What type of Chiller?

[fishnerd01]

Hi, its been a while since i've posted here!

I'm moving my tank into the garage. 50 gallon reef tank. I will need a chiller as in the summer it gets into the mid 90s (southern California). I should be ok with the heaters although it gets down to 40 degrees sometimes.

What size chiller and any brand recommendations? I was looking at the Hamilton Technology Aqua Euro Max, 1/10 HP. Is that an ok size for 50 gallon tank? LED lights. We run no AC inside and its been fine but it usually stays in the low 80s, the garage is a different story, so I'm thinking it will need to stay about 15 degrees cooler than garage temp. Rarely gets over 95.

 

[2quills]

I would go slightly higher than what the recommended size is for your tank since it will be in the garage so it will have to carry a heavier load to reduce all that heat.

 

[silverado61]

If you haven't already done so, insulating your garage wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[fishnerd01]

Its partially insulated, but not all that well. The lowest low would be 40 degrees in winter (rare), high is about 90 in the summer.

My next question is the heater? The more I think about it, thats where the big temp fluctuation will be. How many watts heaters for a 50 gallon? I guess it needs to keep it about 35 degrees warmer than outside temp at the low extreme. From a chart i saw I was thinking maybe two 300 watt heaters? Maybe I'll keep one of my smaller ones as well.

With my new location im starting to think about a sump and additional lighting. But thats far in the future. Too many things going on right now. My main focus is to move them. I had some people to say get rid of it (sell), but I've had this tank for 19 years and my yellow tang (not my profile pic) has made it through 5 moves and still swimming, I cant quit now. My coral on the other hand... I slacked off and my salinity level dropped too low, it all faded away. After the move I'm bringing it back.

 

[silverado61]

Its partially insulated, but not all that well. The lowest low would be 40 degrees in winter (rare), high is about 90 in the summer.

My next question is the heater? The more I think about it, thats where the big temp fluctuation will be. How many watts heaters for a 50 gallon? I guess it needs to keep it about 35 degrees warmer than outside temp at the low extreme. From a chart i saw I was thinking maybe two 300 watt heaters? Maybe I'll keep one of my smaller ones as well.

With my new location im starting to think about a sump and additional lighting. But thats far in the future. Too many things going on right now. My main focus is to move them. I had some people to say get rid of it (sell), but I've had this tank for 19 years and my yellow tang (not my profile pic) has made it through 5 moves and still swimming, I cant quit now. My coral on the other hand... I slacked off and my salinity level dropped too low, it all faded away. After the move I'm bringing it back.

A 300 would work be more than enough but I would get two and make them digitally controlled for accuracy. The reason for two is since the tank is in the garage and with the temperature fluctuations if one goes out you have a backup running to take over.

 

[fishnerd01]

Ok, thanks.

Another question I didn't think of, do I need a pre-filter for the chiller? I was planning on running it straight from the tank to the chiller and back. I don't have a sump. For now I am going to do no prefilter, I had planned on just cleaning it more often. I have live rock/sand and protein skimmer, no filters...