# Best cooling Fans



## herns (May 6, 2008)

I just got one from eBay couple of weeks ago. I paid around $26 shipped. Big fans for aquariums. 

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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

What one was it and how well does it work


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## Warlock (Feb 28, 2012)

herns said:


> I just got one from eBay couple of weeks ago. I paid around $26 shipped. Big fans for aquariums.
> 
> Sent from HTC One device using Tapatalk2


Link?


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## jkan0228 (Feb 6, 2011)

Try item number 370244011829


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## Forumsnow (Feb 22, 2012)

I have the aqueoun dual fan set up, did not work worth a squat, fans are very week. Just picked up a second clip on fan from Walmart for like $10 and change. Works 1000 times better for 1/3 the price.


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## vnghost (Sep 21, 2012)

$6 Walmart fan works really well.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

My favorite fan is the quiet type you pull out of old computers. Even new, they're just a few bucks. Available in multiple colors and sizes, they're easy to disguise and don't look bulky on rimless tanks.


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

somewhatshocked said:


> My favorite fan is the quiet type you pull out of old computers. Even new, they're just a few bucks. Available in multiple colors and sizes, they're easy to disguise and don't look bulky on rimless tanks.


Would you happen to have a picture of how you have it attached? Looks like a great DIY idea for the summer to come


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

For computer fans, what size would be recommended for a tenner and still be effective?


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

A small one, maybe 60mm would work. I wired one before to an old phone charger and it worked great, evaporation is b*%th though.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

I sold all my shrimp just in time! 

This was my biggest pet peeve about keeping shrimp. Last year I purchased one of those big portable AC units and had it blowing right on the tank. It worked great but evaporation was insane. Temp was at exactly 72 degrees. Between the portable unit and central air, my electrical bill quadrupled during the summer months....still was much cheaper than having my shrimp die. If I had to do it all over again, I'd get a chiller even though the initial set up cost is pretty high. I am more into the aesthetics instead of having giant AC units or clip on fans all over the place.

For those of you who are fairly new to the hobby I would suggest you get something quickly and be proactive. In the next few weeks there will be a flood of threads on here about people's shrimp dying or various bacterial infections. Much of these are attributed to high temperatures as shrimp get stressed.

I loved my shrimp...I was very good at breeding and keeping them. But switching over to planted tanks without shrimp worked out better for my lifestyle. No fans and no AC units is a big stress relief.

Good luck all.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I agree there will be a lot of threads about shrimp dying do to the heat and bacterial infections. I hope we can get some fan info out there on good ones and get people thinking early.... I want to up grade just for ascetics as my clip on fans worked good last year. But I want won't that will look good and work better


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

So I went to my lfs who I cannot say enough about,aquarium depot they helped me get back into salt water and hooked me up really good, and bring in special stuff for me on my planted tanks and shrimp tanks. I bought 2 zoomed aquarium cooling fans. I am using them on my 2 12x12 low iron rimless cubes. I think they would work well on tanks 10 or less any bigger and I do not think they push enough air to cool. Will be buying a couple other types of fans for my 20l and see how they do.

Reviews on the zoomed say they rattle after a couple days but we will see, they are pretty quit right now


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## ohbaby714 (Feb 23, 2011)

hedge_fund said:


> I sold all my shrimp just in time!
> 
> This was my biggest pet peeve about keeping shrimp. Last year I purchased one of those big portable AC units and had it blowing right on the tank. It worked great but evaporation was insane. Temp was at exactly 72 degrees. Between the portable unit and central air, my electrical bill quadrupled during the summer months....still was much cheaper than having my shrimp die. If I had to do it all over again, I'd get a chiller even though the initial set up cost is pretty high. I am more into the aesthetics instead of having giant AC units or clip on fans all over the place.
> 
> ...



I had the same problem the last couple of year and totally agree with you.
Expensive shrimps demand a lot of attention and summer in FL is unforgiving


Oh yea Fan; The best one i got for cheap is this one here.
Amazon.com: Cooler Master 120mm R4 Computer Case Fan (R4-C2R-20AC-GP): Electronics

Hook it up to an old laptop 12VDC power supply, just got creative with mounting with some wires.
Pretty fast and not as loud as AC fan.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I also throw frozen bottles in the tanks to get them to crash fast

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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Come on people lets here your input


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Using this style and they work very well.


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## Loumeer (Feb 13, 2012)

Speedie where can we buy fans like those?



speedie408 said:


> Using this style and they work very well.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Seen them on ebay for ~$35


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Those push more air than those zoo med ones? Because the zoo meds seem to push very little

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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Ebay would be your best bet. I had Jeff buy mine direct from Taiwan when he was there visiting. 

