240g reeftank on a room with average tems of 86F

[kmu]

Would it be a bad idea to have a large reef tank in a room that has average room temps of 86f 24/7 during summer (6 months) the room is around 275 square feet so the reef tank equipment will probably raise the room temp a couple of degrees.

Should i go for it or I would be wasting alot of money cooling the tank?

The tank would be rimless open top with an ATI powermodule fixture, for circulation a small return pump maybe 50 watts, for skimmer pump maybe 40 watts, and 2 vortech mp40 to avoid heating issues from the powerheads

 

[hermitage]

If your going with a 240...you're going to be wasting money...so get used to that. Get a chiller...fans will make your room much more humid...making it seem much hotter than 86f. I would run the chiller somewhere out of that room.

 

[kmu]

I would set the chiller to 82f. thats the same temperature I have my chiller set to on the Solana and all the corals and fish are thriving.

Are there any chillers designed to be operated outsdoors? Most of the chillers Ive looked at say to not operate above 95f and the average outside temp is 100f here in the desert

 

[ds4x4]

yes they have chillers that can be put outside. your best bet is to make a little dog house or something that will shade the unit from any direct sunlight. it will be much cooler in the shade.

 

[BigJay]

I wouldn't do it, you're just asking for trouble with an 86 degree room. 86 degrees with lights out will kill your tank should your chiller fail. On top of that, the chiller will run constantly and the lighting will drive the ambient room temps to the high 80's or low 90's. You won't even be able to sit there and enjoy the tank.

Is there any way you can put an AC unit on a window and lower the temp to around 78? That way you can use fans to blow cool air over the tank. The AC unit will also reduce the humidity of the room, and allow you to sit and enjoy the fish.

 

[waynem]

Some people are using ground cooling in hot areas. You dig a trench outside a few feet deep and run a pipe from your tank out in to the ground and back to your tank. The ground is a lot cooler a few feet and it will act like a big heatsink.

Add a thermal cut off to your light so if it gets to hot they will turn off.

Get a split system air con to act as a back up.

 

[iLLwiLL]

Wouldn't the tank start to sweat with the water being chilled to 82 and the ambient room temps at 88+??

~Will.

 

[susan92368]

you will also definitely need a dehumidifier in the room.

 

[kmu]

the reason I ask about a reef tank on a room with 86f average room temp is because my house has 2 levels. I have a small 34g reef tank on the second floor where the bedrooms are, but on the first floor is the kitchen, dining room and the living room.

We usually just turn the AC on the second floor 24/7 to 78f during the summer and only turn on the central AC on the first floor for about an hour each day when where are cooking or eating, thats why the average room temp stays at 86f.

I could always leave the first floor central AC thermostat to 80 or 82f just to help with the temperature or just add an 12,000 btu minisplit on the living room to help and not have to turn the central AC on the whole first floor because its 36,000 btu's.

Just as an example, we left on vacation about a month ago for 8 days, and I left the AC on the second floor OFF for the whole 8 days while the outside temps where 100f+ average during the day, I have a 34g solana on the second floor with a 1/15hp chiller and it did perfect at keeping the temperature at 80f while the house had inside a 96f temperature, the tank didnt sweat, the house was just very very humid inside since it had the AC of for several days and no air movement inside except for the chiller on the second floor and the refrigerator and wine cooler on the first floor.

 

[kmu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15652829#post15652829 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ds4x4
yes they have chillers that can be put outside. your best bet is to make a little dog house or something that will shade the unit from any direct sunlight. it will be much cooler in the shade.

Any chiller you would recommend? anything below $1,000?

 

[kmu]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15656501#post15656501 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by waynem
Some people are using ground cooling in hot areas. You dig a trench outside a few feet deep and run a pipe from your tank out in to the ground and back to your tank. The ground is a lot cooler a few feet and it will act like a big heatsink.

Add a thermal cut off to your light so if it gets to hot they will turn off.

Get a split system air con to act as a back up.

A reefkeeper Elite would control all the lights, pumps, fans, chiller and shut off or turn on whats needed to lower the temp.

 

[kmu]

I forgot to mention that the tank could be an ELOS 160XL 200g