Chiller recommendation
 

Ross, what county are you in? I'm in Orange. My condo stays cool
downstairs but the upstairs is hell during the summer. Too bad it was early
winter when I moved in. Had I known that it got hot as hell in the summer
the reef would be downstairs.
My other thought was a whole house fan - thermostatically controlled. It
pumps all the hot air to the attic. Anybody have success with those?
Maybe small things all working together is really what's needed?
Steve

"Ross Bagley" wrote in message
...
"Richard Reynolds" writes:

No, I live in Southern California.

OOOOH

That's what I do every year with the fans. I'm just thinking it might
actually be cheaper to run a chiller instead of two fans. And possibly
quieter too!

not a chance!!! well quieter thats 50/50 if you use good fans and
set them up right there fairly quiet, if you use a cheapo chiller
its not. both extremes are possible.

I live in Southern California as well... The recent heat has me
sweating in my little condo. My livestock is doing okay, but
evaporation isn't cutting it for cooling.

My concern is that I have 250gal total volume. I can't afford to
evaporate 1% or more of the tank volume per day into my 800sf condo
which doesn't have central air and can't have window units due to the
CCR's. 2.5gallons/day in that small volume means moldy paint and
dripping ceilings. If I have a decent sized chiller in the crawlspace
under the condo (thank goodness I'm on the ground floor), I can
probably keep evaporation at or near my wintertime .5-.75gal/day.

A month ago, it was noticably more humid when you walked in the door.
Now, it's much worse. I need my condo to stay away from being
"tropical" when it gets hot.

Looks like a Chiller it is...

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

Chiller recommendation
 

"Steve \"Srfmon\"" writes:

Ross, what county are you in? I'm in Orange.

I'm up in Santa Monica (Los Angeles county). One thing I'm really
glad of is that I'm within 2 miles of the coast. Where I'm located is
about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the LA basin during the heat
of summer.

But it's still going to get into the 90's around here and I find it
somewhat entertaining that during those months, the aquarium with its
chiller will have a cooling effect on the condo.

My condo stays cool downstairs but the upstairs is hell during the
summer. Too bad it was early winter when I moved in. Had I known
that it got hot as hell in the summer the reef would be downstairs.

I've only got one floor and the aquarium is in the only spot in the
condo where a large aquarium will fit without being really obtrusive.

Maybe small things all working together is really what's needed?

For a lot of other situations, that makes more sense than what I'm
going to have to do. I'm constrained by the realities of my situation
to the "big gun" a chiller. At least, that's the conclusion I've
come to...

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

Chiller recommendation
 

But it's still going to get into the 90's around here and I find it
somewhat entertaining that during those months, the aquarium with its
chiller will have a cooling effect on the condo.

all my aquariums set the temp of the house :D and I dont fight it only help it out I like
the house temp at 80F

For a lot of other situations, that makes more sense than what I'm
going to have to do. I'm constrained by the realities of my situation
to the "big gun" a chiller. At least, that's the conclusion I've
come to...

I gave that some thought, you *might* do better with a dehumidifier instead of a chiller,
if you cant stick a fan in a window you probibly wont like the effects of a chiller on the
house temp, that heat still needs to go somewhere. the dehumidifier itself wont cool down
the tank, it will just take the tropical house effect away from using fans instead of a
chiller to cool your tank.

just another thing to look into.

--
Richard Reynolds

Chiller recommendation
 

Dinky wrote:

"Rod" wrote in message
...

the link I would like
to provide is broken ATM but if ya can find aquarium frontiers nov 1997,

a

great article by Dr Shimek


So tell me why most of what I've seen tells me to keep our tanks around
78-80?


That is a very good question. If you can not keep up the the metabolism
needs of the creatures keeping them at a lower temp slows them down so
there is less chance of problems. I could ask the same question in
regards to salinity. Most books I have read say 1.020 to 1.022 is the
best specific gravity to shoot for, even though the nsw around natural
reefs is 1.025 to 1.032 (red sea for the high side).

