Which chiller for 12 gal nano?

[Nano101]

I have a 12 gallon nano that has started to develop heat issues. Tank is holding steady at 78 degrees BUT the heater never turns on with my temp controller because the heat created by the 4 pumps inside, two MJ 1200 for skimmer and return, along with to hydor 850 power heads. I installed a screen instead of having a glass top to try and cool it down. Didn't do much. Guessing my Remora-S is cooling seeing it's external with lots of water flow. I currently have an old aerator pump outside (temp has been below 60 degrees here and I though injecting cold air might help, but it's not really. I just set my wavemaker to alternate every 30 minutes to reduce pumps running. I have a woodstove which will be utilzed in the near future with cold weather approaching. I would guess it will greatly increase the temp of the tank. I was debating the CSXC-1 or the JBJ Mini-Artica?

 

[Baby Ray]

You could get a fan. They can lower the temp a couple of degrees and they are not nearly as expensive as chillers.
Here is a good example-
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/aquarium-fans-propellerbreeze/
Hope this helps

 

[Nano101]

You could get a fan. They can lower the temp a couple of degrees and they are not nearly as expensive as chillers.
Here is a good example-
https://www.aquariumcomputer.com/products/aquarium-fans-propellerbreeze/
Hope this helps

a fan would block my Prime lighting, and the ambient temp of the room can easily be 78 degrees in the winter. The stove is on the main floor, and bedrooms upstairs, so the room it's in is always warmer (same room as tank)

 

[Baby Ray]

a fan would block my Prime lighting, and the ambient temp of the room can easily be 78 degrees in the winter. The stove is on the main floor, and bedrooms upstairs, so the room it's in is always warmer (same room as tank)

How would a fan block the light? Just put the fan at one end of the tank and let it blow across the waters surface.

 

[Nano101]

How would a fan block the light? Just put the fan at one end of the tank and let it blow across the waters surface.

too small of a tank

 

[Baby Ray]

too small of a tank

Ok.
Here is a good nano chiller-
http://m.marinedepot.com/products/cw1111/coolworks-ice-probe-with-power-supply

 

[jasonb87]

78 degrees is fine, why would you want it cooler?

 

[lion king]

I run my tanks at 80.6, I don't find a chiller to be necessary. The room where this tank was got to 85 during the day when I was work during the summer, I was able to keep it at 80 with that clip on fan. The ice cube chiller works well but you have to have a way to install it, a back section or into a modified hob filter. There's another small chiller that you plumb into the return pump or auxiliary pump by chill solutions, but the one I used only lasted a year. I have a ice cube chiller that ben working for 5 years, I use it to chill down my changing water.

 

[nwayne567]

If you have money to spend go ahead and buy a $200-300 chiller.

I don't have a chiller and my tank on average gets around 78-83 degrees. But when my tank gets higher then 83 F degrees, then I throw a frozen water bottle in that bad boy and it brings it back down.

If you have extra cash go ahead and buy one. But it's perfectly normal for a tank to get in the low 80's even.

 

[sil40sx]

Good thing about fans are they're cheap and can lower your temp 1-2 degrees. Downside is, aesthetics. It makes the tank looks, well not pretty. (If you don't have a sump to hide it)

Chiller is way to go if you have deep pocket and don't mind spending $300 (more or less)

 

[Nano101]

Good thing about fans are they're cheap and can lower your temp 1-2 degrees. Downside is, aesthetics. It makes the tank looks, well not pretty. (If you don't have a sump to hide it)

Chiller is way to go if you have deep pocket and don't mind spending $300 (more or less)

I love the idea of a fan but I have a HOB skimmer taking up all the room

I presently have an airlifter pump in front of the AC during the day or outside at night, pumping cold air into the tank. I don't see this as a long term solution. If left unkept, temp rises to at least 82. I want to do mostly SPS, which are more moody to temp shifts. So back to my question, the CSXC-1 or a conventional chiller? Wondering if anyone with a small tank has tried either.

 

[lion king]

That CSXC-1 chiller is the chiller I used made by Chill Solutions. I used it on a 30g I was running t5/halides on and did work awesome. I even gave it an excellent review, problem was it only lasted one summer. Into the next summer it stopped working and cost to ship it and minimum charge for repair made it junk.

 

[Nano101]

That CSXC-1 chiller is the chiller I used made by Chill Solutions. I used it on a 30g I was running t5/halides on and did work awesome. I even gave it an excellent review, problem was it only lasted one summer. Into the next summer it stopped working and cost to ship it and minimum charge for repair made it junk.

Do you think yours was a fluke? that's my top choice right now.

 

[lion king]

Do you think yours was a fluke? that's my top choice right now.

Don't know but customer service wasn't so helpful considering it had about 5 months of use, I forget how much they quoted me on the phone for the repair and shipping it back. By what I told him on the phone he diagnosed what it probably was, and it would have costed me to ship it back to them. I had put my icecube chiller through 10x the use at half the price so I just junked it.

 

[Nano101]

re-post of pics of the tank and why fans wouldn't work. Currently have an airlifter pump that is pumping cold air into the rear AIO sump. Seems to be working fine for now. You can see I added the top screen I made yesterday vs. glass top

 

[Salty1962]

Ok.
Here is a good nano chiller-
http://m.marinedepot.com/products/cw1111/coolworks-ice-probe-with-power-supply

+1

 

[DBR_Reef]

I wouldn't worry about temperature too much. It's probably the least important of all the commonly measured tank parameters. Variations outside of what fish and corals usually experience can be quite detrimental, but regular temperature swings are handled just fine. I have set my tank up to have regular 5 degree swings, that way corals are used to temperature swings when something does go wrong. I know reefers who allow for more than 10 degree swings with beautiful SPS tanks. If you've ever been diving you'll know that 10 degree swings are pretty much a daily occurrence, and 90 degree water is pretty common too.

 

[Nano101]

I wouldn't worry about temperature too much. It's probably the least important of all the commonly measured tank parameters. Variations outside of what fish and corals usually experience can be quite detrimental, but regular temperature swings are handled just fine. I have set my tank up to have regular 5 degree swings, that way corals are used to temperature swings when something does go wrong. I know reefers who allow for more than 10 degree swings with beautiful SPS tanks. If you've ever been diving you'll know that 10 degree swings are pretty much a daily occurrence, and 90 degree water is pretty common too.

Thanks, really appreciate the advice

 

[Breadman03]

Do you have any regular household fans? If so, point one toward the tank and see if it makes a difference over the course of a day or so. My 150 was getting pretty warm and simply increasing airflow in my basement made a world of difference. It allowed fresh, dry air to flow across my sump and increase evaporation to cool the tank.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Unless you are going to keep some species that need the cooler water, I would try to maintain the way it is. It is not easy to get a chiller on a small system. I have not tried the ice probes, but have considered them. I do run a chiller on my large system, but my smaller one and my picos, I do not. They all have fans blowing under the light across the top of the water. I run them with T5s mostly. One has a 38par bulb and no fan.