Watercooling with Fishtank?

[Schteauxn]

I've decided i want to get watercooling for my system because my current fan is just too loud for my tastes (swifttech MCXC370). I thought I could use my fishtank because I thought it’d be a nice way too cool off my comp and it’d be an easy way to heat my fishtank without wasting energy anyways my question is would a 29 gal tank be enough? And would I need something to cool my fishtank?
How much heat would be generated by a Athlon XP 2000+? And overclocked?

 

[RoadWarrior]

While many people report success with using large fishtanks or oversize reservoirs with no additional cooling, they don't usually have fish in them.

While it may be possible to use the water straight out of the fishtank, you will have to arrange filtering of the water which is difficult for a high flow application. The flow from the pump might also make your fish a little dizzy as they get swirled around the tank by it.

What would be better is to keep the fishtank water and cooling water seperate by putting a coil of copper pipe or something in the bottom of the tank and letting that heat the water.

I guess with that CPU you may be dumping somewhere in the region of 100W in the tank at full load. I suspect this could get your fish a little toasty if you are prone to 5 hour gaming sessions. It could also leave your fish feeling a little chilly when you are not using your PC. However with the regular thermostatically controlled heater as backup this should not be a problem.

regards,

Road Warrior

 

[RoadWarrior]

Oh maybe an idea would be to have a radiator inline with the tank, and have a fan on it that is thermostatically controlled by the temperature of the fishtank, when it gets to warm for your fish, it switches on.

 

[SaT985]

i suggest takin the fish outa the tank before the experiment, otherwise your gonna have cooked salmon on the grill, and i dont mean the kitchen grill

 

[glass]

my mum&sis bought for their tortoise-tank this HUGE outside of the tank pump&filter.. dunno how much cost but i'm betting aroung 70-130$. it sucks the water, filters it and puts it back, i dont see what would be bad about putting cpu in line with that beast which already had ~2-3meters tubes(approx 12-13mm inside tube diameter, sits on the floor next to the tank-shelf) anyways. and fish tanks are supposed to have some flow around, or the water gets ****ty fast afaik. i keep thinking of stealin that pump from the tortoise

try it out. you might have to flush the block few times/year tho..

 

[William]

Phiber is using or was at least a 10 gallon tank to cool his 1gig+ Athlon. 29 gallons will be more than enough although the copper deposts and such from the block will kill any fish that you would want to keep in the aquarium. Also cover it as bugs and such will get into the tank.

 

[phiber]

i have a 10 gallon fishtank cooling a XP @ 1730 now some things you will need with this thing is a filter, some ajax and some plexi to make a cover with....these things are vital to keep your system from growing nasty things in it....

 

[Schteauxn]

Well it seems I just accidentally killed off ALL of my fish. I'll probably be getting some cheap 20 for 1$ type fish and experiment with them. anyways, what kind of tubing would be good? and will the copper blocks give off alot of harmful stuff that'll kill my fish?
if copper will kill them then is there any other kinds of blocks i can use? or maybe I can coat the block with something..?
maybe I could put another tank inside my fishtank and have the water from the fishtank cool the water in the other tank etc..

 

[FireMogle]

If its salt water metals are harmfull to fish, im not sure about fresh water though