Marine aquarium setup without chiller

[Emoqqboy]

Just curious if anyone has had any success with keeping and maintaining a marine aquarium without the use of a chiller. ie: selecting a special group species of fish/invertebrates/coral/marine plants.

If so, i'd like to know what species you keep, or methods to maintain this kind of setup. Thanks.

[TayHongSiang]

Just curious if anyone has had any success with keeping and maintaining a marine aquarium without the use of a chiller. ie: selecting a special group species of fish/invertebrates/coral/marine plants.

If so, i'd like to know what species you keep, or methods to maintain this kind of setup. Thanks.

less than 2ft possible, with cooling fans mounted on yr glass walls, provided not using MH.

more than 2ft...beta use chiller.

[comycus]

Chiller or no chiller, you will want to keep temperature below 30 degrees, and as stable as possible. You will also be slightly limited because you will not be able to keep deepwater fishes/corals that will require much lower temperatures.

You can use more fans to increase evaporation rate to reduce tank temperature, but that will only bring down temperature by 2-3 degrees from ambient temp. You will also not be able to effectively control temperature in your tank unless you diy and link a thermostat to your fan. On hot days when ambient temperature goes above 32-33 degrees, you will be hard pressed to keep your tank cool. Last but not least, you will have to top up a huge amt of water daily to make up for evaporation.

With a relatively higher tank temperature, your fishes will also be susceptible to more diseases as parasites thrive in higher temperatures. The fishes metabolism rates also increase, and they lose more energy quicker, which could either shorten their potential lifespan or require more feedings (and risk polluting your tank parameters).

In short, there have been reefers who are successful in running a tank w/o chiller in this part of the world, especially for smaller tanks. But you are just limiting your options. A 2nd hand chiller won't cost much, I am definitely in favour of running the tank with a chiller. If cost is a factor, then scale down to one that fits your budget. To start off with, can you imagine topping up like 2-3litres of water everyday!!??

[TayHongSiang]

Chiller or no chiller, you will want to keep temperature below 30 degrees, and as stable as possible. You will also be slightly limited because you will not be able to keep deepwater fishes/corals that will require much lower temperatures.

You can use more fans to increase evaporation rate to reduce tank temperature, but that will only bring down temperature by 2-3 degrees from ambient temp. You will also not be able to effectively control temperature in your tank unless you diy and link a thermostat to your fan. On hot days when ambient temperature goes above 32-33 degrees, you will be hard pressed to keep your tank cool. Last but not least, you will have to top up a huge amt of water daily to make up for evaporation.

With a relatively higher tank temperature, your fishes will also be susceptible to more diseases as parasites thrive in higher temperatures. The fishes metabolism rates also increase, and they lose more energy quicker, which could either shorten their potential lifespan or require more feedings (and risk polluting your tank parameters).

In short, there have been reefers who are successful in running a tank w/o chiller in this part of the world, especially for smaller tanks. But you are just limiting your options. A 2nd hand chiller won't cost much, I am definitely in favour of running the tank with a chiller. If cost is a factor, then scale down to one that fits your budget. To start off with, can you imagine topping up like 2-3litres of water everyday!!??

not so exaggerating la..2-3 litres a day...haha...i only top up 500ml to one litre a day for my 2ft, the most with my cooling fans spinning 24 x 7 mode...unless you are talking about living room fans like TDK mount on top.

the only prob with using cooling fans is that, the lowest temp it can go is 27 and most of the time is 28-29 and you have to replace them once they become inefficient or rusty.

yes, sensitive fishes + corals and rare fishes + corals will be a big risk...can only keep hardy fishes like damsels, common clowns, blennies...

if you ask me will i get a chiller?..i say, yes. Our weather is too humid and warm.

[comycus]

not so exaggerating la..2-3 litres a day...haha...i only top up 500ml to one litre a day for my 2ft, the most with my cooling fans spinning 24 x 7 mode...unless you are talking about living room fans like TDK mount on top.

the only prob with using cooling fans is that, the lowest temp it can go is 27 and most of the time is 28-29 and you have to replace them once they become inefficient or rusty.

yes, sensitive fishes + corals and rare fishes + corals will be a big risk...can only keep hardy fishes like damsels, common clowns, blennies...

if you ask me will i get a chiller?..i say, yes. Our weather is too humid and warm.

lol what u waiting for?

if you have sump, evaporation will be much higher. I have heard of a bro here who tops up 2+liters everyday... shag!

[raydiative]

lol what u waiting for?

if you have sump, evaporation will be much higher. I have heard of a bro here who tops up 2+liters everyday... shag!

