to chill or not to chill

[mfrei64]

I've been wondering how essential a chiller is to a reef system. It seems that every summer, my tank doesn't fair as well as in the winter. Now that I've had my 300 set up for over a year, I'm finding some bleaching in my sps this summer. Apparently , temp change is one of the big factors in bleaching. So, I'd like to hear from those of you that have had experience with chillers.....do they really make a difference? Did your tanks do better after adding a chiller? And finally, make any recommendations on type, size, etc.......after all, they are quite expensive.
Thanks!!!!

 

[fishfreek]

Whats the tank getting up to in the day vs what it is at night during the summer?

 

[mfrei64]

80 vs 84 max

 

[fishfreek]

do you have any kind of active cooling on your lights or on your sump? When I say active cooling im talking about fans. Fans blowing over the sumps surface can aid in cooling the tank a fair amount. Your only seeing a 4 degree increase from night to day. 84 is at the upper range of where your tank should be. I personally run mine between 80 and 82. Some fans might aid in the cooling enough to drop it a few degrees.

 

[mfrei64]

I have fans on my lights, but not on my sump.
Good idea....I used to do that on my old tank......somehow, I forgot about it.
Thanks for kickstarting my brain.

 

[saberry]

The only drawback there is that your evaporation will go up dramatically. I'm starting to consider a chiller as this should greatly lessen the amount of RO water I have to add.