You don't need a chiller,get a good fan!

[austinite79]

For the past 3 weeks I have been setting up a 125. Almost immediately I noticed the temperature getting to about 82 to 83 during the day. At night it would go down to around 76 to 77 degrees, which is way too big a jump. I was really worried and didn't want to invest 700 dollars for a chiller. The light was causing a lot of the heat as well as the mag 12 for the return and the mag 9 for the skimmer. Off to Walmart for two 9 inch Honeywell fans ($15), and I no longer have problems. One blows across the tank between the light and aquarium, the other is mounted over the sump. Temperature stays around 77.0 to 77.3. It is fixing to get hot here in Texas, and just wanted to share my findings. Hope this helps anyone struggling with temperature issues. I have the fans connected to a controller so they only come on as necessary, which helps to save a bit of electricity.

[wickedfish]

I am struggling myself after putting some 250 mh and adding a glass lid the temp goes from 79.1 to over 83 in the evening as I have the mh set up to go on at 2pm when the lid is off it only goes up to 81 degrees, so I am thinking off adding the fans to the sump as you did I have read that this helps but lets get serious the summer is coming and 15-20 degrees hotter outside is gonna make a difference to our set ups I dont have a/c and I am thinking home a/c before chiller but wow its a lose lose

[Daniel Reef]

It can get up to 125 degrees here in Phoenix. I am not sure that I can do without a chiller.

[austinite79]

125 degrees is scorching! I thought 105 was hot. I also forgot to mention that we do have A/C and I keep it around 78 degrees. I guess if you don't have A/C, a window unit would be the logical first step. Before the fans I was around 83 degrees with the lights and the pumps running and I think the fans would hold the temp down to 76 maybe 75. So a 7 degree cool down is pretty good, but I guess if you need more than that, a chiller is the way to go.

[Navyblue]

You aren't exactly living in the hottest part of the world.

You have your tank in an air conditioned room.

And you are telling everyone else "you don't need a chiller"? I think it should read "I don't need a chiller". I'm afraid that the world is quite a bit bigger than you imagine and everyone's scenario is not always the same.

[Dont Ask Me]

I use fans in the summer to get a few degrees temp drop, but also ill add that i am doing twice as much topping up when the fans are on due to the evap caused by the fans.

[troyman]

yeah a chiller is good plug it and its good no messing with fans all around i would not wanna leave them running day and night

[ryshark]

For the past 3 weeks I have been setting up a 125. Almost immediately I noticed the temperature getting to about 82 to 83 during the day. At night it would go down to around 76 to 77 degrees, which is way too big a jump. I was really worried and didn't want to invest 700 dollars for a chiller. The light was causing a lot of the heat as well as the mag 12 for the return and the mag 9 for the skimmer. Off to Walmart for two 9 inch Honeywell fans ($15), and I no longer have problems. One blows across the tank between the light and aquarium, the other is mounted over the sump. Temperature stays around 77.0 to 77.3. It is fixing to get hot here in Texas, and just wanted to share my findings. Hope this helps anyone struggling with temperature issues. I have the fans connected to a controller so they only come on as necessary, which helps to save a bit of electricity.

Nice to see you were able to keep that 5-degree swing down by only spending $30. Fans do work really well for many. Evaporative cooling is a good thing for us

[ryshark]

yeah a chiller is good plug it and its good no messing with fans all around i would not wanna leave them running day and night

Thats what the controller is for

[moondoggy4]

I have a 120 tank with two 175 MH's within a enclosed canopy, two years ago my tank would stay right at 82 deg. with two 4'' ice cap fans. Then I got the Silent Air system from Fins Reef with two more 3'' fans and it kept my tank down to 78 deg and the heater set at 77 degrees. I do not turn on the A/C until it hits 85 in the house.

[austinite79]

The title should have perhaps read: Alternatives To Using A Chiller That May Work For Some.

[Mr. Brooks]

My office gets insanely hot. I run a bunch of fans on a controller. When it gets too hot my lights turn off. I don't own a chiller. I keep SPS with no problems whatsoever. I tried running a chiller. It dumped a ton of hot air into my office making it unbearable to work.

[Garage1217]

The only thing I would ever use a chiller for is on an emergency basis if my home ac failed as I keep my home at 78F. Otherwise I see no point in running a chiller as well when simple thing like a vent fan for your sump area "if it is enclosed" will keep temps in check. Or at most, a small fan over the water of the tank will help keep the tank temps down. You can even put the fans on a temp controller so they would only come on as needed.

I also run open top tanks to prevent heat buildup when I ran halides. My temp would swing, but only to around 80-81 tops. And yes, I am in the hotter part of the country :)

I personally think most can go without a chiller and without the expense of purchase / running it if the design of their system is correct. But again, if a homes ac ever failed, which it could, then a chiller would be a nice item to have until your ac was repaired as bags of ice get old *LOL* Or the cheap alternative would be to use a small cheap window ac unit blowing into your sump area until your main unit was fixed.

And of course there is always that one guy or girl that keeps their house like at 85-90 degrees, so yes a chilled would work nice in that in home tropical environment.

In short, I have to agree with the OP. In the mass majority of cases if someone sees their temps swing into the mid 80's, they freak out and buy an expensive chiller. In most cases, just a simple fan will cure the issue.

[Rekonn]

Reefkeeper Lite controller $100
Universal DC Adapter $10
one or more quiet 120mm computer fans $15 each
JBJ auto topoff unit $100
pump for reservoir $15 (Maxijet for big tanks, Aqualifter for small)

This is the setup I have used on a 90g and a 15g. I think the upfront cost is definitely worth the very stable temps, quiet operation, low electricity bills, and convenience of only filling a reservoir with RODI every week or so.

