Well, the current heat wave has destroyed my tank...

[fichpoo]

Hey guys,
I live in Austin, Texas where the heat down here isn't really doing to much to my tank. Temperatures have been 100+ degrees for the past 25 days. I'm 15 and don't have close to enough money for a chiller and my tank still stays at or below 84 degrees. This is with dual 400 MH and a few flourescents(sp?) only blown off by 2 fans. I don't use any of the frozen RO tricks all I use are fans and a good AC unit. You don't HAVE to buy a chiller until you find for yourself that it is absolutely neccesary for your needs.

 

[Chris Lucia]

Very true Zandar. We're in Mass. It's over 90 for maybe a week out of the year. So we take every precaution when the weather is getting hot, like A/C, reduced halide use, fans, ice paks, etc. If you live in Texas or Southern Ca, than a chiller is a must, but in our area it makes little sense to spend $1000 plus for only one week or two out of the year.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by RedCynarina:
<STRONG>Very true Zandar. We're in Mass. It's over 90 for maybe a week out of the year. So we take every precaution when the weather is getting hot, like A/C, reduced halide use, fans, ice paks, etc. If you live in Texas or Southern Ca, than a chiller is a must, but in our area it makes little sense to spend $1000 plus for only one week or two out of the year.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
One needs to think of extreme temperatures. If one or two week every 5 years have potential of wipeout your tank then you need to think about it and how to deal with it. A chiller is not the answer in every case, but we just need to have plan as what to do in case of power outage and high and low temperature.
In my case, what to do with prolong power outage in case of hurricanes. The secrete of having fish and corals that live 10-20 years and more in captivity is thinking about these problem. I am not saying that we all should go out and spend 1000 dollars so that we have temperature stability for our tank, but if this is what needed to avoid tank wipeout, then it should be done.

 

[arnjer]

Red a chiller is not a must if you live in the south. I have lived in the south all my life and have been keeping FOWLR and reefs for over 7 years and I can think of maybe twice that my tank has gotten over 82-84. To me that doesn't justify spending that much money on something that I MAY need.

Jerry

 

[Anonymous]

Well, the tank has not been above 82 for two days now (Friday and Saturday), and after tonight's water change, it seems as if things are as stable as they can be. So far I have lost the following :

neon green galaxia
pink stylophora
silver-tip xenia
xenia elongata
red sea xenia
white encrusting xenia
silver encrusting xenia
cream center zooanthids
brown/orange center zooanthids
green center zooanthids
white center green star polyps

Everything else still looks a bit stressed, and my two firefish, peppermint shrimp, and blood shrimp are still missing.

I'll see what happens in the next week, and let everyone know how things progress.

Peace,

Chip

 

[Cory]

jb, Minh

Thanks for your support.

I will say again to everyone, there are areas of our country where buying chillers are not necessary. JB, Minh are obviously two people that have invested in a chiller and have a understanding of their importance in relation to this hobby.
There is always more than one way to skin a cat and I do understand that. I too listened to the masses and tried alternatives to buying a chiller in the beginning. I soon found that a chiller was the only solution to the temp. problem. I guess that I can not spend every hour of my life worrying about my fish tank, I'm married, have children, and a business to run. I do love this hobby and have devoted a lot of my time and money to understanding it as completely as I can. I have made may donations to, and spent time with organizations focused on the preservations of these beautiful animals. I have spent a lot of time, along with my family, at the beaches and local aquariums i.e. "Long Beach" trying to better understand this hobby and the impact we are having on it. I am not a jerk I am merely a person who has devoted a lot of my time and money to understanding this hobby. I like to see people involved in this hobby that are prepared to do what it takes to be successful. This hobby for me is not a fad, it is, and has been a way of life and something we take very seriously. I wish everybody involved in this hobby the success, happiness, appreciation, and understanding of how important each of our rolls is to this hobby.

 

[esmithiii]

Questions on chillers:

How noisy are they? Are they large? I will possibly need one as I just got my MH lighting. Do they blow hot air in the room?

E

 

[suckair]

I don't like to get into situations where I can be negitave.. However.. I feel that when you purchase a animal especialy one captured from the wild you have a responsability to care for it properly and take what ever expnse is required. I know that chillers are expensive but if you need one you should get one or sell the live stock to some one who has a means to care for the animals properly.

On my home system I have taken things futher than just a chiller. The system is contorled by a computer and if temperatures go beyond a specific range and the chiller does not correct it the unit will power down the systems lights. This added feature has saved my system from excessive over temperatures when the House AC failed and my X-10 relay failed on the chiller.

I have even considered putting two chillers in line and having the second one on a independant thirmistat. I know this may seem crazy and a total waste of money.. but think about it. We often setup multimple heaters on independant thirmistats to protect our systems. I guess it depends on your setup and how dependant it is on the operation of a chiller.

What ever the setup I feel you need to be prepared for the failure of a cooling/heating unit even if that cooling or heating unit is your homes air. If you had a dog or cat that required a oxygen bottle to live I am sure you would have a backup!

Well I will get off my stump as I am sure I will get some flaming for my comments.. I just feel a personal responsability for the stuff in my system.

