Aquarium Chillers??

Hello all on BNW

Due to the recent hot weather in south Australia over the new year I am redesigning my colony tanks and one of the major factors I need to address is providing stable temperature in my 400l tank during those 30 to 40 degree days.

Now I have a few more specific questions which are.


Are chillers the best way to provide reliable temperatures in the aquariums when outside temps push about 28 degrees?

Which are the best brands of aquarium chillers.

How costly are they to run? I have not been able to find specific power consumption for models sold online ( is there any way to calculate costs or is there anybody with past experience?)

I have looked into portable air on units for my fish area but I thought it would be cheaper and more reliable if I had a chiller on my tank instead of cooling the entire room.


Any tales, experience and knowledge would be fantastic...

chillers are def the best option. I'll sus some power figures today on ours at work and let you know.

Thanks Doug,

I had thought about calling Matt up and asking about his that runs on his reef tank.

I am in South Australia aswell , and have a big tank with gold fish ,and BNs .The problem i have is that the temp in the tank stays around 25 -27 degrees all year round . I know this isn't ideal for the Gold Fish , but seems ok for the BN , what temp would be lowest and safeish for the BNs to handle , so i can keep the Gold fish happier ? How much are these chillers and where did u get one ? Thanks in advance

you get chillers from any decent aquarium store, tho normally they have order them in for you.

your lowest temp is about 22-23 i reckon, goldies are fine at 26.

Thanks for the reply , i guess i may aswell leave things as is ,as u said lowest would be 22-23 and goldies fine at 26 ,so i guess there is a happy medium I want my Bns to breed at some time ,but nothing yet. would it be better to remove goldies ?

Hey Doug,

Good info, I worked out a medium size Chiller (400L rated) to cost about 20 cents an hour which is a nice price to pay for the piece of mind over those really hot days.

Ill look into one for next hot season.


@slopps: if your trying to get your bns to breed 26 degrees is fine but it would be worth considering moving them (or the goldies) to another tank as the goldfish are a very mouthy type of fish that like to nibble everything from what I've seen which means that the bns are likely to be scared of breeding or the fry will likely be chomped on when leaving the cave.

Also there have been many cases of peoples goldfish getting fin rot due to their bristlenose tank mates eating the goldfish's slime coating leaving them susceptible to infection. ( this may not be the case all the time but I've had a very upset friend because of this)

Hope this helps.

Thanks Morice , i am agonising over which way to go lol , the tank in question is my feature in the lounge room ,and I enjoy watching all the different fish in the tank . If I take the goldies out , I was thinking of putting all the BNs i have in the one tank and add heaps of plants , and maybe add some mollies for colour . What would be a good male BN to female Bn ratio if I decide to make it an all BN tank ? Thanks in advance