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One key to having success in the marine aquarium hobby is stability within the aquarium. This stability not only refers to water chemistry stability, but also temperature stability. There are many factors that can cause temperature changes in the tank and just as many ways to help control these. This article will address the three major contributors that cause the heating of the water in your aquarium and then discuss some options for cooling the aquarium itself. Also with the recent rise in popularity of "Nano" aquariums, it will include a few paragraphs dedicated to chillers for nano aquariums.
CAUSES OF HEAT IN THE AQUARIUM
Pumps
Reef tanks and marine tanks alike both need good water movement and circulation for the inhabitants to be healthy. To provide this water movement in the aquarium pumps and powerheads are used, either internally or externally. Both internal (submerged) and external pumps can add heat to the water as a means of cooling themselves. Different pumps will add different amounts of heat to the water. With a little research, you will be able to find out which pumps transfer the least amount of heat and the ones that transfer the most amount of heat to the water and can choose a pump that works best for your system.
Lights
Corals in a reef tank require high intensity lighting to survive. These high intensity lighting fixtures will become another major heat producer. It will not matter whether you are using VHO, T5, PC or metal halide lighting. All these lights will produce heat that can affect the water temperature in your tank especially when enclosed within a canopy.
Room temperature
Room temperature will also have a large affect on the temperature of the aquarium. The higher the room temperature is, the higher the temperature of the water in the tank will be. Summer time is usually the worse time of the year when dealing with room temperature problems, but even spring and fall can have their share of extremely warm temperatures. If lucky enough to have central AC, this may not be an issue for your tank, but otherwise trying to put your tank in a room that generally stays cooler (i.e. doesn’t have the sun shinning in the room all day long) can go a long way in keeping the temperature lower.
COOLING OPTIONS
As mentioned before, there are just as many methods for cooling a tank as there are causes for the warming of them. Some methods are very simple, while others are a little more complex. Depending on the size of the tank and the amount of temperature changed needed, you will need to choose what method will work best for your application.
Floating Ice Method
The floating ice method can be done many different ways, but one of the easiest methods is using empty two liter soda bottles (or smaller bottles for smaller aquariums). Fill the empty bottles with water and put them in the freezer, making sure there is enough room in the bottle for expansion of the water when it freezes (leave the top slightly open to allow air to escape during the expansion of water to ice). Then once the bottles are frozen, they can be placed in the sump or main tank to help chill the water. One of the advantages of this method is that it is very inexpensive to do. But there are many disadvantages to this method including you will need to change out the bottle through out the day to help maintain a stable temperature in the tank. Unless you are home 24/7 this may be impossible to accomplish. This is a very “hands on” method of tank cooling but not the most efficient cooling method. People have also used RO/DI ice cubes (or other filtered water cubes) to help with cooling their tanks. If you use ice cubes, just make sure your salinity doesn’t drop too much from them.
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Fans
The use of fans is another method for cooling that can be very useful. There are a couple of different methods that can be implemented alone or together. First is using fans to blow the hot air that is produced by lighting fixtures away from the tank. Although this can lead to increased room temperatures, it will at a minimum keep a major heat build up from occurring directly over the tank. The IceCap’s Variable Speed Fans, AZOO Fans, or the Sunlight Supply Fans are good examples of cooling fans for your canopy.
The second use of fans for cooling the aquarium is by blowing air across the water surface. By blowing air across the water surface it will cause an increase in evaporation in the tank. In turn the evaporation will help cool the water in the tank. This is called evaporative cooling. Depending on the room temperature and humidity, a fan can cool a tank by 2-4 degrees fairly quickly. If the room temperature is high and humidity levels are also high, this will dramatically affect the ability of evaporation to cool the tank. One obvious disadvantage to this cooling method is the amount of water that will need to be replaced on a daily basis. For larger tanks, this can easily amount to 3-5 gallons per day from evaporation (using an auto-top off system comes in handy for this). Some fans can also be loud, adding to the noise levels coming from the aquarium.
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Chillers
Chillers are by far the best method of cooling an aquarium. Chillers are basically heat exchangers. Most chillers use titanium coils and a refrigerant to cool the water as it passes by the coils. There are two main types of chillers available on the market today, inline and drop-in. The inline chillers require water to be pumped through the unit. The cooling of the water will occur within the coils located inside the chiller. These chillers can be placed anywhere in relation to the tank. For example the chiller can be placed outdoors (in a protected shelter), in a garage or in a different room as long as the user is able to pump water into the unit. The drop-in chillers have the titanium coils external to the actual unit. The coils need to be placed into the sump where water can pass by the coils to be cooled. The advantage to this type of a chiller is there is no plumbing needed, so it is very simple to install. One of the disadvantages of the unit is it needs to be placed right next to the sump as the coils and flexible refrigeration line coming from the chiller are normally around 3-5 feet long.
