To chiller..or not to chiller??

[NYR33FER]

Hello my fellow reefers.I've always heard that its ideal to have a chiller to control water temp so that it stays in a safe zone.I personally never needed one because my apartment stayed cool in the summer time with a little help from my air conditioner."My apartment always stayed at room temp". Earlier this year my landlord decided to raise my rent to an unbelievable amount and to make a long story short,I Moved.Last week when the weather started getting
warm I noticed that my new apartment gets really muggy.Yesterday morning it was 80* at 10:00am.Realizing that my apartment was getting hot,I looked at my tank and saw my Temp was 82*. In my head I'm thinking to myself..its not even summer yet.What is going to happen in June,July and August when it really gets hot.So I guess what I'm asking is,Should I get a chiller or should I just get an air conditioner to keep the room at a safe temp.I never owned a chiller before.Maybe someone could help me out.What are the pros and cons?Which brands are good and which brands aren't.Also..how much is my electric bill going to increase?If my electric bill is going to be through the roof..would it be cheaper just to get an air conditioner? As always any advice is much appreciated.

 

[MatthewScars]

Use a $20 walmart fan hooked to a controller. You can have your tank up to about 84 (maybe 85?) without any ill effects.

In the summer I run from 80-84 swings. I normally just use my room AC to regulate.

 

[Geraud]

In New York you need either AC or a chiller. I would actually recommend both. When I started my tank I decided to not get a chiller, thinking that well... the AC would cool down the room. The first summer I had the tank, my AC broke down when we had 100 degrees or so for two weeks straight. Even with a fan and tons of evaporation, plus reduced light/further up, I lost a lot of corals...

 

[NYR33FER]

Wow..sorry to here about your corals.So I guess a "NEW" a/c is in order..Any suggestions on types/brands of chillers that are gonna be worth the price?I know I'm gonna spend a small fortune.I wouldn't want to waste money on a chiller that's gonna break down in a couple of years.I have a 180 with a 40gallon sump(minus the volume taken by sand and live rock)...so I figure I have about 190 gallons of water.Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[edd]

if you run a chiller in room, the chiller throws a lot of heat. so you will need an ac in that room. try the room ac and fans first. if that doesn't work, then you will need a chiller.
i lowered my central ac 2* to 74* and fans. so far hasn't gone over 82* but the summer is young. but if i run a chiller my ac would have to work harder because of the heat, so first i'll lower ac to 72. a chiller really needs to be in a non living area.
a chiller basically is a non vented ac.

 

[Arati]

with all do respect 84 degree tank has a high change of rtn. I would recommend not going over 82 at all cost if you intend to keep Acropora, as a general rule of thumb.

as far as a chiller goes. I 100% suggest one if you have the $ and the right space for one. that piece of mind stable temp is very nice to have. fans work great to. I would suggest setting it up with a fan that comes on at 77and the chiller comes at 79, both go off at 76. chiller may come on rarely but I am always happy its there.

 

[KathyC]

if you run a chiller in room, the chiller throws a lot of heat. so you will need an ac in that room. try the room ac and fans first. if that doesn't work, then you will need a chiller.
i lowered my central ac 2* to 74* and fans. so far hasn't gone over 82* but the summer is young. but if i run a chiller my ac would have to work harder because of the heat, so first i'll lower ac to 72. a chiller really needs to be in a non living area.
a chiller basically is a non vented ac.

+1 definitely go with the A/C first.
My tanks are in my home office and I use a portable A/C that vents out the window (only 1 window so I do want to still be able to open it on cooler days & not stuff it up with an AC).
With this unit I don't need to run chillers on my tanks, but I do keep it on 24/7 for the entire summer @ 74 during the day and 76 at night and my temp tanks don't fluctuate.

As mentioned chillers throw off a HUGE amount of hot air into the room (at close to 100 degree exhaust).

 

[Spsnut]

Like mentioned chillers that aren't vented outside simply add more heat to the room; it's good job security for the chiller.

