Is a chiller worth it for me?

[gideon2086]

Live in northern North Carolina and it certainly warms up in the summertime. My tank is set to ride at 78, but can touch 81 in the summer months, even with the house set to 73 and fans in the sump + increased surface agitation. I haven't had issues in the past, but some of my very established SPS is unhappy as of late and the only thing I can think of is the recent 81 temps.. everything else seems to be stable.

Is it worth investing $1k because of the 81 degrees?

 

[Chrisv.]

Do you have an aquarium controller? Do you use led lights?

I used to live in NC and man when it gets hot down there it is HOT! 81 doesn't concern me, it's the week long heat wave that concerns me.

When I lived there I did use a chiller. I actually found the controller to be more important though, when I moved to LEDs.

When my tank reaches a certain temp, various things turn on (or off) temp high, turn on fan inside stand pointed at sump surface. Temp still high, turn off uv lamp, temp still high, turn off uv pump. Temp still high, send a notification to my phone. Temp still high, turn off LED light.

 

[gideon2086]

Do you have an aquarium controller? Do you use led lights?

I used to live in NC and man when it gets hot down there it is HOT! 81 doesn't concern me, it's the week long heat wave that concerns me.

When I lived there I did use a chiller. I actually found the controller to be more important though, when I moved to LEDs.

When my tank reaches a certain temp, various things turn on (or off) temp high, turn on fan inside stand pointed at sump surface. Temp still high, turn off uv lamp, temp still high, turn off uv pump. Temp still high, send a notification to my phone. Temp still high, turn off LED light.

I do have LED lights and an Apex.

 

[Chrisv.]

I do have LED lights and an Apex.

I'm that case, I bet you could get pretty darn far with a "vornado" fan screwed into your stand, pointed at the top of the water, controlled via the apex as if it were a chiller.

 

[gideon2086]

I'm that case, I bet you could get pretty darn far with a "vornado" fan screwed into your stand, pointed at the top of the water, controlled via the apex as if it were a chiller.

You're talking in the sump, right? I run a clip fan in the sump in the summer.

 

[Chrisv.]

Ye

You're talking in the sump, right? I run a clip fan in the sump in the summer.

Yeah it's like a 10 inch fan. A residential thing, not a small fishtank thing. Even set to low it will help a LOT. Set to high it will be too loud. Chillers tend to be pretty loud too. You will need an ato with this setup. I'd probably not have the fan turn on until like 81, and just accepting 81 as a summer temp.

 

[Chrisv.]

Ye
Yeah it's like a 10 inch fan. A residential thing, not a small fishtank thing. Even set to low it will help a LOT. Set to high it will be too loud. Chillers tend to be pretty loud too. You will need an ato with this setup. I'd probably not have the fan turn on until like 81, and just accepting 81 as a summer temp.

I'm talking about mounting it by screwing the base of the fan into your stand, and pointing it straight down at the surface of the water.

 

[jda]

Like a real Vornado or Honeywell blowing across the top should be able to handle this - like a larger three speed fan that you can feel across the room. Turn it on when the heat starts to come and don't wait for the tank to get hot before you do... get ahead of the heat.

 

[jda]

On the chiller, they work well. Best if you can get it outside, in a garage or basement and get the heat out of the room or home.

I don't find 81 to be a huge issue, but 83 could be... so since a temp probe is not all that reliable, I would try and keep it lower just to be safe. You can also turn down your heaters and ride your tank 75/76 as a starting point.

 

[gideon2086]

On the chiller, they work well. Best if you can get it outside, in a garage or basement and get the heat out of the room or home.

I don't find 81 to be a huge issue, but 83 could be... so since a temp probe is not all that reliable, I would try and keep it lower just to be safe. You can also turn down your heaters and ride your tank 75/76 as a starting point.

I've confirmed the temp multiple times w/ my Hanna salinity checker.

 

[Chrisv.]

I've confirmed the temp multiple times w/ my Hanna salinity checker.

I too worry about temp probes failing, but my budget solution is to use a $7 Petco digital probe thermometer and have it in the tank with the screen near my apex display. That way I can keep an eye on how far apart the readings are.

 

[BZOFIQ]

Monitor the for sale section, you can get a slightly used one on the cheap.

Either way, I have one for a piece of mind.

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Live in northern North Carolina and it certainly warms up in the summertime. My tank is set to ride at 78, but can touch 81 in the summer months, even with the house set to 73 and fans in the sump + increased surface agitation. I haven't had issues in the past, but some of my very established SPS is unhappy as of late and the only thing I can think of is the recent 81 temps.. everything else seems to be stable.

Is it worth investing $1k because of the 81 degrees?

Very strange to me that in a house that is 73 that a tank would get to 81. I would start to investigate where all this heat is coming from. T5s, internal pumps. Malfunctions heater,

 

[vtecintegra]

Sounds strange to me too. My tank runs no more than 2 degrees above room temp when I'm not running UV.

 

[pecan2phat]

Everything adds 2 degrees like return pump, skimmer, UV but usually you shouldn't have more than a 4º difference from ambient temp and tank tank unless you're running halides or 10 bulb T5s.

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Try turning the temperature down to 76, it will allow the tank temp to lower in the evening prior to the daytime heat which will bring up the temp on the tank to where you want it to stabilize.

 

[gibec]

I livr in cali and my tank is around 80 to 82 in the summer. I usually put a fan and ice pack to cool it if it goes higher than 82, but my corals and fish dont seem to mind much and are thriving..

 

[jda]

The thing is that probably everybody has something in their tank that will not be too happy with 80 or even 81 all of the time. Most snails and inverts are just surviving at these levels - especially ones from the Americas. The risk is that while 81-82 might be OK, just can be on a razors edge. Even if something did die, most won't be able to equate it to a temp thing... you nearly never see people offer high temps for a reason that XYZ died when other things were fine.

This could just be me, but I learned long ago that if you want really nice actual colonies, then you need to keep the temp in the 70s. While none of my acros would die, if you let them hit 81-82, you can get some stn from the middles or bottoms, which can cause die off where you spent years trying to grown them nice. Again, most would not even notice or think of temp since a complete die off did not happen.

If you see your snails on their sides with meat sticking out of the shells, then they are too hot. This is super easy to see with Turbos, but you can see it with others too.

 

[Chrisv.]

The thing is that probably everybody has something in their tank that will not be too happy with 80 or even 81 all of the time. Most snails and inverts are just surviving at these levels - especially ones from the Americas. The risk is that while 81-82 might be OK, just can be on a razors edge. Even if something did die, most won't be able to equate it to a temp thing... you nearly never see people offer high temps for a reason that XYZ died when other things were fine.

This could just be me, but I learned long ago that if you want really nice actual colonies, then you need to keep the temp in the 70s. While none of my acros would die, if you let them hit 81-82, you can get some stn from the middles or bottoms, which can cause die off where you spent years trying to grown them nice. Again, most would not even notice or think of temp since a complete die off did not happen.

If you see your snails on their sides with meat sticking out of the shells, then they are too hot. This is super easy to see with Turbos, but you can see it with others too.

What's your thought on temp swings in that case? I've often wondered about all of this, since in the summer I can either run 80 degrees 24/7 or I can set it at 76, which it will reach at night, but it will be back up at 80 most days by mid-day. My philosophy has always been that stability is more important than a particular level in most cases.

 

[jda]

I few degrees seems fine. Even in the ocean, the tides and waves bring in changes all of the time - the temperature is not constant from minute to minute in all cases.

In the case that the tank is going to hit 80 anyway, then starting out lower might not be a good idea.