fish tank water cooling

[sean uk]

would it be possible to use my fish tank for a watercooling set up it's a 30gal tank with an eheim external pump
i keep cold water fish and it's ambient temp doesn't get above 20 c
and it would save me some money no need to have another pump, reservoir and less electric usage

does anybody know of an all plastic waterblock so as not to pollute the fish tank with harmfull metal and oxides
as copper is toxic to fish

 

[=ACID RAIN=]

There are so many flaws in your idea I can't even add them all up. As an aquarium hobbyist myself, I can tell you your idea would be foolish because of biological buildup in the system. Not only that, but any metal you use will corrode in the system. Also, acrylic won't transfer heat, hence the need for metal, which like I said will corrode.

Alot of "cold water" fish are marine. Please tell me you weren't trying to devise a salt water cooling system for your cpu. Even if it's freshwater, your setup WILL have impurities that will aid in corrosion. I highly advise you to keep your fish and your computers separate.

 

[sean uk]

what flaws

how is this idea flawed
if no metals are present in the system there would be no biological build up.
It is posible to build this system using all totally inert components (i.e plastics)
my aquarium setup is freshwater , but this system would work (maybe) with marines but not sure how the salt in solution affects heat transfer

 

[Graystar]

Re: what flaws

how is this idea flawed

Because you cannot build an all-plastic system. Not only do you need a metal water block for the CPU, you must use a metal with appropriate thermal qualities. Brass or stainless steel won't do. You need to use at least aluminum, with copper being preferred.

 

[sean uk]

metal free system

But i'm not talking about using a brass or stainless water block i'm talking about using a plastic one
with plastic connectors and plastic pipe
if the watercooling system is placed after the filter with a uv steriliser in the line there should be not build up's of anything

 

[Axis]

I have a tank of African Zebras and I have researched this before. Don't do it. Good idea, very creative but if you must read up on it.

Nice idea though!

 

[Graystar]

Re: metal free system

i'm talking about using a plastic one with plastic connectors and plastic pipe

We know what you're talking about. What we're telling you is that such a water block will not work. No plastic has the thermal properties required to cool a CPU. It is simply impossible to make a plastic water block that will cool the CPU.

 

[sean uk]

african zebra's

african zebra's are tropical so you could use the wasted heat from your computer to heat their tank

 

[pauldenton]

Re: metal free system

But i'm not talking about using a brass or stainless water block i'm talking about using a plastic one

but a plastic waterblock wouldn't transfer heat away from your cpu...

put it this way, if someone released a plastic heatsink, would you risk your cpu?

 

[Axis]

True they are tropical and I keep that tank at 26c. I have other tank(s) that I was thinking about. Anyway read up on it and don't take it personal bro. Like I said before gold star for creativity

 

[drunkmonkey]

Why on earth would you WANT to combine your computer with a living fish tank? Seems like a big hassle for no reason.

 

[sean uk]

plastic water blocks

is there a plastic's expert in the house

if you open up some of the new laptop's ,notebook's etc i think some of you may be surprised at what you may find
(plastic heatsink's)
some harddisk motors also use plastic heatsinks

do you think i would have started this thread without a little research
plastics are now avaliable with better heat transfer than most metals
some grapite fillers made from petroleum pitch have conductivity values of 500-1000 W/mK
aluminium is about 150 W/mK

i think this blows the theory of plastics can't transfer heat
plastics with 100/120W/mK are availiable readily

 

[pauldenton]

thinking more about this, i guess you could make a direct die block from plastic - but i suspect it'd cost you a lot more in dead cpus than you'd save in pump etc.

 

[=ACID RAIN=]

Tell you what, to avoid blasting you out of the water on your idea, go do it. Come back and tell me how much you spent in parts to make your computer work again.

 

[E-Licious]

This idea is so crazy I want to see you go through with it! I bet, in the end, if you even get it working reliably over a long time period, you'll have spent more than a standard WC setup, and it will perform worse.

 

[Graystar]

is there a plastic's expert in the house

I don't think so.

do you think i would have started this thread without a little research

But if you did the research then you should know that, as far as a heatsink goes, the best they have achieved is the performance of stainless steel. The 1000 W/mk material is highly specialized and only conducts heat in one direction and cannot spread the heat to a larger area. Also, these materials are very expensive.

The bottom line is that if these materials were inexpensive and readily available, they would be in widespread use in the computer industry. Especially since heat is such a major problem.

Your idea certainly gets style points, but my layman's guess is that it isn't really practical with what's available.

 

[=ACID RAIN=]

I still want to see him try to pull it off, just for kicks

 

[Korndog]

Re: plastic water blocks

is there a plastic's expert in the house

if you open up some of the new laptop's ,notebook's etc i think some of you may be surprised at what you may find
(plastic heatsink's)
some harddisk motors also use plastic heatsinks

do you think i would have started this thread without a little research
plastics are now avaliable with better heat transfer than most metals
some grapite fillers made from petroleum pitch have conductivity values of 500-1000 W/mK
aluminium is about 150 W/mK

i think this blows the theory of plastics can't transfer heat
plastics with 100/120W/mK are availiable readily

true, some plastics can transfer heat, but copper would out preform by a large margin, thats why we use it. anywho, no one makes water blocks out of plastic.. you can possibly create your own, a copper heat spreader on the bottom and plastic on top for convextion with water, that way there will be no metal contact with water and a copper block will get u better results as well as security when assembling/mounting the block.

i assume you will be cooling the tank as well..
if not, u may want to consider it. with about a ~30watt pump, and a ~70watt cpu, thats 100watts+ of heat. should raise the water about 1-2c every hour. from what i know, fish can die from shock from temp changes(*sniff* poor angel fish ).
u may want to consider that though.

 

[E-Licious]

He does have a large body of water though. And the water will also be dissapating some of the heat to the air, so it may not rise that quickly. Does anyone wanna do the calculations for heat transfer?

 

[squeakygeek]

He does have a large body of water though. And the water will also be dissapating some of the heat to the air, so it may not rise that quickly. Does anyone wanna do the calculations for heat transfer?

I nominate you.