suggest a chiller for my 55 gal

[wereef]

Hi all,

I am in serious need of a chiller for my 55 gallon

I recently upgraded my lighting from pc to metal Halides and BOY what a temp increase!

my total setup is as follows:

CPR hang on skimmer ran by a MJ 1200
CPR hang on fuge ran by MJ 1200
1- MJ 1200 for circulation
1- Magnum 350 canister filter pumping water to a 5 gallon surge
4- 55 Watt PC Actinics
2- 250 Watt 10,000k Ushio Mh

My canopy is fully open in the back and I have two 4" fans mounted in the ends of the canopy blowing air in.

My water temp today at 2:00pm was 87 degrees (lights came on at 10:00am)

I need the chiller to be inline model because I do not run a sump in my setup.

Advise please???? If you need more info let me know.

Wereef

P.S.
I setup up my light cycle to run late at night 4 now so room temps will be lower but the room temp will normally range between 71 and 78 when back to my normal lighting period. Also my normal evap rate on my tank is 7 gallons of water per week, right at a gallon a day.

 

[suasponte2/75]

I run 2x400W on my 60G and my temp rarely rises over 85. I run open top and open canopy so air can rise through the top. I also run a clip on fan in the sump area and on top of the canopy. There are also four 3" fans that I have blowing inwards (2 sides and 2 attached to back of canopy. I've been doing this for over 3 years without any problems. During the winter I'll shut down a few fans to help slow down evaporation.

I almost went with the chiller myself but glad I didn't since they are pretty costly to buy and run.

HTHs

Minh

 

[hillbilly]

This is why I don't use canopies any more. I never have these problems using hanging pendants. Anyhow, My Reef Creations have good prices on some nice units.

 

[Ralphyhp]

Try to set your fans one blowing in and the other out.

 

[ji]

I just bought a Pacific Coast 1/10th for my 55.
It is reasonably small, cheap and quiet but as it hasn't
gotten hot here yet, so I can't say thhat much about it.

 

[wereef]

thanks for the replies and suggested alternatives.

I really think a chiller will be needed in my condition.

Fans dont seem to be cutting it and I don't want to resort to a open top with hanging pendants in our living room.

I am considering the 1/10 HP like you bought JI. I tried calling premium aquatics to ask them some questions about the unit but no one answered. I like the look of the unit and the fact that it is inline makes it a candidate.
I just don't know if 1/10 will drop my temp enough.
Yesterday, I left the front door of the canopy open, Placed a window sized box fan behind the tank, left the actinics off and unplugged my heater to be sure the heater isnt stuck on. The Mh lights were on for about 4 hours and the temp was up to 88 degrees while the room measured 70 and the temp outside was only 61 :evil: .

I am afraid that when it does turn warn around here and the house is close to 80, my poor reef will be pushing 95.

For the price, I REALLY hope the 1/10 Th will do it.

Wereef

 

[Emperator]

get a 1/4 or 1/5 unit from jbj. their artica line is very nice and when on, barely audible. <- oversize your chiller 1. it will cycle on and off less & 2. you know you are going to get a bigger tank later.

that said, why not spank more fans on your tank and cut out the back of your canopy? i have a canopy on my 60g w/ 2-250watt halides and t5's. the back of the canopy is 80% open and my temp sits around 80degrees.

heck, it was 100+ yesterday and my tank was 80.5.

oh, why not turn on the lights in the evening vs having it run during the day? something like 6pm to 2 am or something like that.

 

[wereef]

Thanks Emp... (no not spelled IMP) :wink:

I have the back of my canopy 100% open and the box fan didn't even cut it.

My lights are like 8" above the water surface also so I can't figure out why my situation seems extreme compared to most others with similar setups.

As for the get a bigger chiller so "when" i upgrade to a bigger tank comment, I plan to leave this setup running a long long time.

I have a 90g in the works for our dinning room and the 55 is in my den.

(I love typing that, It makes it sound like I got fancy digs here...lol)

The "den is just our spare bedroom which has turned into a fish / computer room and the "Dinning room" is the tail end of our kitchen as it crosses into the living room of this all extravigant total electric 16x65 pop can on wheels I call my castle... I am proud to say our address even contains the word estates.... so therefore I am considered HIGH CLASS in the world of trailer trash!!!!!!!!!

Anyway,

I have central air that keeps the house between 71 and 75 all year and never had any probs untill i added the halides. since then I have cut out the canopy back and tonight I am tring the evening light cycle.

what is JBJ???

thx

wereef

 

[Ralphyhp]

Ditto on Emperator reply. I use a 1/3 hp on my 55g repro. tank and i have two 250w 10000k Ushios + 2 VHO URI Actinics on it and remember here in Puerto Rico the temp. are very hot all the year. Try to get a bigger chiller, IMO 1/10 are to small when work on a tank with metal halides. You want a efficient chiller to keep those light bills easy to pay, a 1/10 chiller would run all day without stop with your lightning set up. I have on my 125g 5 250w metal halides and 2 60" VHO actinics and i have a 1/4 Resun chiller and it dosnt gave me the efficience that i want, so i going to buy a 1/2 Hp chiller. I dont want you to have to spend money on a little chiller and later need to buy a bigger one :wink: .

 

[Ben1]

Don't forget chillers blow all that heat back into the house. Keeping it under the tank is just as bad as not having one at all. Also how close are your halides to the water?

Seems weird as I had a 55 gal with 2x 400 watt and 3 x VHO 110 watt actinics for years and although I had the ocassional heat issues a decent fan in the hood was all it took to keep it in the 82 range

 

[Ralphyhp]

Thats write Ben, thats why i have one chiller outside the house and the other one out of the stand and also have three 4" fans taking out heat and a chiller fan inside the canopy.

 

[Ralphyhp]

Excuse me Ben i mean right for write. Here are some pics of the fans set up and the chiller location.

 

[Ben1]

Wow Tank looks great Ralph! I had a chiller a few years back and lived in a smaller apt. It heated the room up so bad I ended up just selling it and adding window a/c and fans. If you have room away from the tank for a chiller more power to ya!

 

[Anonymous]

I used a 1/5 on my 75g last year, 1/4 would have been better

I put the tank in another room, and got a window AC this year, MUCH better for me, the central air wasnt keeping up with this room, now I'm cooler (love my office 65) and the tank hasnt overheated yet

 

[kskvarci]

Fans dont seem to be cutting it and I don't want to resort to a open top with hanging pendants in our living room.

I've got a cross between an open top and canopy.. I built a light weight pine skirt. its in my living room and in IMO looks great. Check pics here:

http://www.skvarcius.com/gallery/album05

This is a 65. Room temp today was 77 when I got home. Tank temp seems to be hoding at 79.3. I've got that fan in the pic hooked up to a ranco temp controller. It comes on at 79.3 degs and shuts off 1 deg lower.

The lights you see are 2 x 250w 10K HQI's
4 MJ's, 1 Sen on my ER, a small rio for the aquafuge, and a Iwaki wmd30 return..

That being said, I may be thinking about AC or something. Just because I'm hot, and it gets a bit humid with the evap.