HOW DO U KEEP YOUR TANK COOL?

[daniella3d]

A fan and of course AC in the house, not only for the aquarium but our own comfort.

I don't think you can get away without an AC unless you use a chiller and those are around 300$.

Originally Posted by cathyg_99

How do you keep your tank cool in the summer? our house gets hot in the summer and this will be the first year we have a reef in the basement, any suggestions on how to keep it cool??

were considering a portable air con for the room its in, but if i can get away with no air conditioning it would be better (its a starter house and we want to put like NO MONEY into it)

[phi delt reefer]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

A fan and of course AC in the house, not only for the aquarium but our own comfort.

I don't think you can get away without an AC unless you use a chiller and those are around 300$.

+1

get one of those window unit a/c's and put it in the same room as the tank. A fan will drop the temp a few degrees as well but your EVAP is going to be up there.

[marie]

Portable air conditioner is the only way to go and it doesn't matter if it's just a starter house, the air conditioner goes with you when you move

[mark]

got central air now but before just a couple of small muffin fans (on a controller) blowing on the sump and a venting the hood kept temperatures in-check. Only negative was 2-3g/day evaporation but then have an ATO so not that big on deal.

Amazing how well evap cooling works.

[Lance]

With A/C and fans blowing on the water surface, I never have a problem.

Another thing you can try is changing your photo period so that the lights are off during the hotter part of the days.

[piusma]

I have a fan blowing and a titanium coil in my sump, the water runs from my cold water line into my RODI filter system. The solenoid is controlled by my AC3 controller and it lowers my tank's temperature and increases my RODI output.

In the winter time, less evaporation and the water output is less and in the summer I have more evaporation from the fan blowing but matched up with higher water output. It's cheaper than running a chiller and I have to replace the solenoid every 12 months or so but that's only $30 and no energy consumption.

However, this needed to be well planned out or you'll have more trouble dealing with floods!

Steven

[Palmer]

I have my 120 G with 2x 250W Metal Halides and T5 in the basement (which of course is cooler to begin with) and I use nothing to cool the tank. My temp fluctuates from 78-81 (Max) and thats it. I have found that having a halide free period for an hour in the middle of the day allows the tank to cool down slightly and has actually helped.