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Ya hit me up when you need a chiller. I keep them on deck 
Not real happy with reef breeders led and sps...add T5 for better growth? Or go MH?
- Thread starter davidinga
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I keep the house at 75-76f and run my tank temp at 80. If I lower my tank temp to say 78f and then run my mh for 6hrs I have a leeway of 7f it would have to climb before I would need anything.
Plus, I mounted the mh 16" above the water line (plenty of our with those lumen bright minis). I could raise that a few more inches if necessary too.
Worst case I could switch back to led for the peak summer months, then back to mh when it cooled down again.
Plus, I mounted the mh 16" above the water line (plenty of our with those lumen bright minis). I could raise that a few more inches if necessary too.
Worst case I could switch back to led for the peak summer months, then back to mh when it cooled down again.
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You could do all that stuff (sounds like a lot of work) OR just run a chiller and keep your tank at an exact temp all the time. Haha!! For happy SPS of course.
Now I'm just busting your chops, but you'll want to avoid huge temp swings if you're going to keep acros. They love stability.
All those $700-900 JBJ chillers are selling for $250-400 used non stop. Horrible resale market as more folks go LED. Their loss, my gain.
Ya true, shouldn't be hard at all to find a chiller cheap...tonymission;987427 wrote: You could do all that stuff (sounds like a lot of work) OR just run a chiller and keep your tank at an exact temp all the time. Haha!! For happy SPS of course.
Now I'm just busting your chops, but you'll want to avoid huge temp swings if you're going to keep acros. They love stability.
All those $700-900 JBJ chillers are selling for $250-400 used non stop. Horrible resale market as more folks go LED. Their loss, my gain.
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Not sure how big your tank is but Sterling has a monster 1/3hp JBJ for $350 in his getting out thread. I'm running a 1/5hp on my 90g and it barely runs. Have a 1/4hp on my 80g frag tank and it also barely runs ... got the bigger one only because I got a steal on it used. You really don't need much if you get an efficient chiller. Had a 1/2 hp aquamedic old school chiller on the frag tank and it ran non stop; noisy and hot as hell... I like the JBJs (obviously) because they look as slick as a chiller can look beside the stand and seem to operate very efficiently. Very quiet.
I keep my house as cool as yours and also changed out my windows hoping to avoid a chiller... wasn't enough. Just something I'm resigned to dealing with as a MH/acro dude.
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I'm running 2 250w Phoenix 14ks and 4 ati T5s on my DT and 2 250w Radium 20ks and 4 ati T5s on my frag tank.
If I leave the chiller off it will only tank an hour for the temp to climb a couple degrees. I'm sure I could see 10+ degree swing over the span of the photoperiod. Right not my tank sits between 77.9 and 79 degrees. Rock solid, all the time. My power bill isn't too crazy. Water bill is another story!
I run 5 hours MH on my DT and 6 hours on the frag tank. No fans as they will lead to a lot of additional evaporation, are a bit noisy and I don't use a canopy so not interested in the look at all. You could maybe run a fan above your sump as I've seen some do. I still think you'll see swings in temp with a fan, which I've tried to avoid. I've seen arguments about allowing your corals to get used to more temp swings, but I'm not trying to build a coral boot camp -- I'm trying to provide the best environment possible. Like a resort.
I just think a chiller gives me more peace of mind overall. If the power goes out in the summer, I can just hook my portable generator up and keep everything in check without grabbing a million ice packs.
Maybe some more MH/SPS guys will chime in about using a chiller. I could be way off base.
So my lights were on for 3 hours today and the house temperature is 75f. The mh made the water temperature go up a whopping 1f over normal. This is with no fans running (none over top of tank and none in the sump).
So, all things being equal I should expect a temperature jump of 2f when I run the lights at a full schedule (6 hours). Thoughts?
So, all things being equal I should expect a temperature jump of 2f when I run the lights at a full schedule (6 hours). Thoughts?
Oh, and my 1f temperature climb was probably partly due to the fact that my algae scrubber lights (4x 23w CFL's in the sump) were on during the 3 hours the mh were running.
I also put the 3 mh ballasts in the sump area and they put out a little more heat than I was expecting. I have the option to run those out to the garage which is on the other side of the wall...Probably should do that huh?
I also put the 3 mh ballasts in the sump area and they put out a little more heat than I was expecting. I have the option to run those out to the garage which is on the other side of the wall...Probably should do that huh?
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That sounds a lot better than my situation. You do have a lot more water volume, I'm sure that helps... Might be ok. For whatever reason I haven't been as lucky :/
Just make sure you properly acclimate your corals to the MH's...esp in the LB reflectors. They pack a punch and can bleach corals if not properly done. I loved my 3xLB minis over my 140. Ran 175W bulbs and never saw the need to do more. Since downgrading to the 60cube I'm running a Kessil 360 and enjoy it. Getting good growth (I'm judging it on my red dragon frag) and color seems nice too. I do plan to add another eventually....but def not in a rush. Good luck with your setup! Chillers are def nice to have, I always had one on as a precautionary....while your water volume is big and my be helping to keep things cool, dont underestimate it....trying to cool that much water in the event of an emergency is never fun!
One other unforeseen thing I really like about dumping the leds is now my tank is super quiet without all those little fans that were always running on the leds.
For the first time I can actually here the slightest hum when my wp40/wp60's ramp up and down now.
Hopefully I don't end up needing any fans for the mh as I'm loving the dead quiet setup
For the first time I can actually here the slightest hum when my wp40/wp60's ramp up and down now.
Hopefully I don't end up needing any fans for the mh as I'm loving the dead quiet setup
So today I ran the mh for 5 hours and they raised the water temp 2.8F. The water temp hit 83.4f. That was with them at 16" off the water in an open top canopy and no fans running in the canopy or in the sump. I also have the 3 ballasts all in the sump and they are creating some heat (might need to move them somewhere else).
So, with some fans running and the ballasts out of the sump area I think I should be completely fine with my plan to run the mh for 6 hours a day and stay below 85f.
So, with some fans running and the ballasts out of the sump area I think I should be completely fine with my plan to run the mh for 6 hours a day and stay below 85f.
seth the wine guy
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Grab yourself a chiller. Think of how different you feel with a 2+ degree rise in body temp in 24 hours.
Me, I'm lying in bed.
Me, I'm lying in bed.
Well I've had my mh up and running for about a week now and it's into so far that I have way less algae film growth on my glass now. For some reason the leds made the algae grow like crazy on the glass and the mh lights don't. Must be a lot of bad spectrum in the leds (reds?) vs the mh
