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AC or DC fan

leochngyh

By leochngyh,
in DIY Forum

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nakazoru Newbie

nakazoru

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I am currently using a AC 6" fan to cool my tank but the noise is too loud.

Seeing lot of people using DC fan and getting a good cooling result. Should I change to DC fan? Isnt more powerful AC will get better cooling than DC?

Depending on the noise that the fan generates. It is really not the AC or DC that determines the noise.

I have 4 small DC fan and 2 120mm DC fan 12 V. The 120mm is almost noiseless but the 4 small on really noisy. Good fan manufacture has the noise express in db, when you buy so look for those low noise one. More expensive I think.

Equipment:

30G Corner Tank with 10G Sump, 2 x 24W artinic T5, 1 x 24W 10K, 1x 24W 20K, 3" Grade 0 sand & Live rocks, Activated Carbon, Bio-home, 2 x Seio M620, Hailea 1/2HP Chiller, Redsea Pro Skimmer

Live Stock:

Turbo Snail x 1, Green Mandarin Dragonet X 2, Blue Tang X 2, True percular x 2, 1 x Algae Bleenie, Clarke clown x 2

Reef:

1 x 2" Blue maxima, Red/Brown/Purple Mushroom (Discosoma), Pink Ricordea yuma, A little colony Brown/Green common Zoanthus, Red/Pink/Green US Zoanthus, Eagle-eye Zoathus, 14 Branch Goniopora Pandoraensis, 1 Starburst Polyps, 3 + 2 Branch Frogspawn, 4 Blasto, palythoa, Cheato

RIPs (Since June 2005):

1. Sabae clown (KO by Clarke clown) 2. 1 branch melted frogspawn 4 branch 3. Golden maxima (Ripe the base off rock by me) 4. Algae Bleenie x 2 (Starvation) 5. Blue Maxima x 1, 2 x Maxima, 1 x frogspawn, rics (Overtemp...)

Old 30G Corner Tank.

Restarted 30G Corner Tank.

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cci[RR]us Newbie

cci[RR]us

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The faster the blades spin, the larger the blades are, the faster they oscillate, leading to a higher frequency of the sound produced (high pitch vs. low humming) as well as higher amplitude (louder). Hence, the sound is more related to the size and speed of the fan blades, rather than the energy source.

(~ cci[RR]us ~)
A pair of Nemos :: Deep Sand Bed
Solite 2x24W T5 :: Prizm Skimmer with Overflow attachment

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nakazoru Newbie

nakazoru

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One point to add when DIY Fan, it is good to also fix a filter to it from salt water from being splash to the moving parts of the fan. two of my DC fan fail after 6 months.

Now I attach air filter to it and water stays out of it.

Equipment:

30G Corner Tank with 10G Sump, 2 x 24W artinic T5, 1 x 24W 10K, 1x 24W 20K, 3" Grade 0 sand & Live rocks, Activated Carbon, Bio-home, 2 x Seio M620, Hailea 1/2HP Chiller, Redsea Pro Skimmer

Live Stock:

Turbo Snail x 1, Green Mandarin Dragonet X 2, Blue Tang X 2, True percular x 2, 1 x Algae Bleenie, Clarke clown x 2

Reef:

1 x 2" Blue maxima, Red/Brown/Purple Mushroom (Discosoma), Pink Ricordea yuma, A little colony Brown/Green common Zoanthus, Red/Pink/Green US Zoanthus, Eagle-eye Zoathus, 14 Branch Goniopora Pandoraensis, 1 Starburst Polyps, 3 + 2 Branch Frogspawn, 4 Blasto, palythoa, Cheato

RIPs (Since June 2005):

1. Sabae clown (KO by Clarke clown) 2. 1 branch melted frogspawn 4 branch 3. Golden maxima (Ripe the base off rock by me) 4. Algae Bleenie x 2 (Starvation) 5. Blue Maxima x 1, 2 x Maxima, 1 x frogspawn, rics (Overtemp...)

Old 30G Corner Tank.

Restarted 30G Corner Tank.

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May&Bruce Newbie

May&Bruce

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The noise mostly relates to the fan blades moving through the air, so an AC or DC fan of the same size, rotating at the same speed, will have a similar noise and the same cooling effect.

Some fans are designed to be more quiet - but this relates to the design of the blades and casing.

AC fans rotate at one speed only - based on the AC frequency. DC fans can be made to rotate at different speeds by varying the voltage to the fan.

In regard to is one more efficient than the other (efficient in terms of cooling) as I said before if the fan design is similar (blade shape and diameter, and speed of rotation) then the cooling effect will be the same. Basically, in order to increase the cooling effect you need to either have bigger blades or the fan needs to rotate faster.

Real reefs don't have glass bottoms....(...think about it)

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