Chiller?

This may sound strange but I'm going to need a chiller prior to this winter....  What is the best brand out there? Any of our sponser's sell them? Looking to keep a 90 gallon under control....

 

Chillers are a great idea, but I've always though of the high cost of buying and operating them, I might as well stick that money into an aqua controller 3. They have the ability to do a ton of things, one of them is to monitor temp and turn off heaters when it gets too high and also turn on fans which can be faced directly at the sump to cool things off quickly. Not sure if my thought process is crazy here or not, but I think it makes sense. Just keep it in mind I guess...

 

Yes you are right about the AC3 turning off heaters and turning on fans to cool the water. Fans will only do so much and also cause lots of evaporation which in all honesty sucks. I don't have central air in my place and my tank is in a different room from my main air conditioner so I use a fan to keep it cool sense the room gets warm at times. I had to bump up a to larger Top off container to keep up with evaporation. If you really are having problems with heat and there is no way to keep the room cooler or something along those lines I would invest in to a chiller. Just a little life insurance for your tank and the inhabitants.

 

Reef Geek carries 2 brands.

I havent heard of either one.

 

My tank is in the family room....20x30ft...  tank at one end and fireplace on the other..... And my wife burns the fireplace daily!  The central air has been no problem controling the temps this summer but this winter is when my concern will peak....LOL

 

Ya I would definitely look into a chiller because I believe someone had a crash last year because their fireplace went on the fritz.

 

wood fired fireplace so any error would be humane error.... but we have had to open the doors and windows on more than one occasion in the middle of the winter...LOL

 

Not to say chillers are bad, but it was a malfunction of something in the electrical unit of their fireplace, something that can equally likely happen to a chiller. AC3's can be programmed to send alerts to your phone if the temp swings too much and can also be monitored and controlled real time from any computer or smart phone. Just saying...

 

We use chillers on all of our systems.  I know alot of people just use controllers to turn on fans, turn off lights, etc.  I like the chillers because they keep the temp. constant, evaporation is less which means the systems are more stable (being we do not have an ATO), and I like the fact that there is less salt creep.  I agree with controllers but they can only do so much, what if I get a text or email and either miss it, are a few hours away from home, or unable to leave work.  I personally take my chances with a chiller, yes they can malfunction but so can any other piece of equipment.

 

Your what-if scenario is valid. We won't always hear the alert, or be able to respond to the alerts, or maybe we're on vacation and just cant get the alerts...but that's why in addition to alerting, you put in fail safe programming. For example, if the tank reaches 83 degrees, alert a high temp condition. If it hits 85, then the fail-safe programming kicks in and kill the lights and anything else that could be contributing to the heat situation.
Same things goes for auto-top off...have one float valve mounted lower than another and use them both. The bottom float will tell the ATO when to turn on or off...but the top will tell when it's too full in case the bottom float gets stuck or something. I've even heard of people using three where the middle float is the ATO on/off control and the other two detect water too high or water too low conditions.
I have a basement sump and two four inch fans in my canopy. My tank has dual 400 watt SE MH bulbs. My temp swing is usually less than 3 degrees on even the hottest days because my Apex controls things for me.
Adding a controller to your tank is one of the best investments you will ever make. Alerts, fail-safe programming, remote access via the Internet or smartphone to intervene should it become necessary, etc. All of these things will protect your reef tank. It just takes one time for your tank to get way too hot or way too cold and you loose everything. If it were me, I would consider a controller first, then a chiller.
There are too many reef keepers that don't realize what an impact a controller will make in your control and maintenance of your tank.  Ask anyone that has a controller, and I would bet that 90% or more will tell you that it's so important to them, they wouldn't run another reef tank without one.
Just my two cents.
--AJ