temperature

[GongShow]

I was at the LFS today just doing some browsing trying to figure out what kinda setup i want to go with for my first reef tank and the employee told me that since my house gets up to about 82 degrees in the summer (i live in Edmonton) that i would either need to buy a chiller or some kinda air conditioning for my house to keep my house cool. I was just wondering if the guy was just trying to convince me into buying uneeded parts from him or telling the truth

[simplycoral]

Hi,

There are other way's to cool a tank...

I use small fans on one tank which keeps it a little cooler, although it increase's evaporation.

On another tank i throw in a couple of frozen water bottles to bring the temp down.:smile:

One way to tell for sure is to leave a bucket of water in the area where the tank will be and then test the temp over a few days to see how far it rise's.

Regards, Simon.

[banditpowdercoat]

My house gets hoter than 82 in the summer, even WITH the AC units on. Tanks are fine. House and tanks cool off at night, and I run fan's, and turn the lights out when it gets really warm

[triggereef]

On another tank i throw in a couple of frozen water bottles to bring the temp down.

On my 230 i use three 1 leter frozen bottles to chill my tank down and i live in edmonton to:biggrin:

[GongShow]

so like i though a chiller would be a complete waste of money because for maybe a month out of the year i would have heat problems and i could easily solve them with frozen water bottles or fans

[triggereef]

Well exactly why spend money when you dont need to:mrgreen:

[fkshiu]

so like i though a chiller would be a complete waste of money because for maybe a month out of the year i would have heat problems and i could easily solve them with frozen water bottles or fans

A chiller could be a necessity IF you were also running, say, 400W MHs in addition to having room temperatures in the 80s.

Start off with using fans, room AC, etc and if that still doesn't work then consider a chiller if you are willing to make the investment.

[mark]

live in Edm as well and though now have CA, tank was fine the first year just with fans though was evaporating 2 gallons a day. This was on a 145g (2x250w+2x40W lights) with a basement sump.

As fkshiu says though, depends what your planning (tank, lights, hood, pumps) but while you're cycling without livestock, run fans etc and monitor your temperatures.

[GongShow]

I wouldnt be running hallides i would be running either a RSM 250 or a 75 gallon tank with the aquatic life HID high output T5's on them

[StirCrazy]

personaly I think a chiller is a good investment, cheeper than cooling the house with an AC and more responcive than fans for tank temp increases also you don't have massive amounts of evaporation water to make up as you do with fans so there is less humidity put into the house its self.

Steve

[StirCrazy]

I wouldnt be running hallides i would be running either a RSM 250 or a 75 gallon tank with the aquatic life HID high output T5's on them

is aquatic life actualy using HID in the name of there T5 lights. HID lights are MH, MV, ect.. not T5's .. well here is anouther case of a company mislabling products to make them sound better than they are...

Steve

[mark]

yep but nice thing about central air is the whole family can enjoy the cool, not just the fish :biggrin:

[BlueAbyss]

The only reason I could see you needing a chiller is if your temperature rises quickly or a lot over time, with your lights on. If the tank temperature bounces around, that's bad... stability is paramount in a reef tank.

[belzebuth]

If your tank get hot due to the lights been on, reverse your photoperiod. My lights go on at 9 PM. Works for me

[xtreme]

is aquatic life actualy using HID in the name of there T5 lights. HID lights are MH, MV, ect.. not T5's .. well here is anouther case of a company mislabling products to make them sound better than they are...

Steve

Looks like they sell both T5HO's and MH/T5HO combos. Not your standard MH lamps though. They are single ended with a G12 base. Personally I wouldn't want to be limited to only their brand of bulbs.

[BlueAbyss]

Hmm, single ended with a G12 base? Do HID headlight bulbs have a G12 base? Maybe these guys are one of the companies moving to the xenon bulbs...

[Myka]

I wouldn't buy the Aquatic Life fixture with the G12 MHs. Too limited on bulb choice...like pretty much no choice. Boo on that. And HID T5s?? Give me a break! That's like saying I drive an Astin Martin Cavalier. :lol:

My tank goes no higher than 80 degrees, and down to 78 at night. I keep my central air set to 78 degrees during the day, and open all the windows at night to cool the house down as much as possible. I have 2x250w DE MH and 2x39w T5s over a 90.

I'm not a fan of chillers. They are great for the fish, but they heat the crap out of the room they are in. It is like running an AC unit with it venting into your bedroom. It makes the room hot and stuffy. I avoid chillers at all cost, but the central air doesn't cost much. To me it's worth it, plus I have a large dog that stays inside all day, and she wouldn't be able to handle it if there was no AC.