Temp control with chiller

[The River Reef]

I am new to the chiller world. I recently set one up on my 34g Solana that will in time house Seahorses. I also have 150w heater in the rear chambers. I have the chiller and heater both set to 72 degrees. I am worried about having these devices fighting each other and wasting energy. Does anyone have advice on how to set them to avoid temp swings and having both devices running in excess?

 

[wrassefan]

I would set the heater for 70 and the chiller for 78

 

[Cherokee_Dude]

You really should get a controller to run both correctly. Even the best heaters can be off ~1+/- and chillers may need to be calibrated periodically. Since they are likely to be 'out of sync' they will be competing if you're temp. tolerance is 1 degree or less. Outside of that, set them a degree apart; heater at 72, chiller at 71, then observe to see if you need to set in reverse or adjust based on the 'True temp' from a separate thermometer.

+/- a few degrees {2-3} is acceptable, notwithstanding extreme temperature swings happening too quickly, although I believe it's more important when you keep seahorses.

 

[dcforester1]

You really should get a controller to run both correctly. Even the best heaters can be off ~1+/- and chillers may need to be calibrated periodically. Since they are likely to be 'out of sync' they will be competing if you're temp. tolerance is 1 degree or less. Outside of that, set them a degree apart; heater at 72, chiller at 71, then observe to see if you need to set in reverse or adjust based on the 'True temp' from a separate thermometer.

+/- a few degrees {2-3} is acceptable, notwithstanding extreme temperature swings happening too quickly, although I believe it's more important when you keep seahorses.

+1 on this, you can get a very affordable one $99. and like the other said keep the temps away from each other, otherwise they will keep turning each other on<----insert joke here ?? The good thing about the controller is they can have a delay (defer statement) so that the tank will have to be at the desired temperature for a set amount of time before it turns the chiller on, or the heater on, that way when the water temp fluctuates +-1 degree they don't keep cycling on/off on/off.

 

[The River Reef]

+1 on this, you can get a very affordable one $99. and like the other said keep the temps away from each other, otherwise they will keep turning each other on<----insert joke here ?? The good thing about the controller is they can have a delay (defer statement) so that the tank will have to be at the desired temperature for a set amount of time before it turns the chiller on, or the heater on, that way when the water temp fluctuates +-1 degree they don't keep cycling on/off on/off.

LOL... as I just sold my RKL due to not seeing a need for it now... For now I will set them as described and see how it goes.

 

[MikeG]

One issue I see how things were described though is you want your heater set at the lower temp and the chiller to turn on at the higher one otherwise both will always be on fighting eachother. Have heater set to turn off at say 75 and chiller set to turn on at 76.

 

[The River Reef]

After reading up more on the type of Seahorses I am considering (H. Barbouri, H. Reidi) I have set my chiller to 75 and my heater to 72. I am noticing the tank sits in the middle to upper 74 range and occasionally the chiller starts up for 10 - 30 minutes. I think this will work well and have a minimum power usage.

 

[Cherokee_Dude]

Good point! lol, thanks for the correction.

One issue I see how things were described though is you want your heater set at the lower temp and the chiller to turn on at the higher one otherwise both will always be on fighting eachother. Have heater set to turn off at say 75 and chiller set to turn on at 76.