Looking for a "chiller expert"

[DaveS]

My chiller comes on at 80.5 and shuts off at 79.

My heater comes on at 76.5 and shuts off at 77.

 

My chiller used to be set to 79-82 but I changed that to try to address some heating issues into my QT system by reducing the duration it was on each time. You can find that thread somewhere.

 

In theory my tank can have a range between 76.5-80.5 but it doesn't do that on a daily basis. In the summer we keep the house around 78-80 so once the chiller stops cooling at 79, the tank would naturally start to warm up without any lights/pumps just due to ambient temp. In the winter we are around 74 degrees or so. The heaters will come up some in the middle of the night but otherwise the lights are doing the cooling during the day.

 

Bottom line, ambient home and seasonal swings will impact what your settings are.

 

Don't worry too much about it. Just buy a decent sized chiller and make the adjustments as you go.

[zygote2k]

I deal with commercial chillers and residential chillers of all brands and sizes. You only need a small pump like a Mag 5 to power a chiller independantly. You can also make a manifold to feed them.

You'll want to get a chiller that can pulldown 20 degrees from ambient in this area of the country.

74-78 degrees is ideal water temp for 90% of reef tanks. If you're running at 80+, it's too hot.

 

74 heater on

76 heater off

 

77 chiller on

75 chiller off

 

This all depends on the ambient temperature of the room/house. If the tank is small and the ambient air temp is a much greater variation than the tank, the heater/chiller will fight the ambient air temp. I worked at a PS last year where they couldn't keep the water temp higher than 75 with an 11k watt heater because the huge store air temp was kept at 72.

 

Cycle time is something to consider too- Your house HVAC should only come on 4-6 times per hour to keep the temperature from fluctuating greatly. You want low cycles on your chiller as well. An undersized chiller will run more often just to keep up and can prematurely fail.

Edited October 27, 2012 by zygote2k

[Steve175]

I would advise having a chiller cycle on at 77 degrees only if someone else is paying the electricity bill.

My apex settings (independently programmed) are identical to Chad's:

Chiller on 82

Chiller off 80

Heater off 80

Heater on 78

With large refugium and frag tanks on an alternate lighting schedule, my temp flux within a 24h period is less than a degree.

Don't let this stress you out Ryan . . . just chill.

[Ryan S]

Thank you all for the excellent advice. Each of you are so helpful and such a valuable resource to the club.

[Ryan S]

74-78 degrees is ideal water temp for 90% of reef tanks. If you're running at 80+, it's too hot.

 

Last night I adjusted my temp range from 76-80 to 78-82 after reading the following post on RC and the linked articles written for Reefs Magazine. I suspect 74-78 is too cold for most reef tanks. And the evidence doesn't suggest 80+ is too hot. Randy Holmes-Farley runs his tank at 80-81 year round. The greatest variety of corals are found in water whose average temperature is about 83-86°F.

 

See this link and the 4 links in it:

http://reefcentral.c...43&postcount=18

 

I'd like to know why liveaquaria recommends 72-78 for reef tanks, when they state the average in nature is 82.

 

So anyway, this is one of those parameters where everyone is different, and people have success all over the place. However, one that I continue to read up on and adjust my own reef accordingly. At this point in time, I believe warmer > cooler, and that's why I have made the temperature adjustment in my system.

Edited December 19, 2012 by Ryan S

[Coral Hind]

The LA recommendations have always bothered me off too. I run my reef at the upper end during Summer with no ill effects.