Chiller should not be kept in the cabinet, unless you have some DIY funnels channeling the hot air from the exhaust out of the cabinet. For 2 feet tank, just use fans to cool the tank. Unless you are keeping high grade shrimps then no choice, you will need a chiller. For nano tanks like 2 feet , 64L only, you will also be looking at alot more kick ins as the water volume cannot sustain low temperature for long.
If using fans however, the evaporation rate will be high and you are looking to top up at least 1-2 litres of water per day. That will also increase humidity resulting in mold around the house...
Last year, my 185L tank hovered around an average of 30-31 degrees without fan or chiller. Wanted to get an arctica 1/6 but given that my place has little to no ventilation, it will heat up the ambient temperature to more than 34 degrees. Sounds counter productive as the chiller will now need to double up to chill the tank in an already hot weather + hot room.
So far the smallest foot print chiller is Teco Nano 1/8 I think, but the design looks like it will accumulate alot of dust in the cage. Brand new around 700+. I have seen 2nd hand ones go for as low as $150. Talk about steep depreciation for 1-2 year old used chiller.
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