chiller and live sand vs. crushed coral

surfdog

surfdog

New Member
Hi - new to the hobby and lots to learn...
I may need to get a aquarium chiller and I'm wondering if I could get some recommendations regarding brand. I'm currently using a fan that blows across the lights/water surface. That seems to be helping, but I may now have more water evaporating from the tank. Would a chiller help reduce the amount of water evaporating from the tank as it would keep the water cooler?
Also, one of the threads I was reading here indicated that live sand is better than crushed coral as a substrate. I have a mixture (mostly live sand). What is better about crushed coral and is the benefit worth attempting to change what I currently have?
Thanks.
 
mcsd22

mcsd22

Member
The live sand seems to be most peoples preference as it is mine. I started with crushed coral and changed to sand. How high is your temp getting?
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
cc bad, evil and bad. Dirty, traps nitrates and other stuff, you can't vaccum under/behind rocks so you can't clean it all.
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
What is wrong with a lot of evaporation?
I would imagine a chiller vs fans would decrease amount of evaporation, but to me the $$ of a chiller and the logistics of where to place the chiller would be a bigger issue, and I like a lot of evporation gives me a good way to dose Kalk to maintain calcium levels.
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
also consider that it's a lot cheaper to cool a tank by evaporation than by a chiller. lights are more effective without a lid which causes evap and heat issues.
compare your water bills to a fraction of what your fridge uses.
lots of things to consider and compare...
 
surfdog

surfdog

New Member
Originally Posted by Sinner's Girl
cc bad, evil and bad. Dirty, traps nitrates and other stuff, you can't vaccum under/behind rocks so you can't clean it all.
do you think it is worth attempting to take out the cc?
 
surfdog

surfdog

New Member
Originally Posted by maeistero
also consider that it's a lot cheaper to cool a tank by evaporation than by a chiller. lights are more effective without a lid which causes evap and heat issues.
compare your water bills to a fraction of what your fridge uses.
lots of things to consider and compare...
Overall it sounds like the cost of a chiller may too costly - unless absolutely necessary.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
do you think it is worth attempting to take out the cc?
That's a big fat YES! tonight, I took the last batch of cc out of my tank. The stuff that was in the back of the tank or under lr was the worse... gross, yucky. cc, if mixed with ls, will fall the to bottom, you will have to vacuum to remove the bad stuff from the cc which defeats the purpose of ls.
with that said, I had cc for years, since we started, in this tank for over 2 years, without really having a problem, but it's a pain to vaccum and move lr, and moving rocks ticks off of stars and stirs up crap. I kept a low bio load (3 stars in 75gl, had more inverts but high alk killed them, no fish, 1/4 of lr, and 2 ph's).
I have a fan on the tv stand pointing the 55gl fw tank, with half the glass off, I only run lights at night, we keep the ac at 80-84, the tank is 76. My 75gl sw, I removed half the glass, and keep the ceiling fan on, tank temp 78, I can also close the door to keep the cold ac in the room, heater comes on once in a while.
 
birdy

birdy

Active Member
Since you only need to drop the temp of your tank two degrees (without a fan) then I cannot imagine you needing a chiller.
82 degrees Farenheit is a good temp for a reef tank (most reefs are right around that). A fan should be able to drop the temp 2degrees without causing that much evaporation.
 
surfdog

surfdog

New Member
Thanks for the input. I wish I had known about his message board before I started this tank last October. It would have been easy to leave out the cc...now it could be an arduous task. Maybe I can just do a small section at at time. Maybe I'll start this weekend. I need to do a water change so...
Thanks again.
 
S

sinner's girl

Guest
I removed a little bit (about 2-3 nets) with each water change, I started doing weekly water changes to fix a problem I was having and just kept it up to remove all the cc. Vaccum the cc very well before moving it. I'd clean a section, then remove that part. I had to move the lr all around, it was on one side of the tank, then I moved it all to the other side. Becareful when moving lr, you can stir crap up also.
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
in my experience if you time the lighting right enough you'll have enough cooling from your ac. having a vent under a window is awesome, you get more light and cooling for your ballasts. this means less time that you have your lights running. it's a tricky balance and i know you'll find thousands of people that condemn a tank in front of a window for algae blooms. i just close the shade for a week or so if needed as i have too many windows to do anything different.

cc is not a totally bad thing, but it's more work than sand in my opinion. it is totally and completely feasable, but not something that i would do, buy a specimen from a tank having it, or suggest. it's an option for those who welcome a challenge. it is more like some seashores on the coastal areas though. i grew up learning on melbourne beach fla and it's all shell cc type stuff, no sand. sucks to walk on and you don't see too many snails and such. cc destroys most filter feeders. if you'd like to make a fish only tank it may work for you however a tank with "critters" will experience loss and shaky levels until you get it straight.
to each his/her own, every option is workable with the right combination
 
surfdog

surfdog

New Member
Originally Posted by ruaround
i disagree about CC being this bad evil thing... dont overload your biofiltration, over feed, have a good clean up crew, good GPH and regular maintenance...
here is a thread you should look at... sly has excellent points...
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/194646/live-sand-vs-crushed-coral
What clean up crew would you suggest? It's a fish only-55 gal. tank. I now have some 3 snails and 1 emerald crab. Also, what does GPH mean?
 
ruaround

ruaround

Active Member
either the 33 - 90 or the 55 - 100 reef package here on SWF.com...
GPH = gallons per hour - how often you turn the gallons in your tank with power heads and mechanical filtration...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top