To chill or not to chill

[Europhyllia]

Yeah I haven't had any problems keeping it cool with just a fan and I am used to topping off 2.5 gallons a day.
But I was thinking chiller could be good in case AC goes out on a hot day or even to cut back on top off (less wear on RO/DI filters,etc., less water wasted)

[CoryDude]

Good advice so far! I've used chiller for the last 15 years. +1 on oversizing the unit.

It's the best insurance you can buy especially if you stock sensitive animals. I've always read that temps under 80 promote a more stable metabolism for corals and fish.

My soft corals thrived when temps where 76-78F. But whatever you set you temp at, a 2 degree swing seems to be really beneficial for you tank in multiple ways.

The JBJ actica chillers are nice, and they have a decent warranty service. My only advice is to oversize the unit, and get a chiller with a built in probe. That will keep it from running, if the feed pump shuts off.

[CoryDude]

The chiller will help your house ac a little, but only if you vent the heat from the evaporator coils outside the house. I've got my chiller plumbed outside the house. But that only works if you're tank's located next to an exterior wall.

[Europhyllia]

If I could pick 77/78 would be my preference too.
My tank is in the dining room against the wall to the garage. Would be able to put it out there but it would heat up the garage in the summer...

[Meslo]

My tank wall also is the one to the garage. One thing to keep in mind if the air in the garage is over 85-90 ish its gona make your cooler work hard to chill the water.I put all my pumps and sump outside but the chiller is inside under the tank.

[Europhyllia]

too bad they don't have those crinkle foil hoses like dryers...

[reddrum]

I personally think it is worth the money not having to keep your house exceptionally cold or having to top off with multiple gallons of water a day due to fans.

[alienspacepirate]

I had to store my aquarium at my mothers house last year while I was in between apartments. I had no choice, it would have been either sell the whole setup or store it there. She only has window AC units and she would only turn them on when the house got to about 80. A few times when I came in the water was so hot that it was 'off the scale' of the temp probe in the tank and the water was 'hot' to the touch. I lost a black and white domino but my damsel survived. All of my coral survived too. This went through basically a whole corpus summer.

I put the lights on a 4 hour max cycle... the algae went totally nuts in the tank however. I am just now getting it cleared up from that mess and that was like 8 months ago.

Just from my 'stress-test' experience your tank can 'survive' short bursts of intensive heat but obviously will be bad on many things. I'm still glad I kept the tank because although I had zero growth through the period I still have most of the items and they are making a comeback.


ps. The blue and yellow damsel I named 'survivor man' because he is hardy as heck