Someone selling CL280 at a good price... mai tu liao

[TayHongSiang]

Someone selling CL280 at a good price... mai tu liao

the problem is..haha...i'm not sure if my cannister can connect to the chiller which is located outside of the cabinet and about a meter away...the return flow may not be enough.

(sorry to hijack yr thread)

[nwyk153]

for me i place my reef tank in my air-con room. So i dun need chiller cuz the highest reading i get is 29.2deg in the day and 24 deg in the morning. =P

[jc85]

Possible but not ideal. I did it with my 1st 3ft marine tank. Only kept LPS and fishes. Using 3 x 80mm to cool the tank. Manage to keep temperature below 30degree.

Cheers

JC

[Fuzzy]

the problem is..haha...i'm not sure if my cannister can connect to the chiller which is located outside of the cabinet and about a meter away...the return flow may not be enough.

(sorry to hijack yr thread)

What is the flow rate of your canister? I think the worst case scenario is you have to add an eheim or aquabee pump inline between the two points and you'll be fine.

[kominato]

i kept a 5x2x2 with 3ft sump with 1 fan, T5, for 4years, abt 20 to 25 fishes, tangs, clowns, butterflies etc, lots of soft coral , gonis also but they never extended full bcos of fishes or not enough lite, temp was between 28 to 31.

[TayHongSiang]

What is the flow rate of your canister? I think the worst case scenario is you have to add an eheim or aquabee pump inline between the two points and you'll be fine.

i shall wait and see how's the temp when i switched to LED...akan datang...i may not need chiller once i switch to LED.

[kimkim23]

use cooler fans can mah..?some boxes say can lower max 4 degress..donno real anot

saw some cooler fans at yishun aquastar anyway..will the shop at clementi 328 be cheaper?

[comycus]

use cooler fans can mah..?some boxes say can lower max 4 degress..donno real anot

saw some cooler fans at yishun aquastar anyway..will the shop at clementi 328 be cheaper?

For your pico tank, fan will prob do the job. But then will have to deal with evaporation problem also. Expensive alternative could be iceprobe.

[kimkim23]

For your pico tank, fan will prob do the job. But then will have to deal with evaporation problem also. Expensive alternative could be iceprobe.

Ice probe is plug and play?hmm i dont mind if it can do better then cooler fans..how muchie har?and where can find it.

[comycus]

Ice probe is plug and play?hmm i dont mind if it can do better then cooler fans..how muchie har?and where can find it.

You will prob need to drill a small hole or something to fit it into your tank. Or some slight modification to that extent. Can check it out at Reef Depot. Its by Coolworks.

[jackywongto]

iceprobe not cheap leh.

might as well get a resun/ 2nd hand chiller?

for those small picos...really should try using fans.

just hang a HOB filter.

If want skimmer, use the air driven one. = less heat.

then everynight, just pour a cup of distill water to top up.

===================================

I used to keep a pico, really small maybe max 10 litres.

Have a small clown, small purple firefish and a shrimp inside.

Used Eheim Liberty filter. (i dropped a small piece of polyfilter in there as well)

kept it for 1 yr plus no issue.

just a simple PL light.

tank was about 1 ft tall only.

[comycus]

iceprobe not cheap leh.

might as well get a resun/ 2nd hand chiller?

doesn't make sense for a 5 gallon tank? Besides the iceprobe only runs at 50w. Of course it would also mean u prob can't use it if you upgrade beyond 20 gallons in future.

[jackywongto]

doesn't make sense for a 5 gallon tank? Besides the iceprobe only runs at 50w. Of course it would also mean u prob can't use it if you upgrade beyond 20 gallons in future.

so 3 options.

iceprobe, small chiller or use fans... lol

all have pros and cons.

chiller can run through the cannister filer.

maybe 2213 will do.

come to think of it, yeah this kind of setup really dun need skimmer, dun need chiller.

just get a cannister/ hob filter, fans and do religious WC every week.

[comycus]

so 3 options.

iceprobe, small chiller or use fans... lol

all have pros and cons.

Still have 4th and 5th option.

air con... or...

UPGRADE

I'm serious, this one not counted as poison.

To TS, we might have veered abit, but I think the options are pretty much as listed here. You will need something to cool temperature somehow.

[kimkim23]

Thank everyone for their commentS,guess I'll go ahead with buying a Cooler fan as a cheaper altenative. Save the money for a proper chiller when nxt time I ever upgrade ^^

my current temp is always 28-30. Guess coz of my stuffy room + wavemaker & skimmer. Haiz.