Summer is almost here! How do you keep your tank cool?

adtravels · May 21, 2019

I live in Thailand, so it's basically hot and very hot to extremely hot. I have always used chillers in line but they push hot air back into the room so it's counter productive and inefficient. My new tank will have a chiller coil, attached to an outdoor Aircon unit that's connected to a relay and controlled by my apex. I am really looking forward to this option.

fishybizzness · May 21, 2019

adtravels said:
I live in Thailand, so it's basically hot and very hot to extremely hot. I have always used chillers in line but they push hot air back into the room so it's counter productive and inefficient. My new tank will have a chiller coil, attached to an outdoor Aircon unit that's connected to a relay and controlled by my apex. I am really looking forward to this option.

What temperature does your tank average?

Gaufl · May 21, 2019

Hey there!
Living on the top floor in combination with having an LPS system which likes it a little cooler is generally a bad idea

Futhermore, in germany we usually don´t have ACs..
So I bought a standalone AC to keep my "aquarium room" chilled. At the height of summer, my tank is literally chilling at 73-74°F (ca. 23-24°C) while I am sweating my *** off at 90°F

, trying to sleep ;Hilarious

Greetings,
Flo

TARHEEL78 · May 21, 2019

Aardvark1134 said:
AC in your house and your tank will never know it's summer.

This, I live in Florida but we keep the house so cold there are still heaters in the tanks.

Coralreefer1 · May 21, 2019

No issue because I have central air here in Florida. My tank heaters actually come on periodically and when I do water changes if my stored new salt water sits for more than a day or so.

Oliver d · May 21, 2019

I live in the middle east and it get into the 90' + in summer outside.My tank I cool with a combination of fans blowing cool air over my tank and a chiller on those days that the fans dont cope to keep the temp down.My tank normally sits at 75/76' in winter and goes up to 80' in summer with no ill effects to my corals or clams.

RobW · May 21, 2019

I live in florida... it is 90+ degrees like 10 months a year lol! Our air conditioner runs all the time. My tank sit between 80-81 degrees

RobW · May 21, 2019

TARHEEL78 said:
This, I live in Florida but we keep the house so cold there are still heaters in the tanks.

Lol never owned a heater. Even when we get to winter and have a few mild days the tank temp doesnt move because the winter days are 2 or 3 in a row then it's back to 70's, 80's and 90's. Winter here is just a little less hot than the rest of the year.

adtravels · May 21, 2019

fishybizzness said:
What temperature does your tank average?

27 to 28 degrees Celsius, so 80.2 to 82.4 f
I have always had no issues with growth and health of sps at this range. It way too expensive to keep the water any lower. I use really cool pumps vortechs and reasonably cool lights ATI hybrid power module.

BryanD · May 21, 2019

Oshengems said:
My girlfriend doesn’t like ACs much so she wanted to do the dehumidifier this year but I’m not sure that can keep my tank at 78 specially during this summer heat spand, that’s what I’m using now a Honeywell fan going across my water surface

Yeah, dehumidifier isn't going to work, they put out heat. Or at least any one I had did.

Beth Villmow · May 21, 2019

jda said:
Fans. I don't use some square computer fans, but a real fan like a Honeywell or Vornado. They keep my reefs from not even moving a degree with many Metal Halides over them. I do have open tops, so they are easy to cool.

Even if you get a chiller, keep the fans and the chiller will cycle less.

I use a fan over my tank and it works great at keeping my temp between 78 and 80 degrees.

ReefGeezer · May 21, 2019

I run AC. The house stays about 75-77 in the summer. The tank runs about 82.5 when the lights are on, 81 when they are off. I had a fan over the top that cut that to about 79 in the summer & 77 in the winter but I didn't see any difference in the corals. I eventually sacrificed the fan to the KISS god.

I replaced old Mag Drive submersible pumps with DC versions. That made keeping the tank temps down easier.

Anthony Putrino · May 21, 2019

I struggled with summer months a while back. Originally I had two honeywell type fans in the sump. When I moved the fans out of the sump and mounted them on the wall above the tank - my temps stabilized dramatically. Something about the fan blowing over the larger surface area of water in the DT increased cooling. The fans aren't pretty on the wall - but it's made a huge difference in keeping temps stable.

When I'm in real trouble, I run my A/C but its very few and far between.

Anthony Putrino · May 21, 2019

Anthony Putrino said:
I struggled with summer months a while back. Originally I had two honeywell type fans in the sump. When I moved the fans out of the sump and mounted them on the wall above the tank - my temps stabilized dramatically. Something about the fan blowing over the larger surface area of water in the DT increased cooling. The fans aren't pretty on the wall - but it's made a huge difference in keeping temps stable.

When I'm in real trouble, I run my A/C but its very few and far between.

Also, I should mention I have the fans hooked up to my controller so they pop on when temps get too high, and off again when they get within an acceptable range.

reacclimating 2 the hobby · May 21, 2019

jda said:
Fans. I don't use some square computer fans, but a real fan like a Honeywell or Vornado. They keep my reefs from not even moving a degree with many Metal Halides over them. I do have open tops, so they are easy to cool.

Even if you get a chiller, keep the fans and the chiller will cycle less.

+1 fan 0n one side, open window on the other

Rockit · May 21, 2019

Aardvark1134 said:
I keep my house at 69 year round so it’s a non issue

same. Sucks paying the power bill when its high of 115 during the day.

Shelby · May 23, 2019

I keep my AC at 80 when I leave the house and at @76 when I’m home (I don’t like cold). I also run a small fan over the sump year around. I haven’t had a problem with the tank getting too hot.

I live in hurricane alley and worry about losing my electricity. I have a generator that I can use if I’m home but if I have to evacuate for more than a day the tank will be toast.

Shelby · May 23, 2019

I keep my AC at 80 when I leave the house and at @76 when I’m home (I don’t like cold). I also run a small fan over the sump year around. I haven’t had a problem with the tank getting too hot.

I live in hurricane alley and worry about losing my electricity. I have a generator that I can use if I’m home but if I have to evacuate for more than a day the tank will be toast.

Oshengems · May 23, 2019

dang I been so out of control these past few weeks smh I swear just something about the summer that makes me neglect my tank and it’s not even here yet smh, the past few days went from 75 back to 80 back to 76 back to 82 this was for about 4-5 days but with the fans and AC combo, the fan cools the tank so fast when the AC is on! So I can definitely keep the AC off more than what I thought, plugged up the AC to my apex as well and programmed it to turn the AC off when the tank reaches 79.5 on at 80, but with the fan on at 79.8 and off at 79 the tank has been hovering well within that range, still gotta wait for those summer heats, I believe my maxima clam felt the swing more than anything since it detached again from its rock that’s what motivated me to actually program everything correctly instead of doing it when i for alarma smh

Dragon52 · May 28, 2019

House AC, in Ga it can get 100+ so AC is set at 74 in summer, heater keeps temp 75-76 in winter.

roberthu526 · May 29, 2019

I run a chiller and my electricity bill is a little crazy. I am looking at $400 this month. I am installing a fan in the fish room and running an exhaust fan at the same time.