Is a chiller absolutely necessary?

[BBkidLy]

My girlfriend and I keep the house at 64-68 degrees, nice and frosty. She wants me to create a reef tank for her (to my delight). I've owned and kept up various freshwater tanks for years (up to 55 gallons only though). She wants as big as she can get in her house (for a reasonable amount). Right now it is between a 125-175 rectangular tank or a 92 gallon corner tank.

Is a chiller required for a house which is kept a lot colder than normal?

- BB, the kid of Ly.


PS: How much would it take on average to setup a 92 or 125 gallon tank. Any input would be appreciated. And for the record, this project will hopefully take shape in 6-12 months. Plenty of time to plan and prepare.

[three90s&125sump]

The chiller deal will be dependant upon your lighting. if you have 400watt MH, you will almost certainly need a chiller. If you have VHO then you will almost certainly not need a chiller.

I have about 10K wrapped up in my system so far. Butch has roughly 8K into his 90 gallon system. Casey had about 20K in his system. You can definitly do one for much cheaper than that.