How do you cool your tank?

Just looking for alternatives for a chiller. My tank got up to 81.7 degrees yesterday here in CT and my ReefKeeper alarm was flipping out.

This morning I put in 2 - 2 liter bottles of water that I froze last night to cool my tank about 1.5 degrees.

I am keeping 4 - 2 liter bottles in my freezer now at all times until I figure out a better way.

What do others do to cool it down?

 

what temp do you keep your house at? try lowering it a bit, if not then use fans to blow across the sump or DT. i see you have 2 heaters are they both comming on?

 

I used a chiller in my 55 but when i went up to a 180 my chiller was to small. On the 180 I have 2 holes in the top of the canapy and i use a box fan that blows into the canapy and it keeps my tank at 76-77 degrees.

 

I'm using 3x80mm computer case fans mouted on some 1/4" plywood and attatched to the back of my hood. I used an old 12vdc laptop power supply for power and controlled by my RKL. Heater is set to 78.0 deg and the fans are set to 78.5 deg. So far it works very well, never fluctuates more than 1/2 deg even with 2x250w MH's! We'll see how this summer goes but I left room for 2 more fans if needed.



TJ

 

I was having trouble w/ heat in my tank recently as well. I installed a fan into the stand to blow the hot humid air out and get fresh air in. I then lowered my heater from 80 to 78. I also kep a few frozen bottles of water in the freezer for emergencies.

 

+1,2,3,4 on the fans, I have a seahorse tank that I have to keep the temps below 74, I use 3 computer fans that come on with the lights and the temp stays about 75 all the time.

 

I'm having the heat problem as well, my tank is upstairs so it is always 10 degrees warmer up here. I think im going to buy a stand alone A/C unit for like 150 bucks and point it at the tank.

 

Strictly fans here in Phoenix, I sold my 1/4HP chiller last year since it never ran anymore. Its a 100G display and 30 G sump and I keep it at 79-81 year round with 2x250w MH and 2x140w VHO in a totally enclosed canopy by using two 120mm Vantec Stealth fans in the canopy, one in each end, both blowing in withe equal sized exit holes in the roof of the canopy and a single clip on fan over the sump controlled by the RKL.
Simple setup and its works flawlessly. I have been using this setup for 6 years now and its never failed.(The first 5 years the fans were on timers or a Ranco controller, the RKL was added last year to replace all of the other stuff).
My home has a digital setback thermostat and its warm in the house while we are at work so its not the expensive house AC doing the work either.

I can maintain the tank at 78-80 but the evaporation goes up significantly so I keep it at 79-81 and everything grows great. An autotopoff is your friend when you use fans!

 

I have a RKL 1 and the heaters are controlled by that so they are not coming on.

I just put a kick butt fan blowing across the top and its cooling it like crazy...its gone down 1 degree over the last hour already.

I also have water bottles frozen in the freezer in case of emergency.

My light fixture does have 2 fans built in it to blow that hot air out and that is controlled by the RKL also, but they dont really do much for cooling the tank.

The powerful fan is working best right now....its bulky though and I had to stand it on a ladder next to the tank for now.

Those tank mounted fans look nicer and smaller....are they powerful enough to cool the tank?

 

Go to WalMart and get a little clip on fan for about $8. Clip it on one end of your sump so it blows across the longest part. It will lower things 4-5 degrees easily. It' out of sight, very quiet since it is compact and works like a champ.
Frozen bottles are pretty inefficient due to the physical surface area and the poor heat transfer of plastic bottles.
Is your tank top enclosed like with a canopy of glass tops?