Buying a Chiller... ? Temp Regulating Question

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Kara

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I have a 46g bowfront with a 30watt actinic bulb and a 25watt white (10,000k) flourescent in a strip light (sitting on top of the tank, over the versa) and I have a 175watt MH pendant hanging front and center about 10" from the top of the tank.

I just upgraded the striplight from a single bulb to a dual bulb (so I could add an actinic) and I've noticed an alarming hike in my water temp since switching to the dual bulb. Before the dual strip, the tank would vary from 77-80 degreesF. With the dual its hitting highs of 83-84! OMG.

I think I'm going to have to buy a chiller.. ugh. The ones I've seen are VERY expensive. (like $500.00+)

Any advice on what kind or how powerful of one I would need? Or anyone have any other suggestions about what other things I could do to help regulate the temperature?
 
K

Kara

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I have a 1/2 Versa glass top (only the front 1/2 of the tank, the striplight covers the back 1/2 of the tank)

I will try it. Should I be woried about splashing water that might hit the striplight?

Also, my reeftank is ALL gobies (except for my tomato clown and royal gramma).. and quite a few of my gobies are reported to be jumpers. I love my gobies and would hate to see one jump to his/her death.
 
OrionGirl

OrionGirl

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With jumpers, you can stop them by blocking the openings off. Remove the glass, and put nylon over each opening in the canopy. This will allow for some natural cooling, and keep fish in.
 
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Kara

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ok. Good idea OrionGirl!

Any idea of what kind of nylon? I don't want to block out any of the light.. My LPS's wouldn't be to happy about that.. hehe.

I'm going to take the versa off for a day or 2 while the lights are on and see how that helps. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that my fish don't feel like taking flying lessons. I'll report back with the temp difference.

Thank you for the help!
:)
 
OrionGirl

OrionGirl

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You can use pantyhose. It stretches thin enough that it won't block light, or you can just go from the tank rim to the edge of the canopy, avoiding putting the nylon under the lights. Other option are a fish net--though the mesh has to be small enough to prevent the fish from getting through, and you run a small risk of the fish getting hung up in the netting--especially fish with spikes/long fins, like lions, tangs or triggers.

If you don't have a canopy (sounds like the lights sit on the glass top), you can make a simple support using PVC (painted black, it looks prety clean--there's a pic somewhere on here of somebody who did this), and then you could just run the nylon along the PVC--pretty simple. This would get the light strip up away from splashing concerns, I think.
 
K

Kara

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ok, I took the versa off. It's been 2 days now and NO perceptable change in the water temp. *sigh*

Next thing I think I'm going to try is raising the florescents up off of the top of the tank (like 3 inches).
 
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