What Chiller Should I Get?

Coral Commander

Coral Commander

Reefing newb
I have a 55 gallon tank and my water temperature ranges between 84 to 88F during a 24 hour period. Although very rare, I have seen it up to 89 degrees. I am wondering what brand and size chiller would be appropriate for my tank. I am interested in getting one that is as energy conscience as possible. I have searched online for answers and I have concluded that the size requirements are subjective so I figured I would take it to this forum to see what others thought.

Additionally, I have found that the lighting in my tank makes very little difference to the temperature. It is almost midnight right now and the temperature of the tank is 85 degrees and the lights have been off for 2 hours. The lights that I have on the tank are CoralLight compact fluorescent I think.

Any suggestions?
 
have you tried to use a couple clip on fans and have them blow on the water?
fans can cool the water temp by at least 10 degrees.as for a chiller i have no idea what would be a good one.
 
dang I thought mine was getting hot going up to 82. What are you keeping the room temp at? I dont have a chiller however I have looked at them. From what I can tell you have to have the unit in another room. The thing is it does take heat out of your tank but it puts the heat back into the room. So its a big circle tank gets cooler room gets hotter then tank gets hotter again. I think if you put in a window A/C in the room your tank is in and drop the room temp. you would be better off. It would cost you a heck of a lot less and be more efficient. Try the fans first thats the cheapest way to go if that doesnt work I would do a window A/C.
 
Right now it's in the morning and the temperature in the house is 73 degrees and the temperature in the tank is 83 degrees. The temperature of the tank will surely rise a few degrees throughout the day. I will monitor the differences in temperature and post a temperature reading on here at noon.
 
almost sounds like theres something else adding heat to the water, pumps, heaters, whatever it is, if the house is 73.

what else is in contact with the water? and at what temp are your heaters set?
 
if it turns out that he needs a chiller, but as of right now we still dont know what it is that is causing the temps as it is, better to find the source of the problem, rather than just trying to cover up a symptom. If the heaters are set at 83, then adding a chiller is just going to use more energy, and make everything work that much harder, till one or the other fails, and you have a catostrophic event.

oh, wait, you said that.
ok, i get the Dumb-a$$ badge for the day.

sorry
 
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project5k, your right! (not about the dumbass thing) If the temp drops in the house to 73 at night, it DOES NOT make sense that the tank gets as high as 89 during the day. Is the tank covered with glass? Pump heat? etc...
 
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Try what everyone else suggested first.


I like Tradewind chillers I have one that I have been using for over 15 years and have only needed to service it once.
 
Yeah do you have a glass top on the tank? Do you have a heater running? Those temps are dangerously high and there's no reason why it should be that hot if your room temp is 73. Also, the lights that you have should not be heating it up that much.
 
I don't have a heater plugged in because I obviously don't need one with temps that high. However, I suspect that the pump may be the cause. When I take it out of the water it is warm to the touch. I don't have a glass top; the whole tank is acrylic. I don't have any fans at the top where the lights are and I doubt I need any because as I've said before, it gets hot at night at well. So since the only thing in the sump besides the pump is the skimmer, I think it may be the pump. This being said, does this mean the pump is on it's way out and needs to be replaced? If I do decide to replace it, what brand would you suggest that may run cooler? I am not sure the brand or type of the pump. I took it out and looked at it but was unable to find any markings that so much as suggested to me what brand it might be. I think I may look on the internet for what I think is the serial number and see if I can narrow it down. I only have one pump in the sump..do pumps really cause this kind of heat? As I've stated, besides the pump, I have a protein skimmer that is twice the capacity of the tank.
 
looks like you found the issue. A internal pump will give off heat but that is excessive. There are a heck of a lot of pumps on the market maybe someone else has a brand to use I am sumpless so dont have that knowledge. The fans we have been talking about arent for cooling the lights. It will make you water evaporate faster which will cool the tank. The down side is you have to top off water more.
 
Do you know how many gallons per hour your pump is pushing right now? You will want to replace it with something similar. I use Eheim and MagDrive brands.
 
ok, so i think i see whats going on here, there are several factors going into the heating problem.

the pump does sound like its on its way out, or at least like it could use a good cleaning, so do the old vinegar soak trick, if that doesent help it run more efficiently then i would replace it.

Is there a return pump, and a pump on the skimmer? so thats 2 pumps, right?

an acrylic tank has a much lower thermal conductivity than a glass tank, meaning that the tank itself is acting like an insulator, so any heat that gets inside, will want to stay inside.

The fans aren't to cool the lights, they are to help increase water evaporation. This evaporation uses energy(in the form of heat in the tank) to cause the water to change state from liquid to gas(vapor) and carries the heat away from the tank. Increasing the air flow on any exposed surface of water, either on the main tank, or on the surface of the sump(if its open to the rest of the room, and not sealed up air tight in the bottom of the stand) will help cool the tank.

oh, something else, are there any power heads? or anything else thats in contact with the water thats plugged in? I'm just looking for the easy answers first.
 
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project5k: I'm pretty sure there is no return pump however, there is a pump on the skimmer.

I looked up some of the info on the back of the pump that I have and from the best guess I have a MagDrive 700. From what I have read, one person best described this particular pump as "2 loud, cheap, hot". Loud and hot I can attest to but as for the cheap, I wouldn't know since I never bought it. Many others described this pump as being quite a work-horse. But regardless, this particular person recommended going with the German Eheim. This brand sounds like the noise someone makes when they clear their throat.

Now according to what I've read about the MagDrive 700, they put out 700 gph. Is this sufficient for a 55 gallon tank? What would be the maximum size tank I could use with this pump? I'd ideally like to get something that I can use for other applications as well such as a chiller or a larger tank.
 
I dont know anything about those Eheim pumps,except that supposed to be one of the top brands.
I've personally not used anything BUT Magdrive pumps.Ran a Mag 7 or 700 as their called now,for over a year with no issues what so ever.And if yours is that loud,then thats probably where the heats coming from.The pumps going out.
 
I have a mag 5 running in a closed loop on my 30 gal. It is warm to the touch but isnt loud at all. It is running in-line not submursed since I do not have a sump and dont want that taking up so much room in the tank. I beleive that if the pump is submursed, it will heat up the water more than if it is inline.

That being said, If I did have it submursed, I dont think it would heat the water up much. I doubt that it is even 80 degrees when it is running.

Brian
 

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