Metal Halide and no Chiller?
 

I was wondering if anyone is running metal halides and not using a chiller?
Is it possible or not a chance?

No chillers here :mrgreen:

I'm wondering the same thing, I'm at 78 deg now and wonder what summer will be like.

Murray, do you have an air conditioner for the room or do you point fans at the tank in the heat of the day.

I think the question needs one more element answered, too.... Is your tank on the main floor, or is it in the basement?

I don't have a chiller on any of my tanks. My 175g does have a basement sump which helps a lot but my 50g has 2 175w MHs, has no sump and is upstairs. I use clip on fans in the summer to keep the heat down

I'm not running a chiller, but there was a time in the summer when my tank got too warm. This was mainly due to the house being closed up and the house itself getting too warm. Tank is in the basement.

What kind of a temperature swing are you getting? I am currently running a 90g at 78F in a room with a winter temp of 70F. I have AC in the room for the summer temps. Are you running cooling fans on the water etc. ?

I have a 40 gallon with a 250MH over it on the second floor of my house. This summer I was going from 78 to 86 or more almost every day. Bought one of those cheapy clip on fans and put it on the same timer as the MH. Tank DOES NOT move from 78 all day now. Cheapest chiller I have EVER seen.

145g upstairs (basement sump) with 2x250W MH and no chiller. Before central air, wasn't a problem keeping a near steady 79° with a couple of small muffin fans sitting on eggcrating over sump plus blowing air up from the basement through the hood when lights on.

150g with 2 400w halides and 120g with 1 250w halide upstairs in the same room.....had fans over the sumps, no chiller, but then got a heat pump for the house...wouldn't you know it, it is the only room that doesn't actually get cool...it's the furthest from the furnace/blower....so in actuality the heat pump only cooled the room slightly, we have an HRU for humidity....and the tanks did get to around 83ish.....but at least manageable...

In the summer I use a fan and 2l pop bottles of frozen water to cool my tank.I'd like to find one of those small drop in chillers for a decent price.That would be perfect.

No chillers. 210g reef with 3x250w DE & frag tank with 175w. No heat issues usually since I'm in a ground floor suite that stays cool most of the time. For the hottest days of summer, I use clip on fans & in extreme circumstances, I have 12000 btu portable room AC unit that keeps the main room with the tanks a nice comfortable 24 C even when its blistering hot outside.

My reasoning on getting an AC in of chiller is that it keeps me cool as well. It also helps keep all my tanks cool so more cost effective.

Anthony

No chiller here.

I always ran no chiller & 1-3 400w MHs. I have a chiller now, but that is because someone in my building insists on keeping the heat a little too up there.

I kept the temperature in check by always having at least two fans, one blowing in, and one sucking out over the water or in the canopy.

consider the thermometer you're using and where it's located. If it's black, and almost directly under the lights at the top, it's going to heat up like mine did.

I was using a little digital thermometer that was black. It was reading sky high temperatures when it was in the main tank where the light is because the black color was heating up under the lights.

I put a glass thermometer in the tank and moved the black digital thermometer to the sump. I found both temperatures much lower and pretty much the same.

I was panicking about having to get a chiller for my T5 tank but was pleased to find my temperatures were fine all along.

That would insinuate that I put batteries in my thermometer and check the temp :razz: when I did look it would go from about 72 to 88-89 in the heat of summer with no problems it is in the basement with dual 250 and T5 actinics, but this is Alberta can temp can go fron -10 to + 20 in a day

3- 400w MH and fans. Lots of fans. I think a controller is more important; to control your chilling and to shut off your lights if your tank overheats. Start with a controller, then ask your spouse if you can get a chiller next year :wink:

I have 4 X 250W MH and 4 X 54W T5 inside of a canopy on my 180G.

I have a controller to turn on fans at a certain temp (79.5°), then to start shutting off lighting if the temps get too high (82.5° for 2 X MH, 83° for 2 X MH and 85° for the T5's). Rarely do I see it turning off the lights, tank usually hits a high of 82°.

I do have central air in the summer as well to help.

That's what I did and it works great!

I was hoping i could run 2 x 250 MH on my tank with no chiller. Figured if i had to lay out the money for the lights AND a chiller then would just say the heck with it and spend the money on a solaris led unit. Think now i may give the MH and fans a try if i can find a good used setup for the right price now and get the LED in a couple of years when the prices drop.

No chiller, but ...
 

400 watt halides on 90 gallon tank in my basement- ran fan on high just above the sump - had to replace evaporated water every day - also had to be careful to have blinds drawn on the basement windows on the really hot days - still got temperature swings of 3 degrees on the really hot days.

Have run with Solaris PFO LED lights for almost a year... no chiller required, temperature fluctuation of 1 degree at most.

You could always run T5s. Much less heat, and not a expensive as Solaris. When I ran them I had to dial back the fan that blew across the top of my tank or my heater would come on in the middle of the day.

Sick of the MH heat thing really... but they do supply most of the heat for my house in winter. :mrgreen: I might yet go back to T5s, Hmmm... but I'd loose the ripple effect *sigh*

What was the T5 wattage vs the MH wattage that you are running now?

Which solaris unit are you running? and how do you find the colour and brightness compares to your MH setup?

I am running two 400w raduims 20000k On a 130g tank . And no chiller I do own one but tem never goes higher then 81F even in the summer .

I was running 324 wats over my 72G bow because that's all I could fit over it. I was planning to run 800W of T5s over the 180G that I have now if I went that way.