These push air directly across the surface of the water and the airflow is funneled which I think is much more efficient at cooling.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

I think these use squirrel cages- much like inflatables for Christmas.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

So they are working well on 20l for you nick. I might grab one to try on my 15

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## Psycofc1 (Feb 28, 2013)

Try this site for pc fans that can be used. www.frozencpu.com


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## Gulfcoastguy (Nov 4, 2011)

I had just started a thread right before you showing how I plan on cooling my aquariums using computer fans and the first 2 I made for my smallest tanks (60 mm fans) are doing a great job dropped the temp from 76 to 70 and are very quite since they are 12 volt dc powered. 










the brackets are made from 3/16 aluminum that I cut to fit on a plasma cutting table. It is working so well I ordered 20 more 120mm fans (got them from tiger direct for $4 each) for the rest of my tanks and the sweet thing I like about it is I can run ALL the fans off just one power supply and not have to have 20 different fans pluged in to the wall and they run off 12V DC power not 110 AC power so if by chance one was to get wet or fall in the tank it wont wipe the tank out. I am going to use a small battery charge for my power source. If you need help with any of it or would like some brackets made for your tanks let me know. With them being made out of 3/16 aluminum the shipping weight wouldn't be bad at all.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Do you mind showing a pic of how you hooked all up to one charger?


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

sbarbee54 said:


> So they are working well on 20l for you nick. I might grab one to try on my 15
> 
> Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2


Works awesomely well on my 20L's. :biggrin:


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## Gulfcoastguy (Nov 4, 2011)

The 20 fans will be in Wed this week once I have everything wired and put together I will be happy to take a few pictures. But I can tell you how I will hook all to one power supply I am simply taking a small 12V riding lawnmower battery and will hook the small battery charge to that battery and hook all the fans to the battery and this will allow me to run all the fans off one power source. My main reason for using 12V DC power fans is I live in a very heavy hurricane area and with the threat of looseing power for up to 3 weeks ( happened during Katrina) I have made all my tanks able to still run if I loose power. 

EDIT: I might add having 14 tanks going from 2 gallon up to 130 gallon I would have had to have like 20 wall plugs to run 110v fans this way I can run 20 fans off 1 wall plug.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Oh! I like the idea. Would you please post a pic after hooking it up since I will better understand visually?


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

My ultimate goal when i move to my bigger house is one sump for tigers with a chiller and one sump for my tb and crs with a chiller

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## The Big Buddha (Jul 30, 2012)

I prefer 12v fans which I hook up to a temperature controller that cycles on and off only when needed. Less noise, less evaporation, and gives a handy LCD temp readout of the tank temperature.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I want to see people's temp controller setups so I can get ideas


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

agentkhiem said:


> Why use a portable AC when you can buy a chiller and factor cost in running the unit compared to AC?


A chiller works great for 1 tank, however when you have multiple tanks it gets way expensive.


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## Oceangirl (Feb 5, 2013)

They need a fan? Poop. I am glad you started this thread. Because I had no idea.


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## CookieM (Feb 7, 2012)

If you have big size tank like 20 gal+ you should consider using chiller or DIY chiller it better than having to top off every day. 

I have a mini fridge and I might do it like this, just drill the hole, insert coil of tube and run it through the inflow and outflow of your canister filter.


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## Forumsnow (Feb 22, 2012)

Reefkeeper lite keeping my oebt tank with in .2 of a degree on my oebt tank. Just ordered the DIY controller from amazon for $20 to use on my tb tank. Will be interesting to see how it compares to the much more expensive reefkeeper.


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

CookieM said:


> If you have big size tank like 20 gal+ you should consider using chiller or DIY chiller it better than having to top off every day.
> 
> I have a mini fridge and I might do it like this, just drill the hole, insert coil of tube and run it through the inflow and outflow of your canister filter.


I believe the issue with this idea is being able to control how "cold" the water will be? It's a fridge after all and unless this is hooked up to a controller it would keep lowering the temp of your tank until it's around the same temp as your fridge? 

If a controller is required, then the mini fridge + controller is probably the same cost as a basic chiller?