Kim
Jen's Sal****er Haven

Chiller recommendation
 

Ross Bagley wrote:

"Steve \"Srfmon\"" writes:


Ross, what county are you in? I'm in Orange.


I'm up in Santa Monica (Los Angeles county). One thing I'm really
glad of is that I'm within 2 miles of the coast. Where I'm located is
about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the LA basin during the heat
of summer.

But it's still going to get into the 90's around here and I find it
somewhat entertaining that during those months, the aquarium with its
chiller will have a cooling effect on the condo.


Unless you can put the chiller outside the condo, it will not have any
type of a cooling effect on the condo, it will actually heat up the
condo more. Rather than a chiller have you thought about a window AC
unit, it will help to remove the extra humidity from the air as well as
cool the room so the evaporative cooling works better.

Kim
Jen's sal****er haven

Chiller recommendation
 

"Richard Reynolds" writes:

I gave that some thought, you *might* do better with a dehumidifier
instead of a chiller, if you cant stick a fan in a window you
probibly wont like the effects of a chiller on the house temp, that
heat still needs to go somewhere. the dehumidifier itself wont cool
down the tank, it will just take the tropical house effect away from
using fans instead of a chiller to cool your tank.

The chiller will go in the crawlspace under the condo. In the
crawlspace, I can run a 12" flexi duct from a shaded outside vent to
the chiller's intake side. The chiller will then vent it's heated
exhaust to the crawlspace air volume.

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

Chiller recommendation
 

kim gross writes:

Ross Bagley wrote:

"Steve \"Srfmon\"" writes:

Ross, what county are you in? I'm in Orange.
I'm up in Santa Monica (Los Angeles county). One thing I'm really
glad of is that I'm within 2 miles of the coast. Where I'm located is
about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the LA basin during the heat
of summer.
But it's still going to get into the 90's around here and I find it
somewhat entertaining that during those months, the aquarium with its
chiller will have a cooling effect on the condo.


Unless you can put the chiller outside the condo, it will not have any
type of a cooling effect on the condo, it will actually heat up the
condo more.

The chiller will go in the crawlspace under the condo and will have
a flexible duct from a shaded vent to the intake of the chiller.

Rather than a chiller have you thought about a window AC
unit, it will help to remove the extra humidity from the air as well
as cool the room so the evaporative cooling works better.

Thought about it, wish I could do it, however, my condo CCR's prohibit
A/C window units and there is simply no way to retrofit central air
into a 1948 building. So no air conditioning at all is possible
within the condo. I'm bending the rules on allowed electrical
equipment in the crawlspace, but if you don't tell, I won't...

Regards,
Ross

-- Ross Bagley http://rossbagley.com/rba
"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature...
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -- Helen Keller

Chiller recommendation
 

What part of the world are you from ?, I have several tanks here one being
salt water coral (upstairs) and salt water fish (downstairs) and the other
is fresh water with fish.

Day time temps of 30-40deg'C every day, night time temps from 24-32deg'C,
and 2 tank do not have a chiller and the coral tank does, the two with out
the chiller sit on 32deg'C during the day and 29deg'C at night. The coral
tank is 25deg'C whenever the outside temp is below 34deg'C, higher then that
the tank temp rises a deg'C for every outside 3deg'C increase.

So a comment about not needing a chiller is silly, it may be the case for
where you live, but certainly not where I live. When I was cycling my tank
before christmas when average temps were 35deg'C the tank water temp was
33deg'C even with 2 fans blowing on the tank and 2 computer fans blowing
over my spray bar.


