If you have 2 air conditioners, you probably don't need the chiller at all. I also run 2 air conditioners in my apartment, but the portables I have are not as strong as yours, because each of mine only cover 600 square feet, that is the biggest size I could get at that time. In the summer time, when both of them are running, my tank only goes up to 1 more degree but that is it. I run 2 metal halides, 1x400W and 1x250W, plus other source of heat adding into the tank like pumps and powerheads, so I get more heat than your T5. On a hot day like today, I had already let 1 of my air conditioners run from 11AM to 5PM on the timer.

I wish my tank only rose by 1 degree. The old tank we had usually ran 4 degrees hotter than room temp, so I had to keep the house at around 76 degrees - Brrrrr - the wife was freezing.
It costs too much to chill the whole house continuously. There's 1800 watts of A/C here :lol: It was very noticable on the next utility bill.
The chiller is only 280 watts, so it'll have to do the majority of the work.
On the plus side, I run the A/C in my office when I need it while I'm surfing, so it should benefit the tank through the sump.

Aaahhhh ... I forgot you live in a BIG house :twised: I am jealous ! I live in a small 1 bedroom apartment. I hear you, my air conditioner is sucking 1800W for each too. But I can't let the fish enjoy all the cool with the chiller and let us suffer with the heat, so we bought the air conditioners instead :mrgreen:
I showed my husband all the pictures from your sump and your electrical boards (because I want him to do it for me the same) and he said he couldn't believe they were built from someone that is just getting into reef hobby. He said you must have done a lot of homework beforehand and must be a very talent handy person too.
Unfortunately, I don't have a husband who has a talent like you :twised::twised:

More compliments ! My head is swelling :biggrin:
Your husband's right. I starting reading here back in Oct and haven't stopped since - hours and hours every day.
I bet, with enough reading, he'd be able to get done what you need.

I am in awe of your system. I know who's brain I will be picking when I tear mine down and go bigger.
Can't wait to see this kitten purr.

Sure, I'll answer what I can.
I'm itchin' too ! Once the rock goes in the QT will be put to use asap :biggrin:

you've taken perfectionism to new levels with that sump and equipment room I'm impressed! Looks like it will be pretty nice working on things in there which is 50% of the battle (the other half being luck). :mrgreen:

Thank you Brett. Compliments from a guy with such a beautiful tank, cool fish room and impressive room build :redface:

It's funny how just wanting a clean-looking DT has progressed to such a monster sump build. Well, it's monster considering it's all for a 75g :lol:
It's worth everything I'm doing knowing that, besides a quiet living room, I can putz away whenever I like and not disturb the wife's down-time

Speaking of which I may have missed it, but are you going to try an algae scrubber on this tank? I know Reefwars(Denny) has one, and his tank is super clean, mind you he has a dozen types of macro algae as well lol

I'm going to try to avoid a scrubber. I'll try Chaeto and HC GFO to start with. If I need to expand the system, I can move the beer fridge and add another tank.