# Fowlr



## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

New to the whole aquarium thing but am thinking of doing a 55gal. FOWLR. I'm down here in Central Florida and not sure if I'm gonna need to include a chiller into my budget. Your thoughts?

This is one topic I didn't see alot of discussion in the 10pgs. of old threads I read.

Christopher


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## leveldrummer (May 27, 2005)

dont really need a chiller with a fowlr, that usually comes into play with the heavy lighting needed for keeping corals. as long as you have HVAC your house should be fine keeping your ttank nice and cool. may even need a heater.


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2007)

Well it really depends on the temperature your tank will reach during the warmer months. Most likely you will not need a chiller, but that all depends on the fish you want to keep and exactly how warm the tank gets.


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## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

HVAC - High Volume Air Conditioner?


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## Fishboy93 (Jun 11, 2005)

I'm in South West Florida and my tank has been fine this summer. I just have a fan running across the top of my tank and its about 79-81degrees..


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## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

Good to know! Can't wait to get this started but not gonna rush it until I have everything figured out.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

If you don't run the right lights, then your live rock won't stay very lively for long. The right lights run hot. Central Florida runs hot. Your tank will run hot.
I live near the Florida line in south Alabama. It's hot. Oviedo is hotter. I don't currently run a reeftank because I don't have a spare chiller. A FOWLR is a reef tank. Ignore that little factoid at your own risk.

It should be clear enough by now what my opinion is. If you run the AC all the time and keep things cool, and/or if you're ready to deal will all the evaporation from other methods, then you won't need a chiller. Otherwise you'll be much better off if you have one.

By the way, a generator is something else you'll need. Hurricane Alley is no place to be a reefkeeper without electricity. Just check the Thrifty Nickel papers after a storm and you'll see what I mean; the most incredible bargains on reef stuff are plentiful indeed because folks without generators have to get rid of all their stuff before it rots.


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## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

Thanks for the second Opinion. How much am I looking at for a chiller to run a 55gal. tank? 

Got the generator. Learned after Charlie slammed us that night.


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## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

Also the tank I'm looking at buying also comes with this http://www.aquariumguys.com/eheimecco1.html used in a FW system. Any use for it in a salt system?


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## MaelStrom (Jun 24, 2007)

Well Im not so sure about his, but canister filters in SW become nitrate "factorys". If you have LR. LS and a protein skimmer,(I believe) thats sufficient filtration.


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## Fishboy93 (Jun 11, 2005)

Forgot to add that I lose about 1.5 gallons a day and have the AC at 80 during the day. The canisters useless. Save the money and use it to create a sump/refugium... EDIT: How long did you lose power in charlie. We were out for about a week. Made landfall a couple miles north.


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## ckeene9 (Jul 29, 2007)

Just until about 12:00 the next day. But momma has a health condition that doesn't allow her to do well in the heat.

I'll probably E-Bay the canister then if it's no good to use in SW and put it towards my protein filter.


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