No chiller, need suggestions

[sun1914]

So today I noticed temp went up a degree or 2, up to 80 in the tank...which I keep at about 78 or 79. I have no chiller and it's too early in the season to keep the AC on all day, hoping you guys could share a few work arounds?

Thanks

 

[cmantis]

Fan blowing on surface.

 

[TommyP]

Freeze some water bottles & drop it in the sump. That's my plan right now.

My tank hit 81* the past 2-3 days

 

[Caribbean Ocean]

Both suggestions work great! But I preferred to start with the fan, one on the aquarium and another at the sump. If that doesn't work, then I suggest you to use some ice bottles to compensate, starting with a small bottle first and please don't forget to check the temperature every hour after, just to make sure that the temperature stay on the safe range!
:bagfish:

 

[lnevo]

If you do the water bottles, make sure to use ro in case of any leakage

 

[TommyP]

Good note!

 

[Alexm8856]

Ro ice

 

[lnevo]

Actually thinking about it more you could freeze salt water...it would have a lower freezing point (28 degrees) and not mess with your salinity.

 

[sun1914]

Great ideas....I only have one fan right now, should I place it over the sump or DT?

 

[cmantis]

Dt more surface area and presumably flow.

 

[grandmasterhash]

Surface agitation

I have also heard that you can aim one or more of the pumps towards the surface of the water and that will add surface agitation and also help you with dispersion/heat loss. I'm planning to do that when the time comes and see if it helps. Makes sense me.

 

[reefer4eva]

Not sure what kind of corals you guys are housing (sps,lPs,soft)my tank is on the second floor and it gets extremely hot.I tried all those methods...with the daily routine of having to freeze water bottles and possible fires from having a fan on all day i gave in and bought a chiller and I never have to worry .."oh did I forget to turn the fans on or put the ice bottles in the sump"now I can house sps without the worries of anything dieing due to temperature boiling them.

 

[pecan2phat]

Depending on your type of lighting (MH, T5, CF), you can shorten the lighting cycle which also helps.

 

[reefer4eva]

Depending on your type of lighting (MH, T5, CF), you can shorten the lighting cycle which also helps.

Regardless of lighting it all depends on where the tank is located and the temperature of the room its in..I have no choice of the matter on location for my tank and if its 95 degrees out my apartment will be in the upper 80 's.I rather have the self reassurances of knowing my tank temperature is where its suppose to be than coming home to dead fish and corals..also keep in mind how your water parameters are changing with the change in temperature.. that causes a lot of stress on fish,corals and inverts..

 

[reefer4eva]

Another thing you could do is monitor the hottest time the tank gets and put your AC on a timer..that's what I use to do before I had a controller and a chiller..hope it helps

 

[Nottick]

first off what kind of return pump are you using? Internal external what make model etc. Another thing I do with my apex is when my temp gets above 80 I start shutting things off like UV Skimmer even tank lights if it gets too hot.

I've noticed certain return pumps disperse a large amount of heat into the water like the Mag's. Once I changed my Mag9.5 to a ehiem 1262 problem was solved.

 

[TommyP]

My tanks on the 2nd floor as well it gets so hot

 

[QueensRob]

Here is a DIY suggestion. Tap in an 1/4" tube into your main pump and run it in the walls to the fridge and back to tank. Even better if you have a apex you can program one outlet as chiller and have a separate pump come on at 82 deg. I have used this before and it works great. Sometimes too well.

 

[Mattl22]

Queens rob any pics of that how much piping was in fridge?

 

[lnevo]

That method, while being a good diy project has been proven to not be very efficient or cost effective. If your going that route just get a chiller. My favorite diy chiller which is both crafty, effective and cheap to run is the evaporative cooling tower that Paul B made...i would love to build one of those one day...