metal halides and chillers

[harleychic]

Hi all
Not new to reefing but have been out of the game for quite awhile. I'm getting rid of my old 55g and pc's and starting a nano (29g most likely). I've never had mh before, my old 10g nano had NO floros with inverts only.
My question is, generally speaking, if i go with a 29g with 150w mh, or a 10g with 70w mh, do i need to have a chiller? This tank will be in a basement of an air conditioned house. If I do need one, what do you all recommend?

Thanks for any and all replies!

[dragon_slayer]

No, i ran a 29 with a 250w MH for 4 or 5 yrs and the temp kept a constant 88º, with a 400w MH it bumped up to 92º, i used a 6" fan for cooling of the canopy and that helped allot so you'd need to do the same but a chiller isn't a necessity.

kc

[harleychic]

Thanks!
Can i have clams and acros with 150w if they are placed near the top?

[dragon_slayer]

if water quality is up to par yes.

kc

[Young Frankenstein]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9702128#post9702128 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dragon_slayer
No, i ran a 29 with a 250w MH for 4 or 5 yrs and the temp kept a constant 88º, with a 400w MH it bumped up to 92º, i used a 6" fan for cooling of the canopy and that helped allot so you'd need to do the same but a chiller isn't a necessity.

kc :confused: 88-92 deg. ???? first time I heard that ??? everyone here says 79-84 deg basically, and I can see by your 7000+ posts you are not a newbie here. I have 2x175mh +2x100mh and with the comuter fans I manage to have temperature between 79-83. Without the fans in an air conditioned home my temp. would be between 79-85 only 2 deg more. I would love to stop the sound of these computer fans, do you think if everything gets used to temp. between 79-85 all my brain corals and fish are gone be ok?:smokin:

[dragon_slayer]

it's all about water quality, I've kept allot of delicate corals at temps in the mid 90s with no problems, but i also keep pristine water quality. before i gave it away due to my back surgery issues i had probably one of the only huge healthy Elegance corals around, i had it many yrs with no problems and it regularly budded, pics can be seen in my gallery.

i've only been doing this close to 30 yrs so as always YMMV.

kc

[kenny77]

if you have AC puls a couple of fans that will work good. in my last tank I ran VHO and the temperure with out fans was 80* having the AC at 70*. but running 2 fans in the canopy and 1 in the sump temperature were stable at 70*. I also run the fuge light at night when the VHO were out, so this kep the temp stable day/night.

[fareforce]

The trick with temps isn't to keep it between 79-84.. It is all about good water quality, and consistant conditions. Basically if you want your tan at 87 keep it at 87.. Dont go from 87 when lights are on to 80 when lights are off... My rule of thumb is try to keep it within a degree.