Chilling my new aquarium?

[dave1424]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the hobby and would love some advice on chilling my aquarium.

I am about to buy a new Cade Pro Reef S2 600 tank and ultimately want to keep some pretty hardy, community reef fish, as well as some soft and more simple LPS corals. The tank is about 60 gallons, with a sump that brings the total volume to 70 gallons.

I live in Sydney, Australia where the summer temperatures can get pretty hot, with many days over 30C. As I am just starting out and in the process of buying all the required equipment, I'm not sure if I will need to get a chiller as well. I've read lots of different views about this (some people recommending just using frozen water bottles, fans etc.) and I'm reluctant to pay the high price of a chiller if it is not necessary. They seem to be very expensive!

In your opinions, should I be considering a chiller? Or are there alternative measures for my size tank that would work in the Sydney climate?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Biglew11]

Put some fans over the tank blowing across the water surface for evaporative cooling. Keep some frozen water bottles or cooler blocks in the freezer to help on hotter days. I don't worry about temp until it gets to around 82, then I keep an eye on it. The fans on a thermostat can help with semi active cooling.

 

[lion king]

I am able to drop tank temps to 25 in rooms that get as hot as 29, although I do set my controllers to 27 to maintain a more stable temp, with just the use of fans and a temp controller. All of my tanks do fine, unless you are keeping something especially sensitive to higher temps, 27 is not out of bounds, and some even advocate higher temps. At 30 you would be just at the cusp if fans would really get you there, you could also drop your ambient room temp by a couple/few degrees with a window ac and have no problem. Chillers are expensive on their own, raise the ambient temperature, and add alot on the backend with higher electric bills. My tank sizes range from 29g to 210g.

 

[dave1424]

Thanks, both. That’s really helpful!

I think doing what I can to lower the ambient room temperature and keeping some frozen bottles on standby will be a good way to go.

 

[Chrille26]

My tank ran too hot during the summer, a fan on the surface did a huge difference, also as you said, have frozen waterbottles ready to throw in the sump works for a short period.
Another thing that is good to have is a automatic top off, especially if you have a fan at the surface as that in my experience increase evaporation.

 

[dave1424]

My tank ran too hot during the summer, a fan on the surface did a huge difference, also as you said, have frozen waterbottles ready to throw in the sump works for a short period.
Another thing that is good to have is a automatic top off, especially if you have a fan at the surface as that in my experience increase evaporation.

Thanks for the advice!

The tank I am getting has a large ATO reservoir, so that should help with the evaporation.