siskiou Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Well, whenever the sun is shining, our house gets up to over 75 F even with the outside temps in the 50s/60s. I suspect the 8 lamp TEK fixture contributes somewhat, and yesterday the tank was up to 81.2 F (from the normal 79-80). I was going to invest in a Propeller-Breeze (can be controlled by my Profilux Computer), but now I'm wondering if I should look into Chillers instead for the summer. How much can the tank temp be lowered by a 5-fan set compared to a chiller in your experience? How loud is a chiller compared to a bunch of fairly quiet fans? Do you think fans are more effective over the sump, or over the main tank? What about cost of running a chiller compared to fans? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 How big is your tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted February 18, 2007 Author Share Posted February 18, 2007 120G with a 25-30G sump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holly Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 If you're gonna use fans, IMO it's better to blow over the surface of the main tank and not the sump. More surface area, so it'll cool faster. IMO, better to have a chiller of some kind just in case, rather than gamble and loose everything, (Esp if your house doesn't have AC) You could always put a couple canopy fans and use a smaller chiller (not quite rated for 120g) as a way to spend a little less and still have a back-up. Chillers are pricey...even 'cheap' ones. It's a long-term investment in your livestock tho Found this one on EBay for a good price: brand-new ECO PLUS 1/10HP rated for a 93g tank, $375 with FREE SHIPPING. 1/10HP for $375 isn't bad at all. Big chunk of change, though...I know. Looks like they'll let you apply to pay them in 3 months...? http://cgi.ebay.com/ECO-PLUS-1-10-HP-WATER-CHILLER-93-GAL-AQUARIUM-REEF_W0QQitemZ130078473529QQihZ003QQcategoryZ117433QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem As for the noise, we have 1/4HP chiller and don't notice much sound when it comes on (our four muffin fans are on all day and create a low-level white noise anyway). I don't think the noise is too much of a problem for us personally... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 I went through the same debate in my head...and was trying to save money and not get a chiller...Well, long story short...I have a chiller and would recommend it to anyone who has a tank. One of the best investments I have made so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 l am surprised you are having heat problems with florescent lights. You must have pumps or other devices adding heat to your tank. I had a 90 gallon with 2 400W halides and two 110W VHO. Fans did a pretty good job keeping my tank cool, under 82 degrees. I had 4 fans in the canopy that ran while the lights were on and a cheap clip on fan over the sump on a temp controller. The tank was in a daylight basement that was cooler than the rest of the house. Now in the summer during those hot days, the sump fan was on a lot and I started to have humidity problems. Carpet go moist from the cool cement floors and the high humidity. luckily I caught it quick and no damage. Hooked up a chiller on it's own temp controller. So I ran both fans and chiller. Sump fan came on at 81 deg and chiller came on at 82 deg. That worked great. I think fans can do a lot for cooling, but you have to be careful of humidity from all the evaporation. Also my sump was not enclosed under the tank. It was on the other side of the wall in a laundry room , so it had lots of ventilation. After the humidity problems, I added window fans to make sure to keep humidity in check. It was great having a chiller in the summer. I could leave town for the weekend and not have to worry if the tank was going to overheat during my absence. It was a great piece of mind. Especially if you are already having heat issues, summer will be bad. My chiller, Aqualogic, was not too loud, but would not want it in my living room. You can get some quite fans. I would try to plumb it in a remote location. Maybe crawl space? As for cost to run the chiller, really depends on how much it has to run. I calculated at 8 cents a kWh it cost about 5 cents an hour to run my 1/4 hp chiller. The cost to run the fans is probably negligible. Theron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted February 19, 2007 Author Share Posted February 19, 2007 I'm sure my pumps add a little heat, but the main problem is our small house, with southern exposure through the large living room window all day, when the sun is shining. It heats up amazingly fast, even with the shades down. And that heat translates to the tank, too. Last summer I only had a 40G tank, and things were mostly okay with a window ac, apart from the hottest days when I had to supplement with frozen water bottles in the sump. I definitely want to have something in place for the summer, so I don't have to sit home and switch out frozen bottles all afternoon and evening! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 l am surprised you are having heat problems with florescent lights. You must have pumps or other devices adding heat to your tank. I had a 90 gallon with 2 400W halides and two 110W VHO. Fans did a pretty good job keeping my tank cool, under 82 degrees. I had 4 fans in the canopy that ran while the lights were on and a cheap clip on fan over the sump on a temp controller. The tank was in a daylight basement that was cooler than the rest of the house. Now in the summer during those hot days, the sump fan was on a lot and I started to have humidity problems. Carpet go moist from the cool cement floors and the high humidity. luckily I caught it quick and no damage. Hooked up a chiller on it's own temp controller. So I ran both fans and chiller. Sump fan came on at 81 deg and chiller came on at 82 deg. That worked great. I think fans can do a lot for cooling, but you have to be careful of humidity from all the evaporation. Also my sump was not enclosed under the tank. It was on the other side of the wall in a laundry room , so it had lots of ventilation. After the humidity problems, I added window fans to make sure to keep humidity in check. It was great having a chiller in the summer. I could leave town for the weekend and not have to worry if the tank was going to overheat during my absence. It was a great piece of mind. Especially if you are already having heat issues, summer will be bad. My chiller, Aqualogic, was not too loud, but would not want it in my living room. You can get some quite fans. I would try to plumb it in a remote location. Maybe crawl space? As for cost to run the chiller, really depends on how much it has to run. I calculated at 8 cents a kWh it cost about 5 cents an hour to run my 1/4 hp chiller. The cost to run the fans is probably negligible. Theron This is what everyone told me with t-5's...but they heated up my place so much that the ambient temp, raised the tanks temp. I know this is the case cause when the lights went off at night, the heaters would come on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powdertang05 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 get a chiller i get so tired of using fans it makes me sick on and off on a off always one during the summer and it takes 2 hours to drop a my tanks from 80-81 to 78 but with a chiller i can keep it at 78 always never up and down. i also get better results with corals myself. the one big big problem i had with fans is i dont have a temp controller so i always had to guess with a chiller it did it for me i really like the pacific coast ones cheap and are hard workers. even pacific coast uses is own brand to keep his cold water tanks and you really have to get a good one for that application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mbeef61 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 if you can get a chiller get a chiller...much more reliable....plus i think it helps with evaporation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefgeek84 Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 plus i think it helps with evaporation. I agree with this completely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.