[mbargas]

I'm considering starting up again with african cichlids. On of the problems I've had in the past was keeping the water from getting too hot in the summer. I'm only allowed to keep my tanks in a poorly AC'd room of the the house.

I've briefly looked at chillers and they're not cheap. Any recommendations for a fairly large cichlid tank, about 100G or more?

 

[Number6]

I live in Florida and have a wife who likes to keep the house at around 84... I can relate.

Chillers are expensive, but often the cheapest in the end. You might be able to just use fans and swtich to LED lighting as well, it depends. What does the room tend to be at during the height of the afternoon heat?

 

[mbargas]

I live in Florida and have a wife who likes to keep the house at around 84... I can relate.

Chillers are expensive, but often the cheapest in the end. You might be able to just use fans and swtich to LED lighting as well, it depends. What does the room tend to be at during the height of the afternoon heat?

It is a former jacuzzi room that was was an addition by the former owners. It has some small AC ducts, but I'm not sure how well insulated it is, because it gets very hot in the summer, probably close to 90.

I laso like to use fairly high intensity lighting for plant growth, which contributes to overheating.

 

[PfunMo]

I would want to look at adding fans to increase evaporation and cool that way. Chillers are a constant expense as well as expensive to buy up front. Also you may want to be aware that steady higher than preferred is not a terrible thing. A 100 gallon does not change temp quickly so you might work out better than expected.

 

[Number6]

mbargas
a chiller may be unavoidable then... what you could try if you wanted to see is the good old manual methods 1st.

If your system already has a sump, then congrats. Frozen plastic soda water bottles in the sump can keep a system low during the day and be refrozen at night. If no sump, consider adding one. An acrylic overflow can be bought used for cheap, as can sumps. You can also build your own sump and overflow using PVC pipe and a cheap tank in petco's up and coming $1 per gallon sale.

 

[LarryS]

I also experience higher tank temps in the summer. I run a submersed Mag Drive 7 in a wet/dry/sump on my 75g Hap/peacock tank, which drives my water temp to 84-85. I've removed my glass tops and replaced them with eggcrate for more evaporational cooling. I will also use a 4" computer fan to blow across the surface of the water for even more cooling. The only drawback with this is the need to add about a gallon of water to the system per day. But I can cool the tank down to 80-81.