Whether the inline or drop-in chiller works best for you and your tank, it is important to allow plenty of ventilation around either unit. The chillers will give off heat while they are cooling the water. If the chiller is placed in a closed area, such as a closet or aquarium stand with out any opening, the unit will not be able to chill properly and could add extra heat to the tank.
Also it should be noted that chillers will require a temperature controller to function. Some units come with built in temperature controllers while others have external or remote controllers.
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Evaporators
These are relatively new to the aquarium industry. Deltec has introduced a line of evaporators called the “Eco-Cooler” that are “Economical and Environmentally Friendly”. According to the manufacturer “The principle of the ECO cooler borrows its technology from water cooling towers used in industrial applications. Water from the aquarium is forced to evaporate which draws latent heat from the water thus cooling it down. Eco coolers are incredibly cheap to run and are much quieter than a refrigerant cooler. For example - to achieve 950 watts of cooling a Refrigerant uses 570 watts of electricity where as an Eco- cooler uses 44 watts of electricity.” Another use of the Eco Cooler is in conjunction with a refrigerant cooler, which can aid in reducing the size of your electricity bill substantially.
The operation of the Eco-Coolers is fairly simple and straight forward. According to the manufacturer “Water is gravity or pump fed to a rotating spray bar and trickles through a special open mesh then falls by gravity and is cooled as the fans switch on or off evaporating the water from the large surface area provided by the mesh. The cooled water exits the unit via a 40mm pipe positioned at the bottom of the unit and must gravity feed back into the aquarium system. The hot air that is driven off by the fans is directed away via an exhaust that is built into the cooler to one side.”
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Controllers to help keep temperatures stable
What are temperature controllers and what can they do for your tank? As mentioned, chillers require a controller to function properly. A temperature controller will turn on and off a chiller or other equipment such as a fan at a given temperature setting. For example if you want your tank to get to a maximum temperature of 80 degrees F, you would set the controller to turn on the chiller when the temperature hits 80 degrees. The controller will turn on the chiller when the temperature gets above 80 degrees and then once the water has been cooled below 80 degrees it will automatically turn the chiller off.
There are two basic types of controllers available, a single stage and a dual stage. A single stage controller will turn on and off one piece of equipment, such as a chiller or a heater. A dual stage controller will turn on and off two pieces of equipment, such as a chiller and heater. For the most stable temperature control of your aquarium, the dual stage controllers are the best option. The dual stage controller will turn on the chiller when the tank gets too warm and will turn on your heater when the temperatures get too cold.
CHILLING A NANO TANK
As mentioned earlier many nano tanks come with fully enclosed hoods that contain their lighting system. Even when supplied with a fan built in to remove some of the heat, the canopy can trap heat within the aquarium. With their smaller volume of water, they are also more subject to quicker changes in water temperatures than a larger tank. The above list of options can work on nano aquariums, but many times a chiller can be your best option.
In years past chillers have been very bulky and their horsepower (HP) was too large for smaller nano tanks. Luckily many chiller manufactures have seen how popular these tanks have become and have made some lower HP chillers available for nano tanks. JBJ offers a 1/15 and 1/10 HP chiller as well as a 28 gallon nano tank set up that includes a chiller. CurrentUSA also offers a 1/15 and 1/10 HP chiller and AquaEuroUSA offers a line of chillers from 12-24 gallons.
All of the chillers will sit next to or below the tank and have water pumped through them by a small powerhead like a Maxi-Jet or Mag-Drive pump. You will also need some vinyl tubing to hook the powerhead up to the chiller as well as running the water back up to the tank. JBJ makes a Connection Kit that can make life a little easier as well. I would also like to note that the chiller should not be placed inside of a fully enclosed stand as the chillers need to pull air through them to cool the water.
One last chilling option I would like to mention for the nano tanks are the IceProbe and Microchillers that are available. These units are good for around a 10 gallon tank to lower the temperature around 6ºF to 8ºF below ambient air temperature. These are a good option either for acrylic tanks that can be drilled (for the IceProbe) or for tanks where a hang on the back type filter (the Microchiller) can be used. One of the advantages of these units is they don’t use any refrigerant so they tend to be more reliable and environmentally friendly. To read more about how these chillers work you can read here.
CONCLUSION
There are many factors that can be very difficult to control in a reef tank, temperature does not have to be one of them. While you do not have to keep your temperature at a single reading, the stability of keeping the temperature within a few degrees swing will help the overall healthy and well being of your tank. With the temperature staying within a controlled range, you are able to eliminate one factor that can put stress on your tanks inhabitants and hopefully lessen other stressors that can affect your tank. |
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I have a AC next to my 55g/l I make a small hole in my canopy installed a flex pipe from my old sump and this keeps my tank cold
Marco Castillo
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Approved: 5/9/2009
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Im first time Aquarist (?) and been worried about up-coming warm weather. this article
gave me great ideas on how to cope. My fish dont seem to like the light on anyway, only
use it for plants ~ 8 hrs/day the light "on" time will be cut back first. It would have been nice to be able to print article without photos. Forget previous printing comment - found magic print click.
