Dolfan
- #1
As the summer temps are rising, I figured it was a good time to post this. I keep shrimp and a common problem in shrimp tanks in the summer is elevated temps which can lead to bacterial infections. Last year I think I had a bacterial infection wipe out one of my tanks due to this very reason, so I was determined this year to not let that happen. So after some research on the internet and some handy craftsmanship I made my own DIY fan system for my 2 tanks. It involves 3 separate fans wired with on AC/DC adapter and works well for me. I have it plugged into my light timer and it cuts on when they do. This is a long write up and I plan on adding it to the Articles section. I wanted some feedback and proofreading from the community incase my eyes aren't working to catch any mistakes. So let me know here if you see anything that could be improved or made better. Let me know if anyone has any questions or need some help making your own fans.
DIY Aquarium Fan
This article is designed to help show how to build your own aquarium chiller fan out of a cheap computer fan and an old AC/DC adapter phone charger. This helps lower the aquarium temperature up to 5 degrees. These DIY fans work by evaporative cooling. The fans are directed to blow across the surface of the water therefore helping to evaporate water faster, leading to cooler temperatures. You will want to check out how you are going to mount the fan once completed. It is best to blow across the surface. Some use them to pull hot air out of their light fixture. Some open the lid to their tank just a little bit, so a fan can blow down into the water. Every tank is different; send me a message if you need some ideas or thoughts on your specific situation. This fan will not lower the temperature below the ambient temperature of the room your aquarium is in though, meaning if you keep your house at 75, these fans will not keep the tank cooler than 75. But if your tank temp creeps up in the afternoon due to lighting it is very helpful to keep the temps down on these hot summer days.
Disclaimer – I am not an electrician. I’m somewhat handy and have researched this topic on the internet and assembled my thoughts here in this article. It is fairly easy to do, but be sure you are comfortable doing this. I am not responsible for any mishaps. Safety always comes first, so be careful and check all connections before plugging anything in. As with anything in the aquarium hobby do your own research to get your game plan before jumping in.
What you need:
12V computer fan – If you have an old one lying around great, if not check out some online vendors like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com. They are super cheap I got mine for about $3 each with free shipping. The fan needs to be 12V and try to find out the amps that it pulls, sometimes listed as milliamps (mA). For a normal fan it will pull approximately .2 A or 200mA.
12V AC/DC adapter – Old cell phone chargers work great. You need to make sure that the Output is listed as 12V DC and check for the amps it puts out. Again listed as A or mA. You need one that puts out more than the fan needs. So if your fan needs .2A, then your adapter needs to be higher than that. If you want to hook up multiple fans, then add their required amps together. The amps on the adapter need to be higher than the total of amps on the fans. In my case, I have 1 adapter running 3 fans, each fan pulls .17A or 170mA. So added together that is .51A or 510mA. The adapter I am using puts out 1A or 1000mA, so I am good to go as the adapter has more amps then what the fans need. If you don’t have an old cell phone charger that is available and unneeded, check some thrift stores, they often sell old stuff for $1. Or you can buy a new one from places like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com for around $5.
Some wire connectors – twist on caps work well (you will need the smaller sized ones), or anything that will securely connect the wire together. Some people have just twisted the wires together by hand and then taped them up with electrical tape, but I prefer to have some form of a connector.
Electrical tape – this helps to wrap up the connections to keep them secure and prevent any moisture from entering the connection.
Wire cutters and/or wire stripper – You can strip the wire insulation with cutters if you are careful, but wire strippers make it easier.
Getting Started:
Safety note…be sure the adapter is not plugged into the wall socket when working on it. The AC/DC adapter will have some form of a connector on it to plug into the cell phone or whatever it was for. Cut this part off, close to that connector leaving as much wire as possible attached to the part that you plug in the wall (you will need to be able to reach your tank, from the wall plug). I needed extra length so I added some longer wire between the adapter and fans to give me some extra reach. After cutting off the connector on the cord, then strip back the black insulation from the wire 2 inches which should expose 2 smaller wires, 1 red and 1 black. Then strip back the insulation from these 2 smaller wires about ¾ of an inch. Be careful, these wires are very small, and easy to cut through. Your adapter is now ready to go.
