Heating and Cooling

The chiller is performing quite well. I replaced the Mag-5 pump with a slightly less powerful Maxijet 1800 (475 gallons-per-hour). I've been cleaning out the filter monthly, although I never see much dirt on it.

After watching my temperatures hover around 84F-85F this summer, I bit the bullet and purchased a chiller. There's been a recent trend towards higher reef temperatures recently (82F-84F), but the most amazing tanks that I have seen in person have been in the 78F-80F range.

I purchased a TECO 1/3HP unit and I'm satisfied with it so far. It's not the most powerful 1/3HP chiller, but it is the most efficient that I know of (3 amps and 480 watts). It keeps my tank in the 78F-79F range and only comes on for about twenty minutes every two hours.

I've positioned it in reverse so that it doesn't blow hot air into the small space behind the stand. The unit has a built in 400-Watt heater so I removed my old 250-Watt one. I'm running water through it with a Mag-5 right now but may switch to something slower in the future.

The single 250 Watt heater has managed to keep the tank temperature above 78 F by itself during these winter months. However, I still have the second 250 Watt on hand just in case.

The heating system for this tank is the same as for my previous tank.