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

How many outlets does your reef keeper lite have? Because I could use it say to turn on 4 fans if it had 4 outlets


Also does it have multiple prob inputs for say multiple tanks


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## Forumsnow (Feb 22, 2012)

It has 4 outlets but I believe you can only run one maybe 2 probes off of it. You can buy another power strip from them that has another probe input but they are close to the price of the original unit. I love the thing to death and control the lights on 2 tanks and led dimming on my oebt tank plus the temp and a wave maker. I got another probe input when I bought the alc, the unit used to dim LEDs, but that was like $80 too. I think if you go with the higher up models you have the option of more probes but not totally sure. Basically they are nice, but definitly not cheap, that is why I am going to try out the DIY temp controller.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

...


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

So i ordered 2 other fans I will report on when they arrive


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## Asphalt Art (Apr 18, 2013)

MsNemoShrimp said:


> I believe the issue with this idea is being able to control how "cold" the water will be? It's a fridge after all and unless this is hooked up to a controller it would keep lowering the temp of your tank until it's around the same temp as your fridge?


Yes, heat transfers to cold, not the other way around. The heat leaving the coiled hose cools it, and warms the fridge as a result. The fridge will then be running 24/7 in an attempt to cool itself back down. In turn, equilibrium will only be met if the tank water reaches the setting of the fridge.

Forgot to add. They already have a controller built in, but it only monitors fridge temps.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Ok bought a fan like nick suggested it is coming from over seas so might take a bit also bought a 4 fan aquatek unit. I will post on that one I should have it Friday. Until then the clip on is fighting the heat war


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## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

Asphalt Art said:


> Yes, heat transfers to cold, not the other way around. The heat leaving the coiled hose cools it, and warms the fridge as a result. The fridge will then be running 24/7 in an attempt to cool itself back down. In turn, equilibrium will only be met if the tank water reaches the setting of the fridge.
> 
> Forgot to add. They already have a controller built in, but it only monitors fridge temps.


Ahhh. Got it. I assume you have tried this method yourself?


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## Asphalt Art (Apr 18, 2013)

MsNemoShrimp said:


> Ahhh. Got it. I assume you have tried this method yourself?


Nope, don't need to. I have a good amount of technical knowledge that even I find useless at times. I can play all of the possible outcomes out in my head mentally.


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## ohbaby714 (Feb 23, 2011)

I thought that is not a good way to chill the water (fridge). I was thinking about it for a long time and found this:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cap/raid/chillers/dormfridge/

And a lot more people talking about how ineffective it's in the reef forum.
Maybe because they just trying to use it on bigger tank. And maybe for smaller tank, it will be fine.

I'm thinking about insulating the tanks wall and leave the top open during the summer. Not sure if that will work.


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## Asphalt Art (Apr 18, 2013)

Tank size will have little effect in a larger scope of things. They simply are not efficient for this particular task. 

For the same price you could get a window AC unit for the room, and it would cost less per month than the fridge to boot.

Yes insulating the tank walls would work. If you could take a thermal image of your tank on a hot day (with colder water inside) you would see the cold falling off of the sides onto the floor. Heat rises out of the top, just the same as taking your hat off in winter and seeing the steam rising from your head. Glass is also a really poor insulator compared to other materials.


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## Master503 (Feb 8, 2012)

Hi guys, I heard many of folks mention the shrimps are not doing well or may dying out if in the summer season, especially in hot water ? so that's why need fan for it??


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Yep. Bacterial infections get higher in warmer water, too.


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Out of curiosity, did you buy the exact model that Nick recommended (~$42 on ebay) or item 370244011829 (~$23 on ebay). With such a big price difference, I'm wondering if there's a difference in quality or possibly in sound while in use.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Mark, 

There's one going for $21 on evilbay, Search "New Japan Design Aquarium Powerful Single Cooling Fan". 

Nick


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## Gulfcoastguy (Nov 4, 2011)

So the 20 fans I ordered have arrived and we cut all the brackets out last night and I got a few up and running today. Heres a few pictures of how they turned out 



















I used 120mm 12VDC computer cast fans that draw 0.25 amps and just ran them with a battery charger hooked to a 12 volt bus bar with the low amps they draw I can run up to 24 fans off one battery charger and only have one thing pluged in to power all of them that was my main reason for going 12VDC.










Picture of the brackets as they were being cut out










I am going to tackle my 75 gallon next lol this is a picture of how it looks before will post another once its done


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Keep us posted on results you might have to start selling these

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## idex (Apr 15, 2010)

That rimless tank bracket is pretty sweet.... hook us up!


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## Gulfcoastguy (Nov 4, 2011)

So far I am super happy with how things are turning out for someone with multy tanks and few wall plugs to use this set up is ideal and will cost me next to nothing to run all of them. As far as selling them goes I can cut anything anyone wants I just need the measurements first then I can make a drawing of how it looks before we cut it in case anything needs to be changed. This plasma table can cut anything you can come up with I have yet to find any design it couldn't cut.


