Chiller questions

N

nurse shark

New member
I am looking to buy a chiller for my 90g reef tank. I have been having a great deal of luck keeping my sps growing, but my temps are creeping up to over 81degrees. What size chiller do I need? Any suggestions of brands? I need something that is very quiet. Thx.
 
Why is 81 degrees a problem? Ive heard of tanks getting up to 85 consistently with no problems. Are chillers that necessary unless you have cold water species? Cant most things live and thrive well into the mid 80's? Ive read a lot about this and it seems so. Just my $.02

-JP
 
i agree my nano is constantly at about 84-85 and my sps leathers buttons GSP shrooms everything does fine
 
Throw a fan on the top of the tank, that pulls my water down 2-3 degrees. I have never run a chiller on any of my tanks.
 
My temp gets pretty high also. It gets up to 84 in the summer time, even with fans. But my corals are doing fine, so I am not too stressed out.
 
Thanks for the advice, I am just worried about my stock of hard corals, I have a lot of money in them now and want to see them thrive. Do you think that 85 degrees is not dangerous? I have tried the fan in the sump, but my temps still climb to about 84 in the summer.
 
I am not sure if this helps you or not, but I have the 9 AM to 9 PM eletricity saver plan with APS. I run my lights at night and I also turn down my AC to 72 degrees or something like that at night. Electricity is cheap then. It is about 4 to 5 cents a KW. With a fan, the highest my temp gets is about 83 degrees though my AC gets turned up to 80 degrees in the day time. This way, I am cooling my house and thus the tank when the MH are on and the tank has the highest heat issues.

I usually don't get home from work until around 8 PM so having the lights on at 9 PM does not bother me.
 
I don't run a chiller either but its mostly because of the up front planning. Open top canopy; open back canopy also, 250W DE instead of 400W SE, no actinics, return pump is external, low power Tunzes for flow and a skimmer with a low wattage pump. I use a Ranco dual stage controller running 1 fan in the canopy that runs a couple hours a day in the summer. That's it. I run the lights in late afternoon to 9PM.
 
Thanks for all the info, I seem to have more questions than answers in the chiller vrs no chiller debate. So if temp is acceptable around 83 degrees, are the sps going to grow slower due to stress? Is there any real reason for a chiller? Here we are in the hottest place this side of hell, and if there is not a need here than why a chiller ever? Forgive my ignorance in this topic, I am just struggling with the thought of not needing to spend obsene amounts of money (crazy I know, but I am a tech freak at heart).
 
I run a chiller and it is controlled by an Aquacontroller. This way my tanks temperature doesn't change more than 1.5 degrees. It is like anything else we buy for our tanks. I feel that it is a cheap insurance policy.
 
I've read that the higher temp promotes growth up to a point. But I've read its a more porous growth and the branches are more fragile.

Lots of reasons why people need chillers. No climate controlled rooms like we need to have here in Az. They want to run 400 watters for lighting with another 1-200 watts of actinics. They run close loops and hot return pumps in the sump. Lots of it is deciding what you want to keep and what aesthetics are important to you. My tank is in my living room and there is absolutely no way I could have a chiller and pass the significant other seal of approval. So I planned it the best I could. There are compromises and cost a little more perhaps(thinking of the Tunze setup here) but I feel its been worth it.
 
North Bay 101 brings up an important point. Your temp can run a little warm as long there isn't a big day/night swing. If it runs at 83 during the day, make sure it doesn't get down to 79 at night.
 
I should add here now that Gordon has reminded me of the Aquacontrollers(thanks Gordon!) is they are invaluable insurance policies with or without a chiller. For example you can program them to turn off halides if the temp gets too high. Plus a host of other capabilities. They aren't foolproof but give you that extra layer of protection that one day may save your tank.
 
MSM
North Bay 101 brings up an important point. Your temp can run a little warm as long there isn't a big day/night swing. If it runs at 83 during the day, make sure it doesn't get down to 79 at night.

Now what do you mean it can not have a swing can you explain again but in different terms
 
I mean, if you can't keep the daytime temp below 83, run it close to 83 at night too. Large swings in temp are stressful. (in fact, temp swings are thought to bring on Ich)
 
1 or 2 degrees isn't so bad. 3 or more could cause problems.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.
 
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