Chiller options?

Floyd- · Sep 14, 2021

Basically I live in FL and its stinking hot all the time. My tank sits at about 82f-83f and its worrying. Id like to get a chiller but my god are they expensive. How can I cool these tanks? I have a 45gal and 175gal. I could try a fan but evaporative cooling isnt going to work very well at 82% humidity. House is set to 75f and I wont drop it anymore.

jassermd · Sep 14, 2021

Pick up several 1L bottles of water, freeze them, and float them in the sump (or tank).
You can also use plastic bags and freeze them and do the same. Just make sure that it's RO water in case it leaks.

Floyd- · Sep 14, 2021

jassermd said:
Pick up several 1L bottles of water, freeze them, and float them in the sump (or tank).
You can also use plastic bags and freeze them and do the same. Just make sure that it's RO water in case it leaks.

That will never work for me. I cannot constantly swap out bottles and bags of ice all year long. It only gets "cold" here for maybe a month out of the year. I have never used my heaters.

Fish Think Pink · Sep 14, 2021

Floyd- said:
Basically I live in FL and its stinking hot all the time. My tank sits at about 82f-83f and its worrying. Id like to get a chiller but my god are they expensive. How can I cool these tanks? I have a 45gal and 175gal. I could try a fan but evaporative cooling isnt going to work very well at 82% humidity. House is set to 75f and I wont drop it anymore.

Yep, try a fan - you may be pleasantly surprised

I lived with an undersized chiller, canopy & cabinet doors open and multiple fans to get thru summer, but recently installed proper sized chiller. Too bad you aren't local (TX Dallas) as my old one is too heavy to ship. Watch craigslist and local MAS clubs as someone near you may upgrade and you'll get lucky. OR, start a 'chiller savings plan' and set money aside until it adds up to chiller. Black Friday is coming and maybe there will be deals on chiller. ... but maybe fans will work better than you think and you don't need chiller...

Good luck!

Floyd- · Sep 14, 2021

I have some 120mm PC fans I can tie together and try out first I guess. Any idea how many I would need nested together to make a dent in the temp? Ill try 2-4 fans on the 45gal JBJ cube first then scale up for the big tank and see. I just dont see how a tiny fan is going to help bump it down 4-5f

jassermd · Sep 14, 2021

Floyd- said:
That will never work for me. I cannot constantly swap out bottles and bags of ice all year long. It only gets "cold" here for maybe a month out of the year. I have never used my heaters.

That's what I was afraid of... In DFW it's limited high temp and I use a drop in chiller as needed.
Unfortunately, fans are likely your best option.
The ones they sell are nothing more than 12v fans strung together. I'd go with 4 or so for the 45g and you could try a larger clip on fan for the larger tank.

Floyd- · Sep 14, 2021

jassermd said:
That's what I was afraid of... In DFW it's limited high temp and I use a drop in chiller as needed.
Unfortunately, fans are likely your best option.
The ones they sell are nothing more than 12v fans strung together. I'd go with 4 or so for the 45g and you could try a larger clip on fan for the larger tank.

I just flew through DFW this weekend. Its hot but not FL hot.
I can easily DIY a few extra high CFM PC fans into a bracket to test out tonight. I cannot believe how much the ones online go for! A bank of 4 fans and an on/off switch is $50! Thats nuts!