Led heatsink/tank heater!

[joeposch]

I am getting some leds soon for my tank and most of us know that high power leds produce much heat at the diode, but emit little IR heat... My idea is to make a liquid cooled setup that runs (sealed) into the tank water to heat the tank. Anyone else thought about this? Maybe use a thermostat similar to the type used on a car engine to redirect the flow when tank temp is at optimum??? Any feedback pos. or neg. appriciated. Thanks.

[wagner7123]

it would be unique, but I doubt it would be cost effective, and I am pretty sure you would need to supplement with a heater because I don't think leds are going to make enough heat for the tank.

[bertie 83]

Plus when the lights are off no heat is produced. So for at least 12 hrs you will need another heater. Sounds like more hassle than it's worth to me

[LilGreenPuffer]

If you are going to try it, I would suggest testing the finished product in an empty tank first and tracking temperature hourly for 24 hours before using it in your fishes' tank - you need to make sure it can maintain a stable temperature.

[joeposch]

Agreed. Just figuerd maybe i could use it as a supp. To my heater to save electricity and ultimately the environment. I'll try it out on my spare 10g tank. I just see potential energy being wasted.

[J-P]

By chance do you have a controller on the LEDs? Some controllers will also do the heating etc.. and display that on your PC. Then you can chart it out and see where to make corrections.

My main concern would be how the water gets pumped to the heat sink. I know in hot tubs there is a coil method there cold water comes in from the bottom and gets heated up and exits out the top. The thermal dynamics of the heating actually keep the water moving without an actual pump. I don't think that can be done here. Too much head to get the water up that high.

[joeposch]

My leds are still in the unprdictable hands of the ups guy. hope they actually show up. I'm gonna wait with this for a while as i just discovered a bristle worm and some crazy tenticals in my tank.