| We all know how dangerous high temperatures in | | | | down a tank is measured in horse power, and the |
| Saltwater Reef Tanks can be, some aquarists even | | | | size of your tank will determine the power of chiller |
| have disaster stories of their own tanks over heating | | | | you will need. The other advantage to chillers is that |
| and killing off hundreds of dollars worth of live stock. | | | | the have a built in heating element, so an additional |
| It is a wonderful thing, then, that there are so many | | | | heater in the tank isn't necessary. As precise as |
| different options to lower the temperature in your | | | | chillers are, they can be very expensive, especially if |
| fish tank. These options range from extremely | | | | you have a larger fish tank. A 1/10 hp JBJ Arctica |
| accurate and low maintenance to more cost | | | | chiller will cost you about 500 dollars, but it will cool up |
| effective but less effective or accurate. | | | | to a 65 gallon tank. |
| Lets start out by talking about why high heat is so | | | | If that is not quite in your budget, or if you have a |
| dangerous in a saltwater fish tank, especially a reef | | | | smaller tank, you can go with a drop in chiller such as |
| tank. All organisms want to maintain homeostasis, a | | | | the Iceprobe Tank Chiller. It may be more difficult to |
| state of internal equilibrium. As humans, a component | | | | install, but it is definitely more cost effective at only |
| of our homeostasis is body temperature regulation, | | | | 100 dollars. Many people chose to install the unit in an |
| i.e. we can sweat to cool ourselves off and maintain | | | | unused bulkhead, if you don't have a drilled fish tank |
| a stable internal temperature for our vital organs to | | | | you can install it to a modified hang on back filter |
| function at. Livestock in the home aquarium are cold | | | | such as an Aquaclear, or in your sump. |
| blooded and in turn rely on the temperature of their | | | | If this option doesn't work for you either, you can |
| surroundings to keep them at the perfect | | | | always go with a simpler method such as a cooling |
| temperature for operation. As the water | | | | fan blowing across the surface of the water. This |
| temperature rises, their internal temperature goes up | | | | idea works sort of like a swamp cooler, causing |
| as well; hampering the ability for their organs to | | | | water to evaporate and take with it the extra heat. |
| function. Also, when water temperature rises the | | | | Though this will force you to top off your tank more |
| level of dissolved oxygen in the water goes down | | | | often, it can definitely be effective at controlling |
| drastically, changing the natural balance of O2/CO2 | | | | heat, and at a good price. You can either buy a |
| that your creatures need. So wide temp swings in | | | | cooling fan set like that sold by Azoo or simply |
| your tank are not only harmful to the fish directly, | | | | retrofit computer fans into your hood/canopy. The |
| but dealing with the temperature swings also causes | | | | problem is that these fans rarely come with an |
| elevated stress in your animals, leaving them more | | | | automatic on/off switch, so fans wont come on |
| susceptible to illness. Prolonged high temperature will | | | | when the tank gets too hot, and they wont go off if |
| not only be fatal to your fish, and cause your corals | | | | the temperature drops too low. I recommend getting |
| to melt away, but will eventually cause the death of | | | | an aquarium controller to turn fans on and off at the |
| the nitrogenizing bacteria living in your live rock and | | | | right time. |
| sand, ultimately causing your tank crash. | | | | If you are really desperate to control your heat in an |
| Needless to say, you want to keep you fish tank's | | | | emergency situation you can drop in a bag of ice to |
| temperature in control, and it is best to keep the | | | | quickly bring down rising temperatures, but it is not |
| temperature as stable as possible. By far the best | | | | the best long term solution as you will have to do it |
| way to keep everything stable is to purchase an | | | | all the time to even make a difference. Plus you will |
| aquarium chiller as they keep your tank's temperature | | | | constantly have to monitor temperatures in the tank |
| within a fraction of a degree of where you want it. | | | | to know when it is time to add ice. Since this is not |
| They function sort of like an in-line filter with a | | | | really an option for most of us, ice is only good when |
| cooling coil like a refrigerator. A chiller's ability to cool | | | | all other options fail and the temperature is spiking. |