Any idea what it costs roughly per month to run your chiller? What size is it? [snip]
As it is running the room AC all day while I'm at work is already pushing my electric bill to nearly $170 per month.[snip] :catsmiley
Cybermeez,
I don't have a figure, however, I was told that a chiller probably costs to run about the same price as a small room A/C of around 5000 BTUs. So the concept is that some people find it is better for their own comfort to run the A/C on in the room and enjoy it, rather than just pay for the chiller use.
For me, this is not the case. My home office when not in use in the summer can get to 90 degrees. It is a large office and it is definitely cheaper to run the chiller on my reef tank. Because I don't have to A/C the whole room.
You will find that some people have tried fans with success. I understand that when using fans, the concept is it's the evaporation that aids in the cooling process, so an ATO would be very useful along with a controller to turn the fans off (as with a chiller), when it is not needed.
When I did go the fan route, I quickly tired of manually monitoring the tank, and it was a blessing to have a dual controller that monitors heat and chiller, so it's set and forget.
To obtain the correct size chiller, contact a vendor. They should be able to give you the size based on your tank size and how much degrees to lower it. So like with other reef equipment, you will probably up-size the chiller HP.
PS. You can get very good used equipment on MR and LIRA, or you can purchase this equipment new. If you ever get the chance to take apart a chiller, you can see that they look very simple to operate. I bought mine 3 years ago from a garage sale and it has worked like a charm.
Hope this helps.