bundy

hello

a little while ago i inherited a 210 gallon saltwater, amazingly enough i have been able to get everything setup properly with all my readings bang on and nothing out of the ordinary and the live rock seems to have cured and is starting to grow some stuff. i did start to get a bunch of brown algea, but with some of the turbo snails they cleaned the tank right up and are maintaining it well. the only challenge is that my temperature is running consistently between 81 to 83.5 degrees, the high temperature is when the metal halides are on for about 9 hours right now. the fish are happy and appear healthy and i even managed to save most of the coral, the only critter that i am concerned about is the sea anenomes. (and i don't know if this is because he was sick to begin with or not)

should i be concerned at running at these temperature enough to invest into a chiller and if so, what are the best chillers on the market for the dollar.

bundy

travie

How close do you have the MH fixture to the tank? That could be the main reason why the tank is warm. 78 to 82 degrees F is your ideal temperature range, and you are best keep it constant at a certain temp.

bundy

from some of the other chiller topic threads about chillers it seems that i might be best to try to install a fan cooling system in the stand to reduce the heat from the equipment pumps, but if 78 to 82 is ideal then i think i could do that with fan cooling instead of a chiller. what is everybody running for temperature in a reef aquarium, i was told by the fish store to be 75 to 79

travie

You might be able to lower the temperature of the tank just by raising the MH light fixture up away from the tank by just half an inch to an inch. I would try that before installing anything.

Hypnox

I typically run 80-81 degrees. Depends on if the lights are on or not. My 2.5g sits tight at 78 all day long lights on or not, been trying out an LED system and it is truly awesome.