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Approved: 5/9/2009
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Covered most of the popular methods of cooling a tank. Nice to see you are not just focusing on one type of brand or method!
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Approved: 5/9/2009
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Great information not complicated for non experts like me, I have a 75 gallon marine aquarium what cooling that bis energy saving and economical that I can purchase
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Approved: 5/9/2009
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Its always great to learn new, eco-friendly ways to manage your aquatic environment.
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Approved: 5/8/2009
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this article gave specific details on cooling. Very informative and also listing many different options available with advantages and disadvantages on each one.
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Approved: 5/21/2008
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It shows cooling options that I did not know about.
What about the physiology of the fish?
I know that they are isothermic. How can you minimize the stress on them if your chiller fails and the temperature goes high?
What about a power outage in a cold climate?
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Approved: 8/7/2006
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Window AC is the way to go for room temp problems. Why spend $$ on a chiller that benefits only the tank, when for [less] $$ you and the tank stay cool. Im surprised the article didnt suggest window AC as a solution.
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Approved: 8/2/2006
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Simple and comprehensive information.
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Approved: 8/2/2006
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do you guys have any more suggestions on keeping your tanks cool?
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Approved: 8/1/2006
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honesty
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Approved: 8/1/2006
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I have a chiller, but it has blown 2 times and this is a helpful solution until you can replace or fix the chiller
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Approved: 7/31/2006
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Its on the money.
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Approved: 7/29/2006
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The commentsof your article are very useful to everybody, specialy for the beginners in reef aquariums, where the temperature is very important in the maintenance of corals.
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Approved: 7/29/2006
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Honest&Truthful,Factual to the point artical.
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Approved: 7/29/2006
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Good summary article although you didnt mention the costs of chilling equipment which can be quite high (hundreds of dollars). Ive got a 90 gallon tank and have combined an internal fan over the sump for evaporative cooling with use of frozen RO water (to replace that lost from the fan) that is placed in the tank daily. The water temperature fluctuates about 2-3 degrees (77-80 F) and seems to be fine for the reef items I have.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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Basic itroduction/reminder on chilling the water in tank. Gives a good direction on what and how to do.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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I would have appreciated greater detail as to the distance of the lights from the water surface, glass barriers between the water and glass, size of fans, direction of fans blowing, differences between heat transfer in acrylic and glass aquariums, etc.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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As always an inportant subject and some very good solutions. I personally look forward to the articles and print out each and every one for future referance and I have had a salt tank set-up for over 12 years and some of my fish are that old also.
Thanks for great info
Jeff Bradway
Brimfield, Massachusetts
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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the article was easy to read as it presented complicated information in an easy to understand way and went into detail that too was easy to understand
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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you can give the options-you should be more forceful
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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We had a "heat wave" (90 degrees hardly constitutes a heat wave in some parts of the country)in Seattle this past weekend and my tank temperature remained at 80 degrees for 3 days, lukily there are no fish in right now (cycling). We do not have AC, so the temp of the house was very hard to control, thus the tank just succombed to the heat. However, fish will be living in there in the next month so this article helped me to understand and be prepared for our future hot summer days!
Thanks,
Becky
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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Very practical.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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very useful informations for temp contntrol in the reef tank, thanks so much for the info. sam.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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We just had a nasty heat wave in So Cal my chiller died n the middle of it my water got to 95
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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The article gave many choices for every budget. Thanks
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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You did not mention the use of a window air conditioner unit in the room with the thank. Adding one for $159 decreased my 120 gallon reef tank temperature from 86.3 to 79.3 in 4 days. In the 3 week it has been running the tank temperature has stayed constant within 2 degrees, not to mention that the room is way more comfortable. I live in Georgia and its July and VERY HOT! This method for me was more efficient than lowering my central air unit way down and cooling rooms we were not using right then. My den was an add-on room and thus the cooling and heating vents are farthest away from the main unit and the room would stay very warm even with ceiling fans.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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First time Ive seen mention of my method (cooling by evaporation) with a fan blowing across the water surface. With up to seven power heads running at one time, two 4 atinic blue tubes, and a 400W metal halide bulb, Im still able to keep my tank at a fairly constant temperature of 75 Degrees.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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Just basic information that is widely available.
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Approved: 7/28/2006
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With the heat wave that is going on in California I am having tank temperature problems. This article gave me some ideas what to do in extreme case.
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Approved: 7/27/2006
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