Chiller necessary for planted tank?

[Shadow]

you need to turn on your fan 24 hours, give it a try. What is you ambient temperature? fan should be able to reduce 2 to 3 degree from ambient temperature.

[naturalmystic]

Hi Robert,

I did switched on my fans 24*7 for 2 weeks during the cycling stage and noticed that the temperature dipped by ~2C.
Anyway, there are lots of plants that can survive 30C, my tank is full of them
Guess it's ideal for discus, warm water and slightly acidic

[Aquaculture]

Guess your ambient temperature is quite hot to start with. I had a spot in the house that is always hot.... don't understand why. Had a change of fengshui position to a wall that has never met the sun & far away from the window, my 422 is being cooled to a temperature of 25 degrees by a single fan.

[doubleace]

25+ ? so you mean the water temp was 27-28 without the fan on? it's pretty low already. what is your tank size, and what lighting using?

my tank 4x2x2 with fan on for 24 hours and lighting is 4 x 54W

[Binks]

My 18 inch cube has two fans switched on all the time 24X7. The temperature dropped by 2 degrees centigrade after I installed the fans.

But mine is a smaller tank compared to yours and it has only 36X2 watt PLs, I guess thats why it's more effective.

[leechaorui]

I add ice cubes into the tank twice a day. I think it helps to some extent.

[Joseph*]

if you can choose a spot where the ambient temperature is low and you can maintain 25°, then should be fine. I find that 25° is a good temperature to get very nice looking plants. If the ambient temp is like 30° (like mine) then I think have to get a chiller to hit 25°. with fan alone I can only hit 26.5°(rarely) on the coldest day.

Whether chiller is necessary or not, is depend on what kind of standard you want for your plants.