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## Gulfcoastguy (Nov 4, 2011)

this was a little project I did awhile back all aluminum the top and bottom shelf have no welds it was all cut on the plasma table and bent it has a 12x12 Mr. Aqua rimless with a ehiem 2215 filter


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## Lkittredge (Jul 27, 2012)

speedie408 said:


> Mark,
> 
> There's one going for $21 on evilbay, Search "New Japan Design Aquarium Powerful Single Cooling Fan".
> 
> Nick


I think that is one I tried to order. The seller said it was not compliant in the US and refunded my money. I think it has to do with the voltage being at 220V. The US uses 110V I believe. I am open to links for ones that are US compliant, or further clarification if I am wrong.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

I ordered that too and think he will have to refund me, but it has been 5 days and he still has not responded to my messages..

Update, got the aquatek 4 fan unit.... Not that impressed.... Does cool, but I think I will be using it on the 10G, does not disrupt the water enough for a 20 I think.... have the one like nick coming in Wend of next week from a guy in CA


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

I found what seems to be the same model as that BayE seller has listed in the photos. It's an UpAqua fan, says suitable for 15G tanks though.? Sounds pretty loud too. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=70IMzwzfenc
http://www.marinedepot.com/UP_Aqua_...ium_Lighting-UP_Aqua-AZ64047-FILTACAF-vi.html


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## golfwang (Nov 15, 2011)

The seller hasn't responded to me yet either might have to file a dispute.


sbarbee54 said:


> I ordered that too and think he will have to refund me, but it has been 5 days and he still has not responded to my messages..
> 
> Update, got the aquatek 4 fan unit.... Not that impressed.... Does cool, but I think I will be using it on the 10G, does not disrupt the water enough for a 20 I think.... have the one like nick coming in Wend of next week from a guy in CA


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## gnod (Mar 24, 2011)

hmm i wonder if this may be useful? Lux WIN100 Heating & Cooling Programmable Outlet Thermostat - Amazon.com

i know it's not for underwater but im sure the ambient room temperature will be a decent gauge also for what your tank's temp will/should be? 

i was thinking about making a DIY temp control using this one: http://www.pexsupply.com/Ranco-ETC-...ntrol-w-Sensor-120-240V-Input-Includes-8-Cord


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## Andromeda01 (Oct 13, 2012)

This thread is going to come in handy. My Aqueon Evolve 2 was 83 degrees when I got home from work today. And it wasn't really that hot outside. I wonder how much the internal pump heats up the water. Gotta fan on it for the time being.


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## idex (Apr 15, 2010)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=182610&highlight=


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## Julianzh (Jul 28, 2011)

idex said:


> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=182610&highlight=


That's what I did. Thanks again for your instruction back then.


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## idex (Apr 15, 2010)

Julianzh said:


> That's what I did. Thanks again for your instruction back then.


Glad it helped! :smile:


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

The cooling fan speedie recommended he had someone pick up for him over seas works great. I am going to buy 6 more for my tanks, they push some air and it is aimed right along the top


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## Forumsnow (Feb 22, 2012)

sbarbee54 said:


> I ordered that too and think he will have to refund me, but it has been 5 days and he still has not responded to my messages..
> 
> Update, got the aquatek 4 fan unit.... Not that impressed.... Does cool, but I think I will be using it on the 10G, does not disrupt the water enough for a 20 I think.... have the one like nick coming in Wend of next week from a guy in CA


I tried to warn you the aqueon ones were a waste lol, sorry they didn't work any better for you. But at least the ones Nick advised work good. I will be sticking with the $10 Walmart clip fans, not the prettiest, but they work great.


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## Soothing Shrimp (Nov 9, 2011)

Forumsnow said:


> ...I will be sticking with the $10 Walmart clip fans, not the prettiest, but they work great.


I am using something similar and it is doing well. I had a problem when turning it off at night because the water temp would rise, but I'm leaving it on all the time now.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

sbarbee54 said:


> The cooling fan speedie recommended he had someone pick up for him over seas works great. I am going to buy 6 more for my tanks, they push some air and it is aimed right along the top
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad 3 using Tapatalk HD


Glad you like them Steve. I love these fans. Wish I would've gotten more.


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## ShortFin (Dec 27, 2005)

sbarbee54 said:


> have the one like nick coming in Wend of next week from a guy in CA


Could you let me know who the person was? Thanks.


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