 

[slash7]

Well, my a/c went out this evening about 7pm. Being in Florida it's certainly no fun, the good news is that my chiller is doing just fine. I may be uncomfortable, but my animals are doing just fine.

 

[davelin315]

I just borrowed a chiller from a friend who had it on his 280 reef. He wasn't using it because of the amount of heat it produced in his home. I have it hooked up to my tank now, and it pumps out a huge amount of hot air (it's a 1/3 HP). I have been toying with the idea of buying one, so I thought I'd try his out first, since my house is bigger and my tank is in a more open space. The reason I posted this thread is because a chiller may prove to be your power bills worst enemy in 2 ways. One, it uses up a lot of power, two, the amount of heat it can create (thereby heating your tank if you keep it in the stand next to your sump, or if you have your tank in a smaller room) can cause the chiller to work overtime to combat itself. This can be solved obviously, by a little thinking and ingenuity, but it may not be feasible, and may not be a sound investment for a lot of people.

 

[theonella]

Davelin315 is certainly correct. Chillers don't create "cold" they just move heat from one place to another. If the destination of the exhaust heat is the room, and you have no AC, the room will heat up. Like any air conditioner, the exhaust heat has to go out of the house for proper function. If you can't rig this up, then a chiller may not be your best option.

 

[-JB]

You definatley need to have someplace to vent a chiller, and not in your living room. They do pull out a ton of heat from the tank, and throwing it out into the room with the tank is not the best option. I drilled two 1.5" holes into my floor behind my stand and have the chiller in my basement up near the ceiling, about 2-3 feet below the floor.

 

[Psyduck]

I would never get a chiller either and would much rather do the coke bottle ideas on the random days it get's too hot in my tank. This guy isnt living on the equator, he is living in NY, and it sounds like he really hasnt had this problem before this ugly heatwave. So lay off. At this point I think the heat wave has probably stopped, well here it has anyways, so hopefully your tank is doing better. Keep saving those pennies for the A/C too

.

 

[Mouse]

Im going to have to go with Cory on this one, i live in England and im planning on getting a chiller for my next tank. I cant even imagine how you guys ever thought you would get away with it in the states. You wouldn't try and maintain tempriture without a heater, and if anyone tried to convince me that "its ok, i put a hot water bottle in the tank every evening" then i am afraid to say they need there tounge cutting out. If you live in a climate where the average temperature exceds the maximum acceptable limit for your aquarium then i would say that a Chiller is more imporatant than a Heater, and for those of you that live in temperatures that are near critical then its a neccesaty.

I agree that this is a hobby for everyone, but everyone can save, everyone can budget everyone can go and get second and third jobs. If it means renting your ass i dont care, if it means that much to you then it is achiveable. And only then will you succseed.

Just because you may be poor does not give you the right to jepordise lifes for your own enjoyment. Who do you think you are Julias Ceasar. My philosopy has been that i may be able to buy a reef today but just think of the reef that i could buy tomorrow.

THIS IS NOT A FLAME - AND I DONT HATE POOR PEOPLE. just so you guys know.

P.P.S This is also not a flame to all of you who use coke bottles, providing you can honestly say to me that you temperature is a constant. I.E. no fluctuation. E.G. Like before and after you put in the coke bottle.

P.P.P.S The sea only fluctuate about 1-2 degrees in a YEAR.

[ August 14, 2001: Message edited by: Mouse ]

 

[Anonymous]

mouse-
I know plenty of people with successful reef tanks, and none of them use a chiller. Most people have air conditioned houses. Personally, my tank just never gets hot enough to use one but I am fortunate to have a house that is naturally cool. The other day it was 97 outside, and my tank got up to 84, which does not create any negative effects that I can see. If the tank got hotter I would plug in an air conditioner.

By the way, temperatures do fluctuate on a reef, often quite rapidly. Rising tides moving in over a reef can bring cool water, falling tides can move warmed water out over the reef. Also if you have ever been snorkling you know what happens when the sun goes behind a cloud.

 

[arnjer]

Good point Dan. Cory agreed with me with proper planning you can maintain a reef WITHOUT a chiller. I know this is getting beaten to death and as long as we keep it in a debate form and not flaming maybe we all can learn something new or accept different ways of doing things.

Jerry

[ August 14, 2001: Message edited by: arnjer ]

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, I am currently setting up a 150 which will have a Agway stock trough in the basement which will further keep the temps moderate. And I'm going to use a single powerful external pump with seaswirls to hopefully keep the heat bleeding from powerheads to a minimum.

 

[SPC]

I live in South Ga so air conditioning is an automatic for me. If I lived in another part of the world however and did not need air conditioning year round, instead of a chiller my first thought would still be a window unit air conditioner. I would imagine one of these units would be cheaper and it automatically places the hot air outside the house.JMO
Steve

 

[Cory]

I do agree that water temps fluctuate in natural reef environments. But remember that our tanks are not natural reef environments; fish in a natural environments are awarded certain luxuries like being able to swim to cold pockets or deeper water to avoid stressful situations, this is really not a option in a home aquarium. I do not buy this argument although I frequently hear it used as a justification for tank temp. swings. By the way what type of thermometer are most people using. Please respond!

 

[SPC]

I use a Lifeguard Temperature Alert, probe is in the sump.
Steve