 

[pbjelly]

I've gone the chiller route. The room my tank is in is too big to cool efficiently without installing a giant, power-sucking AC and my house does not have central air, so a chiller is more cost effective for me. With an AC you have to cool the whole space for the whole summer - which I sometimes wish I could do when it's sweltering hot and the only cool place is inside my tank.

 

[BaaMNYC]

I've gone the chiller route. The room my tank is in is too big to cool efficiently without installing a giant, power-sucking AC and my house does not have central air, so a chiller is more cost effective for me. With an AC you have to cool the whole space for the whole summer - which I sometimes wish I could do when it's sweltering hot and the only cool place is inside my tank.

+1. If you can cool the room with an a/c then you don't need a chiller except for emergency.

I have a chiller in my foyer. The room has no ac. The chiller makes the room unbearable. Vicious cycle. Heats the room makes the tank warm up faster and causes the chiller to be constantly on.

 

[NYR33FER]

Thanks guys!! You guy really enlightened me.I had no idea that a chiller was going to put out that much heat,heat that would of put me back to square#1.Whooow..I'm glad I didn't order that chiller yesterday. After reading your inputs last night I decided to go out this morning and buy a "new" 10,000 B.T.U a/c. I hooked it up and after almost 6 hours of running the a/c,my tank temp has dropped from 86* to 79*. Thanks again!!! You guys rock!

 

[NYCEnglish]

I have my AC set to 70 today and the tank temp is still rising. Its a rimless with LEDs so I thought I would be one of those with less heat generation. I'm constantly putting Ziploc bags full of ice into my sump to keep the temps down as well as leaving my cabinet doors open!

 

[NYR33FER]

Yeah last night I filled up a 3, 1 Gallon jugs with ro/di water, froze it and put in in my sump to keep my temp from not going any higher then what it was which was 86*."I was up all night baby sitting my tank"I ran out bright and early this morning and bought a new a/c.Its really doing the job... None of my corals seem to be effected by a the hot night.

 

[NYCEnglish]

My tank is in a big room which doesn't help the AC. I've just turned off the skimmer to see if that helps at all.

 

[Geraud]

What you can do is use a simple fan pointed towards the water. That way the evaporation will mean a decrease in temperature. You can find some "aquarium made" ones which have the output connected to a "U" so that it goes directly towards the aquarium water.

However make sure your ATO can keep up with the added evaporation. Aka a larger container might be needed.

Also closed cabinets containing sumps and co can get terribly hot in the summer, so it is probably a good idea to open the doors.

 

[NYCEnglish]

Thanks Geraud - I'll try the fan.

 

[reefer4eva]

Fans might work for some,but keep in mind everyone has there tanks in different parts of the house than others so yeah in some rooms a fan would work if for instance the tank is in a basement or a room that gets great ventilation.BUT others like myself are limited to what room the tanks are in.if you live in an apartment you know what I'm talking about.i have a summer home that I go to every weekend starting in spring and I live on the second floor and it gets hot in my apartment.also heat and evaporation depends on the lights you use.i switched to leds from metal halides and my chiller goes on maybe 3-4 times a day compared to it running half the day when i used metal halides .each situation is different so ones own opinion of fans and chillers are from there own experience.for peace of mind I will never ever do without a chiller

 

[E.intheC]

For the first time in six years I'm considering a chiller. My tank (even with LEDs and the tank next to my AC unit) is still 85.4 degrees.

I'm looking to start adding more SPS and need to get the tank more stable overall. I'd rather not deal with the added evap from a fan, especially because the tank is only 34 gallons.

 

[vio]

If u use only AC on the room ,mean u never refresh the room, more CO2 less O2 , if u use Protein Skimmer, then run the intake air from outside, u got more O2 but warm up the Tank, so i got all 3, AC , fresh air in , chiller , 78F.

 

[Justin_NY]

I live in the second floor, my tank raise to 89 . So i bought jbj chiller , sice then my tank is constatly 78