This will be my first summer with a tank in this climate, in a house with no air conditioning. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on the best way to get through the summer without boiling my tank: I'm not very familiar with this aspect of reefing, and since just about any option, as far as I know, will be super expensive, I want to make the best choice.
Basically, I have a 55 gal tank, a 10-15 gal sump, and a 6gal bucket RDSB, so estimate around 70gals of water in the system max.
I keep my tank at around 79-80degrees. Normally my room temps are anywhere from 69-72degrees, and the rest is made up by heat generation from lights and pumps and my heater. I've noticed that if the room temps get above 75 degrees, the natural heat from my lights and pumps and so forth makes it hard to maintain the tank at 80: it starts to climb higher than ambient temps even with the heater completely off.
As far as the summer goes, ambient temperatures can get as high as 105 or so in the summer (though that high rarely lasts more than a few hours at most). So worst case scenario, I need to be able to handle these highs, and hopefully ride out even the hottest days: let's say that I need the ability to drop things by about 20 degrees below ambient temps in the worst case scenario.
As I see it, my options are basically:
1) Get a chiller (probably a 1/10 HP unit, but maybe I might need even a 1/6, I'm not sure)
2) Get a heavy duty window air conditioning unit for downstairs where my tank is (we'd have to cool the entire downstairs since we have no doors between rooms)
3) Get a full on full house forced air system.
I can also add some dedicated tank fans, though I don't know if these can really combat up to 20degree ambient temperature differentials.
As far as I can tell pricewise, 1) the cheapest I can find is about 400$ for a 1/10 hp unit, but this is probably the cheapest option to run in terms of electric bills. 2) is cheapest to buy (300$ unit) but probably the most expensive to run. 3) I don't think I have even a remote chance of being able to afford (I have ductwork, but everywhere I look implies several thousand dollars of unit and install costs).
For option 1), I'd basically just need to figure out what the best unit to buy is. Is 1/10 really enough for my system and the temps I need to combat? The downside is that it's a ton of money to heat only the tank. And I'm not sure whether or not these units can really keep up in a house that has no air conditioning period to at least help them out some of the way.
Air conditioning would have other benefits, but would probably cost a lot more in electricity bills in the end, and I'm also not sure that even a HUGE window unit could really drop the entire downstairs temps enough.
None of these are really great options: doing mostly temp work, I don't have a heck of a lot of cash sitting around, so this isn't a decision I want to make hastily, though I'm probably running out of time as things heat up.
Basically, I have a 55 gal tank, a 10-15 gal sump, and a 6gal bucket RDSB, so estimate around 70gals of water in the system max.
I keep my tank at around 79-80degrees. Normally my room temps are anywhere from 69-72degrees, and the rest is made up by heat generation from lights and pumps and my heater. I've noticed that if the room temps get above 75 degrees, the natural heat from my lights and pumps and so forth makes it hard to maintain the tank at 80: it starts to climb higher than ambient temps even with the heater completely off.
As far as the summer goes, ambient temperatures can get as high as 105 or so in the summer (though that high rarely lasts more than a few hours at most). So worst case scenario, I need to be able to handle these highs, and hopefully ride out even the hottest days: let's say that I need the ability to drop things by about 20 degrees below ambient temps in the worst case scenario.
As I see it, my options are basically:
1) Get a chiller (probably a 1/10 HP unit, but maybe I might need even a 1/6, I'm not sure)
2) Get a heavy duty window air conditioning unit for downstairs where my tank is (we'd have to cool the entire downstairs since we have no doors between rooms)
3) Get a full on full house forced air system.
I can also add some dedicated tank fans, though I don't know if these can really combat up to 20degree ambient temperature differentials.
As far as I can tell pricewise, 1) the cheapest I can find is about 400$ for a 1/10 hp unit, but this is probably the cheapest option to run in terms of electric bills. 2) is cheapest to buy (300$ unit) but probably the most expensive to run. 3) I don't think I have even a remote chance of being able to afford (I have ductwork, but everywhere I look implies several thousand dollars of unit and install costs).
For option 1), I'd basically just need to figure out what the best unit to buy is. Is 1/10 really enough for my system and the temps I need to combat? The downside is that it's a ton of money to heat only the tank. And I'm not sure whether or not these units can really keep up in a house that has no air conditioning period to at least help them out some of the way.
Air conditioning would have other benefits, but would probably cost a lot more in electricity bills in the end, and I'm also not sure that even a HUGE window unit could really drop the entire downstairs temps enough.
None of these are really great options: doing mostly temp work, I don't have a heck of a lot of cash sitting around, so this isn't a decision I want to make hastily, though I'm probably running out of time as things heat up.
