Chillers and Metal Halides

[Scubajoe1]

So after 9 months I am thinking about switching from Radions to metal halides. Calculating the electrical cost I am guessing about 20 bucks a month for the cost of lighting. Will I most likely need a chiller? If so then will my house get crazy hot from the chiller? Last time I used a chiller forever ago in college it made the house crazy hot.

Thanks

Joe

 

[shifty51008]

Ive always ran mh's with no chiller, actually my heater still kicks on when the mh's are on. However my sump is in the basement where it is a lil cooler.

Im not saying you will or wont need a chiller as every tank is different but i know alot of people that run mh's without chillers.

 

[Eurobeaner]

I keep my house at 66-68*, I have a 250w halide over the 60 cube, and a 250w halide over the tiny frag tank inside my stand... Still don't have to use a chiller

 

[cloak]

I'm running a 175 watt MH bulb along with two T5 actincs over my 20 gallon tank and I'm not using a chiller either. A cheap household fan blowing across the top of the water seems to do the trick for me. I'm not sure how hot is gets in NC, but here in Stockton CA it can get to about 106 on some of the hottest days in summer. With the AC on along with the fan sometimes my tank will peak at about 84, 85 degrees, but none of the inhabitants seem to mind. GL.

 

[d2mini]

If you don't have a canopy, there's a chance you won't need a chiller.
If you do have a canopy, you are going to need a chiller.
Yes it may heat up the room a little.

 

[dadummy]

Mounted 3 250w pendants outside the canopy on a 150g. Have a fan blowing across each pendant and fans venting the canopy. Chiller is plumbed in and ready but no need for it, good to have though incase temp does run away.

 

[Scubajoe1]

Thanks guys. Yes I do have a canopy. Currently running the Radions with two T5s but while some SPS are doing well others are not and my nitrates have been low like 1-2 ppm for months and phosphates at 0.03 ppm. Alk at 9 and Ca at 450. Not sure what else the issue could be.

 

[sleepydoc]

The other thing to remember with MHs is that the heat goes somewhere, even if it doesn't go into your tank. 500W is 500W and if you live in the south your AC is already working hard; that will just be that much more for the AC to do.

 

[hkgar]

I have 3 250 radiums and 4 80 watt T5's under a canopy. The t5's have only been in since Sunday. Here is my temps over the last 7 days. I have a cheap Walmart 8 inch clip on fan on the sump which is in the basement. They are in a small room and my Iwaki 100 reurn pump throws off a lot of heat.

https://www.reeftronics.net/graphns.php?probe=01&period=week&member=garyk

 

[FarmerTy]

The other thing to remember with MHs is that the heat goes somewhere, even if it doesn't go into your tank. 500W is 500W and if you live in the south your AC is already working hard; that will just be that much more for the AC to do.

Agreed! I'm in Texas and we have our share of heat here. I could feel the heat emanating from my canopy even with two clip-on fans blowing over the sump and an exhaust fan pulling the hot air out of the house. It definitely added to my AC running more in the summer but that's to be expected.

I run a 1/3 HP chiller on my 215 gallon.

 

[alton]

In the summer I run my BML 6' x 2 14k regular leds 8 to 10 hours and only run my 3 x 250w MH 3 hours from 6pm to 9pm. Now that it has cooled off I raised my MH to 4 hours. Corals do fine and no heat during the hottest part of the day. In the winter they will get cranked up to 8 hours a day.