Choosing the Right Aquarium Chiller

Factors you need to consider in choosing the aquarium chiller

• Aquarium size
• The temperature requirements of your aquarium inhabitants
• Heat genarating equipments eg lights
• The aquarium set up and available space

 The larger the aquarium, the more horsepower that is required for the chiller to maintain the proper temperature.When calculating your aquarium volume, remember to include the volume of water in the sum filter. The easiest way to calculate  the tank size is checking the label from the manufacturer, which mostly use gallons variable. But you can do a more precise calculation by simply doing a manual calculation. Multiply the length times the width times the height of the tank in inches and divide that number by 231 to get the volume in gallons. If the tank is not rectangular, such as hexagonal or bowfront, use an average measurement. For example, if it is bowfront, measure the width in the middle and on the end, and average the two measurements.
If your aquarium is equipped with a sum filter, add the volume of the tank with the volume of the sum filter box.

example: tank length

Most aquarium chillers in the market have a recommended tank size (provided by the manufacturer). Now that you have calculate your tank system total volume, it is easy for you to pick the right chiller.

Knowing the temperature requirement of the your aquarium inhabitants is invaluable information to help you setting up a perfect environment for them. You can get this data from the fish or plants sales, or you can search it online. The problem arise if you have aquarium with wide range temperature requirement species. It is best to have species of fish and plants with temperature requirement in a close range each other. If you still want to put in different type of species, the best way probably choosing an average temperature for these species. It is worthy to note that certain species are more prone to temperature variables while others are more adaptive. So in a mixed type aquarium inhabitants, it is better to have a more adaptive species.
General thumb rule in choosing a chiller is choose a chiller that effectively cools your aquarium water in the space and setup you have allotted. It is always better to choose chiller with larger capacity than the actual required one. This will make sure that your chiller does not work at its highest rate constantly, and this will add the durability and longevity of the chiller.