Now for the fans, they will have a connector on the end of their wires, cut this off. Most fans will have 2 or 3 wires. You need the black and red wires, if your fan has a yellow or extra wire, just cut it a little shorter and tape up the end; it is not needed for our purposes. You now need to strip back the wire insulation from the black and red wires also about ¾ of an inch. Your fan is now ready to go.
At this point, you connect the red wires together with your connectors and do the same for the black wires. Be sure you have a good solid connection. If using the twist on caps, first twist the wires together tightly by hand, insert in the cap, and then twist fully on to cover all the metal exposed wire. I then like to tape up the wire connection to be sure the caps stay on, and the wires are not able to touch if they came loose somehow. Then tape up the entire area after taping up each individual connection. This ensures the connections won’t wiggle loose or be knocked around. Once all of your connections are complete and taped up well, you are ready to test it out. Try plugging into the wall and see if your fan cranks up. Keep fingers free of the fan blades. Notice the direction the fan blows as you will want this to blow across your water.
If you wanted to connect multiple fans, you will need to connect them “parallel”. This means that all the red wires should be connected to each other and all the black wires should be connected together. You can fit multiple wires into one twist on wire cap.
Now comes mounting, every tank is different so some ingenuity and creativity are needed for your particular situation. You want the fans to blow across the water for maximum effect. Some have used the fans to suck out the hot air out of the light fixture. Some have cracked their tank lid open just a little bit, so they can have the fan blowing in. I have seen some people use wire (like from a cut up wire hanger) bent into place to make a bracket that hangs on the side of the tank. Send me a PM if you need some help or ideas, photos will help to explain the particular tank you are talking about. In my case, I have a custom self-built lighting rack on top of my tank, so it was easy to mount 2 fans in the back. On my smaller 10 gallon tank, which is below on my tank stand I was able to make some paper clip mounts that hung the fan off of the side of the stand. The main thing you need to consider is to try to get the fan to blow across the water and to keep the fan dry.
I hope this has been helpful. Always remember safety comes first, so double and triple check connections, keep everything dry. If anything gets wet, be sure to unplug immediately and allow to dry for several days, before checking to see if it still works again. These fans are very simple and can be very helpful for a little bit of cooling needed.
DIY Aquarium Fan
This article is designed to help show how to build your own aquarium chiller fan out of a cheap computer fan and an old AC/DC adapter phone charger. This helps lower the aquarium temperature up to 5 degrees. These DIY fans work by evaporative cooling. The fans are directed to blow across the surface of the water therefore helping to evaporate water faster, leading to cooler temperatures. You will want to check out how you are going to mount the fan once completed. It is best to blow across the surface. Some use them to pull hot air out of their light fixture. Some open the lid to their tank just a little bit, so a fan can blow down into the water. Every tank is different; send me a message if you need some ideas or thoughts on your specific situation. This fan will not lower the temperature below the ambient temperature of the room your aquarium is in though, meaning if you keep your house at 75, these fans will not keep the tank cooler than 75. But if your tank temp creeps up in the afternoon due to lighting it is very helpful to keep the temps down on these hot summer days.
Disclaimer – I am not an electrician. I’m somewhat handy and have researched this topic on the internet and assembled my thoughts here in this article. It is fairly easy to do, but be sure you are comfortable doing this. I am not responsible for any mishaps. Safety always comes first, so be careful and check all connections before plugging anything in. As with anything in the aquarium hobby do your own research to get your game plan before jumping in.
What you need:
12V computer fan – If you have an old one lying around great, if not check out some online vendors like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com. They are super cheap I got mine for about $3 each with free shipping. The fan needs to be 12V and try to find out the amps that it pulls, sometimes listed as milliamps (mA). For a normal fan it will pull approximately .2 A or 200mA.
