Quarantine Tank Chiller?

I have a chiller on my DT. I am debating on whether or not I need a chiller on my QT. I would like conditions to be as close as possible to the DT for obvious reasons. Anyone out there using a chiller on their DT and also on their QT? Do you guys think its unnecessary?

 

you might not need it because you will not have the extra heat from the lights, pumps etc. I would recommend hooking the tank up and seeing what the temp runs.

It seems like an added expense that hopefully you can avoid, if it gets a little warm you can add a fan

 

What temp do you keep your DT at and what is the QT at? If your QT gets on the hot side, I would just add a big box fan. Are you using metal halides or something to light the QT, maybe a coral QT and not a fish QT? I have a 20 long QT and a 10 gallon QT. I don't have a light at all on the 10 gallon and I have very very minimal light on the 20 long. They stay around 80.

In any regards, if the temp is fine in the QT and not "out of line" you could always re-float the specimen in the DT before adding it if you are concerned about the temp.

 

I use a chiller on my QT only because it's in the garage. I do not use a chiller on any DT.

 

It all depends on what fish you're QT-ing, how warm the QT runs, and the ambient temp of the room. We have some QT's on chillers and some without.

 

Hmm I guess I keep leaning toward the path of having a chiller even though I would like to avoid it. I'm going to keep the tank in a spot where it gets absolutely no outside light to keep the temp down. Fish are going to have to live in there for a while so I guess I should make conditions good for them. Thanks for all the input guys. I'm going to start off very basic. Build as I go I guess. If I just go basic tank/skimmer/sump I guess I'll see how that goes. Upgrade equipment on the DT and move the old gear to the QT. Feels like I'm starting another tank from scratch.

 

did you ever get a chiller?

Hi,
Did you ever get a chiller for your QT?

I live in Hong Kong and during the summer you have no choice but to run a chiller for your DT (it's not even summer here and the QT is at 27C today). I dont mind spending the money on my DT however prefer to keep the costs down on the QT. Chillers are seriously pricey and there dont seem to be small ones (below 10G minimum).

Any ideas?

 

Will a fan work for you? How hot does your house get? I have a frag tank that sits off of my garage and it gets up to 86-88 F (30 celcius or so). The frag tank is a 55 gallon with another 55 gallon sump and I have a big fan blowing right down at the water in the sump. It always maintains 78... I even see my heater coming on while my lights are on (which is when the fan is on). Granted, I am using LED's and T5's (2 48 inch ATI T5's ad 54 LED's) so that might make a difference if you are using halides. I added the fan because I saw my water temperature getting up to 84 during the day...(approx 29C or so). I could not believe that the fan dropped the temp by 6 degrees and my heater still comes on every once in a while....

The fan I am using looks a lot like this one... http://www.walmart.com/ip/Honeywell-Whole-Room-Air-Circulator-Floor-Table-Fan/10980210?_mm=
The major downfall though is it is loud and I get a lot of evaporation now =).
I keep the fan on the medium setting (their are 3 speeds).
I don't mind though as the room is off the garage and you cannot really hear it from inside the house.

 

I was going to say the same. A fan blowing across the surface of the water is the way to go as long as you have an ATO. I have a $10 clip on that cools my 55 no problem, even when its 85° in the house.

 

This is a chiller we could use on our 10g QT tanks.

The thing up there on the left