Frag tank outside

[Htfdwhaler]

Hello everyone,

Has anyone ever set up a 40gallon frag tank in outdoor screened room (roofed). I recently moved to Florida from CT where the thought of having an outdoor tank is crazy with the unpredictability of New England weather.

Not worried about the it getting too cold as I can throw in a few heaters in there. The heat is mostly the concern, I don't have a chiller and they are expensive.

Is it possible without a chiller just some fans?

Doing research I came across this thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=18651143

Anyone have any experience?

 

[dsmooth]

I wouldn't it gets to the mid 90's here in Florida.

 

[viper12775]

yes you can but you will need a fan that will move alot of cfms to cool the tank so evaporation would require a lot of top off water

 

[bigzman]

From Experience on keeping a Discus QT 40 Gallon in covered screened patio in the middle of summer for two weeks.
1. I had two large fans blowing on top that alternated 10 hours on one and 10 on the other also 4 with both on. Both weeks average temp was 90+. Tank temp I got to was 82 (Night) but average was 84. Ideal for Discus. I had heaters just in case.
2. Evaporation on that 40 gallon was 4 gallons a day.
3. Algea was a small problem but since I did 50% water changes every other day it never got out of control. I also started to use bed sheet around it to reduce sunlight that helped.
4. Covering the top might be needed. I don’t know how but lizards do get into patio once in a while as well as frogs. Lizard Pop and Frog Pop were evident around tank area. I can see this being a pain in Love bug season (I would love to know how they get in).
5. Harsh weather was a problem one day. Lost power for 40 minutes due to a storm that moved by. At first temp held great without fans for the first 20 minutes but it started to claimed up after the 30 to 88. By 40 it was at 90 and that’s when I did a water change to bring it down to 86.
6. Also a stand made out of metal is highly recommended.
If you can find ways around the above issues, I don’t see why not. If you do decide to set one up, please share your methods as I would love to setup a large one in patio 120G.

 

[bigzman]

There was a post a while back i read here from a guy in Miami that used several of these along with fans on a apex to turn them on and off as needed. He had a 75 gallon Mixed reef tank.

http://www.marinedepot.com/CoolWork...rium_Chillers-CoolWorks-CW1111-FICHMC-vi.html

Note: For these to work really well you will need great flow in thank.

Cool thing about that setup the halides temp were not a big of an issue as it was outside.

 

[CuzzA]

Aside from temperature issues you're going to have to prevent pollution. The only true success I've seen is when the system is fed with natural sea water. There's a thread on here where a guy from California setup an expensive elaborate system outside and documented the mortality rates and they were extremely high. It's not worth it in my opinion. There's no sense in setting up a system that will be prone to killing animals, it's just not responsible.

 

[tonymission]

Second hand chillers are dirt cheap

 

[bigzman]

Getting chiller I am sure will be easy part. For me the onging cost of running it outside will be my concern. As it will run often.

 

[kcsnook]

The evaporation will be insane, I had a 75 gallon shallow frag tank in garage no direct sun and I dealt with algae, heat, and corrosion of anything in that room.

It. Will be tough with the Florida humidity and heat, from experience I'd steer you away from the thought of it.