To chill or not to chill

[shannen74]

Hi folks!

My husband and I are setting up an octo tank, and we have just finished cycling (took a month, but we're gonna wait another month or two to add the octo, just to be safe). We live in Houston, and our water temp is a pretty steady 77 degrees. I know colder temps are recommended for bimacs, but we really don't have the cash for a chiller. Is this water temp going to significantly impact the lifespan and/or quality of life of a bimac?

Also, I saw somewhere on here a while back about someone using a chilling unit from a water fountain to chill their tank water. Could I get some details about this? Most of the chillers I have seen (water cooler type) have copper tubing. I figured using anything with copper would be a bad idea.

Thanks in advance,
Shannen

 

[Colin]

hi shannen

you are right about the copper thing and this would be a problem if the copper is in direct contact with the water from your tank.. however, some water coolers pass the water through the chiller by a titanium or stainless steel type of hosing... just need to be visualant and shop about...

nancy, stays in texas and may be able to offer some other tips on cooling

 

[Nancy]

Hi Shannen,

As Colin mentioned, I live in Texas (Dallas). Although we keep our home from 70-72 degrees, my tank was running 74-75 degrees. I found this was due to the heat from the pumps and the light. Using the skimer upped the temperature another degree.

I found that keeping the water in the sump topped up was important. Then I bought a small (10") plastic fan and mounted it on a wooden base that could be tilted. It's aimed right at the water in the sump. That helped a lot to lower the temperature a few degrees.

I run the skimmer only a few hours at a time and keep an eye on the temperature.

You can do a lot to lower the temperature by using simple methods like this.

Nancy

 

[shannen74]

Thanks fer the info! I will definitely try our a few fans before I shuck out the cash for a chiller.


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