What Chiller to get?

[AoiGSR]

Hi,

I have taken out my 40 gallon glass tank that was freshwater and replaced it with a 50 gallon acrylic tank. I have an overflow inside the tank as well and will be drilling into the stand with some hole saws.

I bought a sump system for underneath and running an EHeim 2026 I recycled from my planted tank with an Inline heater from Hydor. I have a skimmer and pump as well.

I am told I should consider a chiller (not from the LFS but my friend recommended I should).

My LFS sells Aqua Euro USA 1/10 HP version. Not sure where it is made in.

My question is what is a "good" chiller that I should get? Right now in Southern California, the temperatures are fine (I live in the South Bay, not San Francisco but Torrance). We try not to use AC at our place so the temp can reach up to 82 degrees for the room.

I will want corals and sea anemones in there as well.

The LFS mentioned that I should not put the chiller inside the cabinet. I am not sure if I will have enough room for it anyway. Haven't found any links on Chiller brands out there, where they are manufactured in, and if it's easy to replace any parts that may wear or break.

Any information on this would be great

[melosu58]

Have you tried running a fan across the top of the tank. It`s worked for lowering the temp in many a tank

[roka64]

I would get the tank set up first and find out what the normal temp is. There is no need to worry about one before your tank cycles, you may not even need one.

[AoiGSR]

I will be running a canopy on top as well. We're going to run about 96W of lighting (don't know if that's enough or too little) but it sounds like it should be fine. I could run a Vornado fan over the sump (it has a clamp). I guess I was just preparing for everything without repiping or anything. I'll hook it all up first and see how it goes thanks!

[roka64]

I have a 834W system running over my 125 and I have a floor fan hooked up with the timer and it keeps my tank stable. I also like to run 2 heaters for redundancy.

[cmor1701d]

I'm about the same as Scott. 96w is not very much light.

[Christine22780]

Is there anyone that actually uses "chillers"? It seems like alot of people perfer to use fans and such... I inquired about this also with some concerns with temp rising..Esp. on a 2nd floor room on hot days.

[pat8you]

Unless you are using a bunch of metal halides you probably won't need a chiller. Like others have said a floor fan seems to do the trick for most people. I have seen some people use computer fans as well. The sell them for dirt cheap if you wanna take the time to wire it all up and you can build in a couple of them across the back of your canopy.

Newegg.com - 120mm, Case Fans, Fans & Heatsinks, Computer Hardware

Just thought i would add another option. Don't know much about the different kinds of chillers though.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by AoiGSR

I will be running a canopy on top as well. We're going to run about 96W of lighting (don't know if that's enough or too little) but it sounds like it should be fine. ...

I can guarantee you that 96W over a 50g won't cause heat issues. You also won't have enough light to have anything but mushrooms. You really want to be looking at more powerful lighting if you want to go the coral/anemone route.

Just for comparison, I run twice that wattage over a 46g tank. My room temps can get around 85 degrees and a simple little 6" clip on fan blowing across the top of my tank can keep my tank nicely at 79 deg... and even cause my heaters to come on!

[AoiGSR]

That's good to know. I am only running a retrofit Coralife compact florescent system that uses 1 95W bulb. I probably would have to consider what the temperature will be first if I will want higher lighting in the tank if i want to run coral and sea anemones. I guess I wondered why the LFS wasn't trying to sell me a lighting system but perhaps he knew I would come back on my own once I started to get through more of the process (starting off with live rock, then putting in sand, etc).