Just Moved to Bay area

rich11426

New member
Hi Guys

I just moved to the bay area and want to set up my 65 gal W\ a 20 gal sump. My question is do you have to run a chiller to keep your tank at about 78 temp. I always had my tanks set up in the basement where I came from always nice and cool.
 
What kind of lights do you have?

I don't have a chiller but I only have PC's. The fan in the room keeps it plenty cool for me.

...and....WELCOME!!! Where abouts in New Port Richey do you live? I live in the River Ridge area.
 
It depends on how much heat your lights give off, and how cool you keep your home. I have never used chillers. I just use fans to create good ventilation. I keep all sorts of sps and softies at temps between 80 and 82 degrees with out any problems.
 
[welcome]


I have been chiller-less for the past year now. But I run my AC at 74 degrees. It those get hot in the summer...
 
I run 2 250w mh and 2 110w vho. My tank temp runs from 84-86 in the summer. and I have a sps tank. why do you want to have your tank @ 78?

P.S. Welcome to the Tampa Bay area
 
I think we all are used to higher temps, and you can do it with no ill effects, Having lived up north I always had to worry about having the tank to cold, now I try to keep mine below 84 but it gets to 86 sometimes. If I keep a 10' fan on the tank it will drop to 80 in the day time.
 
Thanks for the warm Welcome

Thanks for the warm Welcome

Thanks for the warm welcome guys. I am just starting to unpack my reef stuff its been sitting in the garage for about 12 months (been busy new job and all) As to the lights I have,36 inch 4x96 Watt Current USA PowerCompact Orbit Fixture. In the summer we keep the A.C. at 77 it keeps the house nice and cool there are a lot of big oak trees around my house. As for why that temp I was thinking of ordering the package from T.B.S.
and on there web site they recommended a temp of 70 - 78 75 being perfect I though that was kind of on the cool side thats why I was asking about the chiller. And River Ridge is not that far from me I am in River Crossing. I will post some Pix's as I get set up.
 
rich11426,

If you keep your house @ 77 depending on how close your lights are to the water, fans, pumps...etc... you should be fine T.B.S. aquaculture there stuff from the Gulf and the Keys. The water
temps in the summer time reaches well into the upper 80's

From what I read and seen everyone runs there tanks a little different from the rest and all have great success. Besides you can not find a better bunch of people you are in the right spot. JMHO
 
From previous posts:

At the risk of raising the ire of people like Dr. Ron Simek, who advocates warm tanks, in the range of 83F, like on the reef, I believe that thermal stability is more important than the exact temperature for most species of marine fish and live corals:

1) I would not worry about the system temperature, if most things are growing fine
2) I would not worry about the temperature, if it does not vary by more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit (F) from the low (high?) of the day to the high (low?) of the night
3) Just what does your tank measure first thing in an early winter morning compared to the middle of a sunny summer afternoon? How much difference is there?
4) One temperature-controlled fan (about $50) might be just the ticket to get the heat out of the hood.
5) Are you venting the top of the hood, to make sure that heat can escape? Good ventilation can be worth as much as 2-3 degrees F in cooling.
6) Are there A/C vents in your home that you can direct over the tank? If you can close 15-25% of your least used vents and open the one over the tank, you can cool your tank another few degrees without lowering your household temperature.
7) Where is your highest household temperature set? If you set your heater (only one watt per gallon required in Florida) for just one degree F over the room temperature, the heater will provide much needed thermal stability to the tank.
 
I've had my 37 gallon reef setup for 2 years now. It's got 2x65 watt PC's and a 250 MH. I keep the AC in the house at about 78 and usally don't close the windows until it gets ~84 in the house.

My only cooling for the tank is a 8-10" fan blowing onto the water from the back corner of the tank. My lights sit fairly close to the water too.

I use a ReefKeeper controller to turn the fan on, and rarely do I have temps over ~81. I keep my temps around 80.
 
Thanks... I appreciate all the support and the quality information from this forum. All of you helped to put my mind at rest now I can get on with setting up my tank.

playa0069u.....Thanks for the offer I will pm you if I need some help.
 
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