Are you "chilling" your reef? Why or why not?

BullyBee · May 1, 2020

code4 said:
Those little guys are so cute. I was put in contact with a gal who had a pair. They had little ones and she was having trouble finding good for them. I gave her some newly hatched brine shrimp and black worms. Last I heard they mostly survived.

I use a chiller in the summer months only. Disconnect and clean it for the winter.

Many saltwater lovers I’ve met either have or had at one point axolotls. The problem is so many Axolotl owners are *****. They talk so much garbage about how others rear them, or how the aquarium stores house them. Then they take them home and put a piece of pvc pipe in their tank and act like are aztecs.

NinnJinn · May 3, 2020

No Chiller for me... thermostat sets on between 74 and 75 in Winter and 71 and 72 during the summer so I have no need for one.

Laith · May 6, 2020

I installed a chiller once on a friend's tank. It was loud. It gave off a lot of heat.

So on my tank I invested in three GHL fans, a vent system that vents the air above the tank outside... and the living room where the tank is located is air conditioned.

And my set temp on the tank is 26.5C.

I'm pretty sure the above will let me avoid using a chiller as I refuse to have the chiller inside so would have to make all the changes to have it sitting outside in a location where I can't hear it!

snorklr · May 7, 2020

yes...southeast us...tank in attached garage...not much in it after the move here but it got hot enough to nuke all the softies to the point that you couldnt tell that they ever existed....40 with sump, takes a 1/2 hp JbJ to keep up with it in a 100+ room...last year i added a 24000btu window unit(30x30 garage,12ft ceiling) ...this spring i built it (the a/c) into the wall and blew additional insulation into the attic....so we'll see how much the chiller runs now...but i wonder if cooling just the tank or the entire room will cost more

neuwave · May 15, 2020

Learned a lesson many years ago. Living in Florida while renting a house, the AC broke down. Landlord was in no rush to fix it and said it would take a week to fix. With the combination of 500 watts of metal halide (turned off when AC died) and no AC, my reef would have been doomed. Considering that the temperature soared between 98-101 degrees outside and hovered at 91 in house, my reef wouldn’t have lasted anther day. Even with two massive fans blowing across the waters surface, the temperature still hovered between 85-86. Since then, I have a chiller ready to go at a moments notice. I compare it to having a generator, you don’t really need it until you are confronted with the realization that your hard work, time and reefing passion is hanging on by a thread.

HB AL · May 15, 2020

LEDs keeping heat down and a couple small fans are good 75% of the time living 3 miles from the beach. When it does get hot here in HB, CA I run the central AC.

LOVEROCK · May 15, 2020

What kind of fans are nice looking and decent price

monti mike · May 15, 2020

It’s warming up outside and so is my tank. Do you recommend a fan in the cabinet? or on top of the display?

NinnJinn · May 19, 2020

No need for a chiller in my home. Although during summer with my central air unit running I go through a lot of top off water though.

Todd1white · Jun 1, 2020

Last week I had to keep the t5 off because the temp was 84. I have a fan blowing on the sump and one in the hood. My service guy is going to be installing an AquaEurosystems 1/13hp chiller this week. I attribute the increase this year to a new UV that I installed over the winter.

mitch91175 · Jul 18, 2020

Finally added a JBJ 1/3HP chiller to run my 240g. Just got tired of dealing with fans and evaporative cooling / salt creep. I wonder with it since the fans would run pretty much all day will I actually save on electricity?

The chiller drops my water temp pretty fast so really only runs a few minutes when necessary. Tanks get to 80+ running the fans so figured chiller better option for me here in Texas even with central A/C.

HB AL · Jul 19, 2020

Central AC and this fan is all I need since I'm running leds. If my tank was not in my bedroom or if I had a basement to run a chiller I might think of getting a chiller more so to keep the tank in the mid 60's so I could have it stocked with animals that live here in Socal.

SonyaBAZ · Jul 19, 2020

Yes I run a chiller. JBJ artica chiller 1/10 for my 70 gallon. Way cheaper to run a chiller than cool my house in AZ in the summer.

trmiv · Jul 19, 2020

Central AC keeps mine where it needs to be. If the AC breaks I have a portable AC unit and I can seal off the room the tank is in with plastic and keep that room cool enough to keep the tank stable.

mitch91175 · Jul 19, 2020

Wonder how much humidity plays into how much our A/Cs run to cool the house when evaporative cooling the tank versus running a chiller which would lower the humidity in the house?

Am I off base with the thought process?

If the A/C is running longer when using fans and the fans are running a big portion of the day, I wonder if a chiller is the better option from a long term electrical use perspective. Guess I'll know this month when I get my first bill. Maybe it'll drop below $500

VAFish · Jul 19, 2020

My AC does all of the chilling I need, even with MH's and a canopy.

BAUCE · Jul 19, 2020

Fans connected to my apex works just as well. I have an old chiller still but am worried about it introducing something bad into the tank with how long it’s been sitting