how to make the water cold if i am not using chiller??

82F is fine for a reef. You probably don't need to worry unless the temperature starts approaching the mid to higher 80s on a regular basis.

Cooling tanks without a chiller is as simple as blowing a fan across the surface of the water the same as you blow on your coffee to cool it down. This will create more evaporation that you'll have to deal with.

Run the tank with an open top to encourage even more heat loss.

Install an A/C unit in the room.

Avoid MH light and cut down on the time your lights are on.

Minimize that number of pumps in your system and make sure the ones you do have are lower wattage (these usually cost more). Eheim and Tunze are famous for pumping massive amounts of water while using little electricity (and therefore creating less heat).

If you have a big submerged return pump from your sump consider switching to an external pump.

Read up on cycling--there's a lot more to setting up a tank than just the pH and temperature.

For cooling--with a reef, you can't reduce lighting. You can manage the heat from lights by sleecting lights that produce less heat--power compacts, and T-5's are a good choice. Having a fan that will remove the air around the lights, and running with an open top will help, but you MUST have an auto topoff for freshwater, especially on smaller setups.

There are also DIY chillers you can build yourself for slightly less than a commercial option. If 82 is the lower range you can maintain, what's the upper end?

What I meant about reducing lighting times is that you don't need to run your MHs 12+ hours a day. People run MHs as little as 7 hours a day with actinic supplementation with no problems. If you keep lower light corals like softies or those that are not as dependent on photosynthesis then running lower wattage lighting for shorter periods is definitely possible.

There are numerous reefers in the land of the Merlion, many of whom do not run chillers. Check out:

http://www.sgreefclub.com/portal/

you don't need to run your MHs 12+ hours a day. I run MHs ONLY FOR 4 HOURS a day , with actinic supplementation OF 10 HOURS with no problem, and my sort corals and hard coral flurish. MHS DO ALL THERE MEANT TO DO WITHIN A 4-6 HOUR PERIOD longer peroid just add heat. DR. ROBERT J. GOLDSTEIN



MARIENE REEF AQUARIUM HAND BOOK

zeebss1 said:

you don't need to run your MHs 12+ hours a day. I run MHs ONLY FOR 4 HOURS a day , with actinic supplementation OF 10 HOURS with no problem, and my sort corals and hard coral flurish. MHS DO ALL THERE MEANT TO DO WITHIN A 4-6 HOUR PERIOD longer peroid just add heat. DR. ROBERT J. GOLDSTEIN
MARIENE REEF AQUARIUM HAND BOOK

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I am always dubious of generalizations like that, without qualifying it with regard to wattage, reflector design, depth of tank, and PAR.

though,wattage, reflector design, depth of tank, and PAR e.c.t. are all considerations, mhs still only do what there meant to do in a 2-4 hour period. proper sizing of mhs and supplemenal lighting and spectrum are most important , lets say you undersize you mhs , leaving them on longer will not bring the intensity that coral pigment formation need.

SIZE IS EVERTHING LOL

mhs still only do what there meant to do in a 2-4 hour period

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I'd like to see a proper writeup on that, with actual measurements.

There is currently a lot of debate about the proper intensity of metal halides, so what "undersized" really means is open to debate. It is becoming clear that what is thought to be necessary is often too much. I am waiting for Dana Riddle to finally publish the work he has done on photoinhibition by excessively intense halides.

I'll stick with my orignal comment. In a field with so much controversy and so little clarity, such a blanket generalization seems unwarranted.