12V AC/DC adapter – Old cell phone chargers work great. You need to make sure that the Output is listed as 12V DC and check for the amps it puts out. Again listed as A or mA. You need one that puts out more than the fan needs. So if your fan needs .2A, then your adapter needs to be higher than that. If you want to hook up multiple fans, then add their required amps together. The amps on the adapter need to be higher than the total of amps on the fans. In my case, I have 1 adapter running 3 fans, each fan pulls .17A or 170mA. So added together that is .51A or 510mA. The adapter I am using puts out 1A or 1000mA, so I am good to go as the adapter has more amps then what the fans need. If you don’t have an old cell phone charger that is available and unneeded, check some thrift stores, they often sell old stuff for $1. Or you can buy a new one from places like newegg.com or tigerdirect.com for around $5.
Some wire connectors – twist on caps work well (you will need the smaller sized ones), or anything that will securely connect the wire together. Some people have just twisted the wires together by hand and then taped them up with electrical tape, but I prefer to have some form of a connector.
Electrical tape – this helps to wrap up the connections to keep them secure and prevent any moisture from entering the connection.
Wire cutters and/or wire stripper – You can strip the wire insulation with cutters if you are careful, but wire strippers make it easier.
Getting Started:
Safety note…be sure the adapter is not plugged into the wall socket when working on it. The AC/DC adapter will have some form of a connector on it to plug into the cell phone or whatever it was for. Cut this part off, close to that connector leaving as much wire as possible attached to the part that you plug in the wall (you will need to be able to reach your tank, from the wall plug). I needed extra length so I added some longer wire between the adapter and fans to give me some extra reach. After cutting off the connector on the cord, then strip back the black insulation from the wire 2 inches which should expose 2 smaller wires, 1 red and 1 black. Then strip back the insulation from these 2 smaller wires about ¾ of an inch. Be careful, these wires are very small, and easy to cut through. Your adapter is now ready to go.
Now for the fans, they will have a connector on the end of their wires, cut this off. Most fans will have 2 or 3 wires. You need the black and red wires, if your fan has a yellow or extra wire, just cut it a little shorter and tape up the end; it is not needed for our purposes. You now need to strip back the wire insulation from the black and red wires also about ¾ of an inch. Your fan is now ready to go.
At this point, you connect the red wires together with your connectors and do the same for the black wires. Be sure you have a good solid connection. If using the twist on caps, first twist the wires together tightly by hand, insert in the cap, and then twist fully on to cover all the metal exposed wire. I then like to tape up the wire connection to be sure the caps stay on, and the wires are not able to touch if they came loose somehow. Then tape up the entire area after taping up each individual connection. This ensures the connections won’t wiggle loose or be knocked around. Once all of your connections are complete and taped up well, you are ready to test it out. Try plugging into the wall and see if your fan cranks up. Keep fingers free of the fan blades. Notice the direction the fan blows as you will want this to blow across your water.
If you wanted to connect multiple fans, you will need to connect them “parallel”. This means that all the red wires should be connected to each other and all the black wires should be connected together. You can fit multiple wires into one twist on wire cap.
Now comes mounting, every tank is different so some ingenuity and creativity are needed for your particular situation. You want the fans to blow across the water for maximum effect. Some have used the fans to suck out the hot air out of the light fixture. Some have cracked their tank lid open just a little bit, so they can have the fan blowing in. I have seen some people use wire (like from a cut up wire hanger) bent into place to make a bracket that hangs on the side of the tank. Send me a PM if you need some help or ideas, photos will help to explain the particular tank you are talking about. In my case, I have a custom self-built lighting rack on top of my tank, so it was easy to mount 2 fans in the back. On my smaller 10 gallon tank, which is below on my tank stand I was able to make some paper clip mounts that hung the fan off of the side of the stand. The main thing you need to consider is to try to get the fan to blow across the water and to keep the fan dry.
I hope this has been helpful. Always remember safety comes first, so double and triple check connections, keep everything dry. If anything gets wet, be sure to unplug immediately and allow to dry for several days, before checking to see if it still works again. These fans are very simple and can be very helpful for a little bit of cooling needed.
