Do I need a chiller?

[DecadentCommand]

Hi All,

I live in Ontario Cananda. It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer. My tank has always been indoors away from the window, but the temperate has always been 80-81 degrees. I have never lost a fish but it looks like I have some coral which is struggling.

I was curious is a chiller mandatory?

I bought a 32 Gallon biocube, but to then go and spend alot of money on a chiller it's like I'm not saving any money going with what I expected to be a small tank to slowly get me into salt water. Any ideas?

Thanks,

 

[Jake_the_reefer]

Hi All,

I live in Ontario Cananda. It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer. My tank has always been indoors away from the window, but the temperate has always been 80-81 degrees. I have never lost a fish but it looks like I have some coral which is struggling.

I was curious is a chiller mandatory?

I bought a 32 Gallon biocube, but to then go and spend alot of money on a chiller it's like I'm not saving any money going with what I expected to be a small tank to slowly get me into salt water. Any ideas?

Thanks,

I have a 10$ fan mounted to the wall it does great at cooling my tank but you will have to fill your auto top off way more than normal

 

[Goodair]

I'm with jake.
A fan is enough if its only a few degree you want to drop.

 

[W1ngz]

Biocubes are pretty well sealed boxes, with practically no evaporation. Since evap is the main way that tanks get cooled, you have very little. I'm in Montreal and have the same problem with my office tank, which is an Evo. It can usually get up to 26-27c, so I have to slide the top open 2-3cm in the summer for the temp to sit down around 25c even if the AC keeps the room at 21c. I don't have the problem in the winter since the air is dryer, so there is more evaporation from the warmer water.

Prop the lid open a little and I bet the temp will come down to your set heater temp within a day.

That being said, no, a chiller isn't mandatory at all. The temps you have shouldn't have a noticeable effect on the corals. You probably have another issue.

 

[DecadentCommand]

Thanks! I'll try propping the lid open.

I was going to say the bio cubes have a hood which I can't really keep wide open or else I'll have no lights. But I think I can prop it open and see if that cools it down.

It looks like the hood has a fan built into it but it never seems to be on. It's probably just to cool the lights and not the water.

 

[W1ngz]

Great. Once you get the temp down a little, it would be worth posting what corals are struggling, with pics, and a full set of parameters.

Tank age
Salinity (and what you are measuring it with)
Alk
Cal
Mag
Nitrate
Phosphate

 

[William Mumford]

I'm a fan user as well. It works great. Walmart 5 dollars and 1 zip tie to make sure the clip doesn't slip and have the fan fall in the sump.

 

[William Mumford]

Do you have a temp controller? I would suggest you plug your heater into a controller even a cheap ink bird is better than a heater on it's own. Imo

 

[ca1ore]

80-81 is well within tolerable range. If you were reaching 83 plus I’d be more concerned.

 

[W1ngz]

Questioning your heater isn't a bad thing to do either. Just because the setting or dial says something doesn't mean it's right, they are notorious for being wrong and often need to be calibrated or controlled separately. But I still think you have something other than a temperature problem.

 

[shred5]

Yeah for a while it was a trend to keep reefs in the 81 to 82 range.
Should be no issue.