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Water Cooling and Fishtanks?

Posted by Cliff on from the two-things-that-MAY-go-great-together? dept.

mikeb55121 asks: "Today I was refilling my fish tank and was thinking about water cooling for my computer. As I spilled the water on the ground I realized that I was pouring cold water in to my fish tank and that I had tropical fish and right then it struck me! If I could just hook up my fish tank and computer together so that it would use watercooling by using the water out of the fish tank to cool the processor and then go back in to the tank and keep them warm. In my head it works out just fine however I don't know if it would be practical in reality. If such is possible, it would be pretty tight since it would keep my processor, fish and me happy, all at one time! If any one actually is going to try this, please email me, as I would like to hear about your results and to know if an idea of mine actually works for once!" An interesting thought! If any of you have pulled something like this off, please share. (And post pictures if you've got 'em!)

5 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. My thoughts on the subject by ninewands · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most freshwater aquaria actually require water coolers to keep the temperature down to what the fish can stand. IIRC, the correct temperature for a freshwater tank is approximately 68F. Marine (saltwater) aquaria are somewhat more temperature tolerant, having a recommended temperature of 78F. However, the water movement requirement of a marine aquarium demands so much pump capacity (again, IIRC, I had something like 1350 liters/minute of total pump capacity in my 55 gallon marine tank) that the 10 degree "flex" in temperature ranges was insignificant.

    If you allow for the heat generated by the 80+ watts of recommended fluorescent lighting needed for a moderate-sized tank (say 50-75 gallons), the problem that arises is one of keeping the temperature DOWN to the recommended range. Last time I looked at the price for water coolers for a decent-sized aquarium, it exceeded the cost of a mid-range PC (D00d, you're getting a Dell!).

    Not wanting to throw (figuratively speaking) cold water on a promising research project, I SERIOUSLY think you are going in the wrong direction by planning to hook up another heat source to your tank.

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    utter rubbish
    1. Re:My thoughts on the subject by cymen · · Score: 3, Informative

      From everything I've read about Marine tanks it's the opposite way around - Marine tanks often need expensive coolers while Tropical fish tanks need heaters. Maybe it's because I'm looking at coral reef tanks (think mega lamps for the coral) and not fish only marine but I don't know any tropical fish owners who have $1,200 coolers... We've had Discus fish (like blue gills but from the Amazon) and they have quite a high temperature requirement (72? 75?).

      As for the project - I'm not sure about it but one thing I'd definately do is have high flow rate and large diameter tubes. Fish crap is going to build up in that thing - especially if it is a slow flow. If the processor is a high temp AMD you might be cooking fish crap. Not good in terms of cooling and bacteria counts...

  2. Two things... by ivan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    First off, Ignore all the people saying it would cook the fish. Obviously, you'd include the same sort of radiator setup you would in a PC watercooling situation, otherwise the water would continue to heat up until it was as hot as the CPU and you wouldn't have any cooling anymore. You could use temperature controlled fans on the radiator to control the tank temperature.

    Secondly, and more importantly, how would you keep crap from growing in your hoses and radiator? Your radiator would be clogged with green hairy crap in no time. Then you'd get horrible flow and inefficient cooling. There is no need for such a large resivoir for your PC water cooling unless you want few fans. You definatly want some horibly toxic life killing chemicals in your coolant though.

  3. here's some links to people using watercooling by Squeezer · · Score: 3, Informative

    These will get you started. The first and second links look very handy to your situation. They deal with water cooling and using a fishtank pump to pump the water over the CPU core using a home-made heat sink.

    http://www.agaweb.com/coolcpu/build.htm
    http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/wc1/
    http://www.gibtek.co.uk/hardware/watercooling.ht ml

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    Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?
  4. Notes by autocracy · · Score: 3, Informative
    People commenting on your pipes getting clogged should note that in this sort of a system, the water running through the pipes should stay in the pipes and release its heat by running the pipes into the fish tank and coiling them like a radiator from your car (back and forth at least twice).

    I've never tried doing this with a CPU, and am not sure what your fish can tolerate. Find out what the ideal temp for the fish is, then stick them in a smaller tank and run your CPU on full tilt (think SETI@home or the Bovine project) for 24 hours. Watch the temp of the CPU and the tank. Your CPU should have some setup to bring itself down if the temp gets too high, and this fish tank really won't matter too much because you won't have the fish in it - right?

    It should be fine, even with a smaller tank. A 55 gallon tank ought be near nothing. For tank lighting (if you do that), get some lights that don't generate heat. You should also have a tank heater if your fish needed it before. You CPU running at it's max constantly should still not come within more than one degree of what the fish is willing to tolerate.

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    SIG: HUP