Chiller Or No Chiller? How Do People Cope?!?!

[GQ22]

I've been debating on whether or not to get a chiller and was wondering how many people out there use one. Is it essential? The things cost soo much and i've heard they use alot of electricity. If someone can offer advice that would be great.

 

[nanoreefer22]

I dont use a chiller. The fans and AC are working for me right now. Tanks a 65g. How bigs your tank? Sometimes fans are enough.

How hot is your tank getting?

 

[Deanos]

Chillers

Chiller advice

 

[jenniebutterfly]

i have a 29, and my 36 which are both cooled by fans, but watch out if you have pets, i came home the other day to an 88 degree tank because my kittens were playing near the cord and unplugged the fan. surprisingly enough everything looked even more happy, but i still brought down the temp with a water change and turning the fan on

 

[Dmitry]

I've been making due with an air-conditioner and a floor-fan blowing at my tank. The water evaporates like crazy and the fan is, I think, ready to croak from so much use the last few months...but I think it's still cheaper than a chiller!

 

[joseney21]

AC for my tank, house is always coolbut the bill is definitely higher.

 

[jreef]

Chiller and a spare. Out of everything that can go really wrong, temperature is probably the quickest (aside from busted tank or plumbing) especially with 1500 watts of lighting.

 

[DEEPWATER]

I have a chiller ,,and fans on my 90 gal tank ,most of the time the AC is running so it keep my tank at 79..or 80 .At nite i keep the fan on, it does the job ,but i would put a chiller for backup .Think of how much you invested into your tank.alway good to have backup,ps check ebay ,i got a good deal last year ,bought a 1/4 hr power custom sea life ,althou out of biz now ,for 300 bucks it was new the guy didnt even use it

 

[cali_reef]

Chiller and a spare. Out of everything that can go really wrong, temperature is probably the quickest (aside from busted tank or plumbing) especially with 1500 watts of lighting.

You and I think a like:lol:, do you have a generator too?

 

[scotty]

i am with jonsey i just ac the whole room since it is my bedroom. however the electric cost is alot a chiller would be cheaper to operate u just have to withstand the absorb the intial set up price

 

[DEEPWATER]

my next step is to get a generator ,since the black out , thk g-d i didnt have a tank then .( srry to all who lost live stock) but only one thing i live in a builbing so i dont know where to put the generator ,it also good that im a plumber by trade always have 18v battery opperated drills (plenty of battery),so ide just connect a piece of pvc or wood and drill the water away ,for now ,if needed

 

[jhale]

I had a generator during the big black out, and everything still died.

it ran OUT OF GAS. because con ed screwed everyone who lived downtown and did not turn the power back on for an extra day

my advice, if you can, get a high powered inverter and a few marine batteries wired in tandem.

 

[cali_reef]

my advice, if you can, get a high powered inverter and a few marine batteries wired in tandem.

I have two deep cycle batteries and a APC 600W inverter/charger too, but it is only for short term power outages because it will only run my main pump(Seq 6000) for about 6-8 hours. For a smaller tank and pumps, a single battery setup will run a Tunze forever (24+ hours in a black out will seen like forever). It will also kick in automatically in a black out so you can take your time walking home :lol:.

 

[Sean]

I always recommend chillers it's a great piece of equipment to have and serves and obvious important function.
It's one of those things you should have but costs allot. All of my clients (with exception to one) that have reef tanks have chillers on them. In my shop my main system doesn't have a chiller yet cause I have to have one custom built for it. So it's coming soon.

So if you can afford it I'd say yes get one. Otherwise it can be difficult to keep the temperature consistent.