[Navyblue]

And of course there is always that one guy or girl that keeps their house like at 85-90 degrees, so yes a chilled would work nice in that in home tropical environment.

I mostly agree with you. Except that people who have their living room in tropical temperature is not as few as you think. For instance, people living in the tropical region like me. :)

Around here one would probably get away with a sump as large as the display with fans (I used to do that). But in most cases it is easier to just run a chiller, especially if you use big MH to grow SPS. For reference, my light off temperature is typically at 85 deg F (not the hotter days). One day my chiller quit working, even the "easy" corals like mushrooms melted en masse. Just imagine what would happen to "harder" corals. Even with chiller I keep my temperature at 86. By 88 more sensitive stuffs would die and by 90 one would get milky tank. Unfortunately I learned those numbers from experience.

[Garage1217]

Hmm every time I visit family in Florida / Louisiana area, they do not have a rain forest environment for a living room, I think that is a personal choice *LOL* Man I would hate feeling sweaty just watching tv or working on the pc. YUK. Man I hate humidity *LOL*

[gabrielt]

Thanks for the thoughts. I am still trying to decide on the "ideal" temperature for my tank, but it seems that there is no consensus...

[biecacka]

i think fans work for some and some need a chiller. i currently use neither but have been thinking of a few fans as my tank gets up to about 80 degrees or so, depending on temp in house. i dont act shy on using the ac tho!!! :)
any pics of the fans you got from walmart
corey

[NyReefNoob]

no way i would get away without my chiller i live in the upper portion of a house and dont have central air, anything over a 10,000 btu trips boards { old farm house } for the few hundred and piece of mind it is worth it too me

[montrose]

You aren't exactly living in the hottest part of the world.

You have your tank in an air conditioned room.

And you are telling everyone else "you don't need a chiller"? I think it should read "I don't need a chiller". I'm afraid that the world is quite a bit bigger than you imagine and everyone's scenario is not always the same.

A bit hostile for the guy just trying to help people out with a cooling solution for less than $50 before dropping hundreds on a chiller.

I've had the same experiences with fans as he did, dropped from 82/83 to 77/78 where the heater keeps it at, and it's in the mid 80's in my place during the day when nobody"s home, but an auto top-off is definitely needed.

[dbond]

When I was using fan cooling alone my ATO water reserve ( 5 gallons) was lasting 3 days before I had to refill now Im using a chiller in combination with a fan Im able to extend my topoff water to 5 days before it needs refilling which works better for me.

[Airborne]

I tried the fans over my sump. I live in So Cal where last year, it hit 117 in my driveway. I have my sump in my garage where yesterday, it hit 90. This is a cool week on top of it. I guess when summer truly gets here the garage will hit 100-105.

Point: the ambient temp has alot to do with factoring in the need of a chiller. Since last saturday, my temp is at 78 and doesn't move. Helps to have a Tradwind Chiller (props). Now no worries, no checking, no increases. By the way, tank is inside an A/C house that stays at 75-78. Garage houses the sump where it hits 100. Good luck with Fans in this condition. Tried it and the tank still hit 83 by 11:30am.

[outy]

I have an old house and if i dont start the swamp cooler by 11am in the summer the house is misserable.

since its aimed at my tank I have not needed a chiller. i do get some nice 5c temp changes but in 14 years all the coral has held up to it just fine

[troyman]

with all the money we spend on our tanks i rather have a box that water go through and cools it down called a chiller who wants fans blowing all over and such no thanks get a chiller

[bnumair]

i have a 120 gal 48x24x24 reef tank. central ac set at 74 in oklahoma where outside temp is at 100+. inside temp at miday stays at 78 so water in tank goes up from 76 at night to 83 at daytime. i also installed just a small 6 inch walmart fan ($9) blowing across the top of the tank keeping 500w MH 200w T5 cooler and dropping the temp by 3 degrees keeping at 79-80 during miday hours. installing one more fan on sump might even pull it down few more degree and thus leaving me with no need for an expensive chiller.

[lhm nole]

I have a 300 gallon acrylic tank with a oct 5000 and ocean runner 6500 pump 100 gallon sump house temp is 74 degrees without the light the tank was running at 80 degress and after installing 8 t5's and reflectors the temp would rise to 82 tank is fully covered no holes on top and sump is open, went to walmart and bought 2 clip on fans put on over sump around 6 inches from water surface and one inside canopy blowing across the bulbs and the tank temp is currently 79 the fan in canopy is with the light time so 20 bucks saved me hundreds.

[shandy_say]

I used to think the same way. But when the heat wave suddenly came my sps started to STN and my temp reached as high as 34C. I installed 8 fans in the display (2 sets of 4 fan arrays) not to mention i have 4 fans already running in the cab but my temp can only go down to 28C even in the evenings when lights are off. The fans help in bringing down the temp but i don't think it will completely solve temp issues especially when you have temperature sensitive sps. Oh and ofcourse more fans means more evaporation.

[Yogre]

I tried running a couple of fans over the sump of my 215. They did work fairly well, temp didn't get above 80, but all that evaporated water has to go somewhere. My family room felt like a swamp; it's a basement family room, not the best air circulation.

So I had a choice, dehumidifier or chiller? I chose the chiller. I can tolerate the chiller's exhaust heat better than the swamp.

[zachfishman]

I can attest to this. My 29 (sumpless) used to swing from 80 to 86 when I first set it up, now it maxes at ~82 with a small fan blowing across the surface. Evap is high, but it's a simple & easy solution vs. buying a sump or chiller.