stores. It has the roll wheel on the end that allows you to open and close it. It's the only vent in the room. I try to keep the door to that room propped open to allow for better flow. I do have a small 10" box fan on the window sill that borders outside. On cool nights, I open the window and let the fan pull some cooler air into the room. I don't doubt that the air flow could be much better utilized/set up in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted June 29, 2015 Report Share Posted June 29, 2015 Very interested. Makes sense, almost hard to believe its 2-3 degree difference though, would of never thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schaferaquatics Posted July 3, 2015 Report Share Posted July 3, 2015 Put a fan on the floor pointing up and or a ceiling fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monty703 Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 I have central air in my condo apartment, and I keep my home at 69F all summer long, 72 in winter. In my fish room the tank closest to the window (3 ft away) is always at least 2 degrees warmer than the one a foot away from this one on the same level (3ft off the ground) The air vent is right above the window, yet it doesn't make any difference. Ive checked it every day summer and winter and its the same thing. I have the drapes closed all day and even a fan blowing in the room to circulate the air....no difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.