"Rod" wrote in message
...
the average temp of the reefs where most of our animals are collected from
is
82 -88.. even in the winter months, only one reef drops below 80 and that
is
the great barrier ( we dont get any corals from the great barrier).
If you would keep your tanks at the temp of NSW ( 84ish) a temp swing to
85-87
is nothing.. a temp swing from 78- 87 is a big swing.. the link I would
like
to provide is broken ATM but if ya can find aquarium frontiers nov 1997, a
great article by Dr Shimek will have you keeping your tanks at a more
normal
temps.. Corals do much better due to the motabilism rates.. I have not
seen a
tank that _needs_ a chiller yet.. All summer long I kept my 120 surge/tide
zone
in a tin shed with 4x 400 halides over it.. No AC.. Outside temps would
average
90 (or higher).. I had the tank set up so fand would come on at 82 and
lights
would start shutting off at 87. Lights only went off 2 times all summer,
and I
never lost anything. A few properly place fans will do the job, especially
in
an airconditioned house.
Good Luck
Rod Buehler
www.asplashoflife.com

Chiller recommendation
 

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...pagen umber=1

http://www.dfwmas.com/cgi-bin/ikonbo...=ST;f=1;t=2371

I think the A/C mod is the best way to go, actually. No noise, no heat, and
something that is made to last a long long time.

Marc

Steve \"Srfmon\" wrote:

No, I live in Southern California.
That's what I do every year with the fans. I'm just thinking it might
actually be cheaper to run a chiller instead of two fans. And possibly
quieter too!
Rod, you were saying that your tank swings from 82 to 88? In my tank I
have noticed at 83 & above there are some things I can't keep. Pocillopora &
Stylophora are a few I can think of. I have a clam/sps tank.
Mark, are you saying that the A/C mod is better than an actual chiller?
At $500 for the unit you have a good start on an actual chiller (or a good
used one).
Steve

"Shane Kennedy" wrote in message
om...
you don't live in north carolina do you
i just had the same problem
tank has been constant 79-80 since setup several months ago
this weekend it was up to 85
back down to 79.5 now
i'm going to put a fan on both the tank & sump before researching chillers

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

Chiller recommendation
 

Not to forget the one week that we had temps over 40celsius.. (104 F)
If i did not have the airconditioner in the room with the tank, then I am
sure the tank would have been cooked...

Cheers
Microbot

"skozzy" wrote in message
news:40514c67$1@andrew-ujwvqar2....
What part of the world are you from ?, I have several tanks here one being
salt water coral (upstairs) and salt water fish (downstairs) and the other
is fresh water with fish.

Day time temps of 30-40deg'C every day, night time temps from 24-32deg'C,
and 2 tank do not have a chiller and the coral tank does, the two with out
the chiller sit on 32deg'C during the day and 29deg'C at night. The coral
tank is 25deg'C whenever the outside temp is below 34deg'C, higher then
that
the tank temp rises a deg'C for every outside 3deg'C increase.

So a comment about not needing a chiller is silly, it may be the case for
where you live, but certainly not where I live. When I was cycling my tank
before christmas when average temps were 35deg'C the tank water temp was
33deg'C even with 2 fans blowing on the tank and 2 computer fans blowing
over my spray bar.


"Rod" wrote in message
...
the average temp of the reefs where most of our animals are collected
from
is
82 -88.. even in the winter months, only one reef drops below 80 and
that
is
the great barrier ( we dont get any corals from the great barrier).
If you would keep your tanks at the temp of NSW ( 84ish) a temp swing to
85-87
is nothing.. a temp swing from 78- 87 is a big swing.. the link I would
like
to provide is broken ATM but if ya can find aquarium frontiers nov 1997,
a
great article by Dr Shimek will have you keeping your tanks at a more
normal
temps.. Corals do much better due to the motabilism rates.. I have not
seen a
tank that _needs_ a chiller yet.. All summer long I kept my 120
surge/tide
zone
in a tin shed with 4x 400 halides over it.. No AC.. Outside temps would
average
90 (or higher).. I had the tank set up so fand would come on at 82 and
lights
would start shutting off at 87. Lights only went off 2 times all summer,
and I
never lost anything. A few properly place fans will do the job,
especially
in
an airconditioned house.
Good Luck
Rod Buehler
www.asplashoflife.com