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Marcus 
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 Topic: DYI chiller
Posted: July 22 2003 at 1:51am |
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Does anyone know of any inexpensive ways to cool water? I need to get my water temp down to 70 or close to it. It would be for a 125 gallon tank.
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mdawson8931
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 2:00am |
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Hey Marcus, what the heck are you doing up at this time of night, its 11am here so its got to be 3am there!? hehe Seriously though, I had heard of some one plumbing in a small fridge to cool their tank down.
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Mike
Layton, Ut.
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Marcus
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 2:05am |
Oh, you know us fish nerds. I need to get a life. Ryan and I (more him than me) helped our buddy set up his first 55 gal tank at midnight tonight.
I have heard about the refrig thing but I don't have enough room for a frig and it would probably cost the same as buying a chiller.
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mdawson8931
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 2:08am |
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Space is definaly a concern, Although I'v seen a frig for a 6pack of soda before. Not sure how well it works or the cost. I do know that the small frig I'm thinking about only runs about 60 bucks but like you said, its not a small item. Just a though I had. I'v plumbed my refugium in my basement so I'm hoping heats not going to be an issue for me.
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Mike
Layton, Ut.
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Kahuna
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 2:27am |
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Marcus, could you discretely run a line through your kitchen fridge? Is this for the octupus or shark tank?
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Cell 801 860-7333
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scroll
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 3:21am |
I would just drop a few ice cubes in 1 or 2 times daily.
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just my 3 cents shy of a nickel. Ryan 897-2000
1 125 gallon reef
1 120 gallon reef tank and stand custom built by MSM
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mdawson8931
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 3:37am |
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Thats a good idea too. lol its always the easiest solutions. I'd just get a plastic cup, fill and freeze it. I'd bet that a cube that large would last a bit of time.
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Mike
Layton, Ut.
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jfinch
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 6:35am |
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I've heard of using a couple two liter pop bottles filled with water (frozen) floating in the sump. That way you don't mess with the salinity. But 70°F? I don't think anything short of a very large chiller will do that.
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Marcus
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 6:48am |
Mike, I wish I had the room. Whatever I do has to fit under the stand.
Krik, its for the shark tank. I rent this condo so I can't "modify " the fridge. But good idea. Plus its about 20 twenty feet away.
Ryan, that just sounds like more hard work to me. I want to build or buy something and not have to deal with it again.
Jon, I know, its cold. Seventy is the warmest it can be according to Scott Michael's book "Sharks and Rays" 55-70 is recommemded.
I sure sound pesimistic (sp.). Like I am shooting all these ideas down. Sorry guys.
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rfoote
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 6:56am |
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Marcus
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 7:02am |
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that guy is nuts!!
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rfoote
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 7:50am |
Marcus - You would have to do the math to figure how many to cool your 125, and I don't know what the cost is. However this is kind of cool.
http://www.coolworksinc.com/iceprobe.htm
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Sarnack
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Posted: July 22 2003 at 10:12am |
The iceprobes are about $150 without the controller, and they are for smaller aquariums. A single IceProbe can cool 10 gallons of water 6-8F below ambient air temperature in a standard aquarium. And in a 55 gallon I doubt it would drop the temp more than one or two degrees...
I have read about people experimenting with fridges but they just dont work. You have to have a large coil of tube in the fridge to allow enough time for the water to cool as it passes through. Most people use plastic tube to do this and it is not a great conductor of heat. You could use stainless steel or titanium but it would be cost prohibitive.
So, I think your only option is to bite the bullet and buy a commercial chiller...
Dave
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Marcus
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Posted: July 23 2003 at 12:45am |
I bought a $7 clip-on fan from Wal-Mart and attached it to my sump. The temp is now down to 74 deg. I think this will be sufficient for now. I'm planning on putting an open top wet/dry on the system also and that will help as long as my room temp is below 74 deg.
Thank you to all who have suggested resolutions to this issue.
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Brad A.
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Posted: July 23 2003 at 5:48pm |
On reefs.org DIY section some guy got the DIY award of the month for his idea of taking one of those small dorm refridgerators and putting his UV stearlizer in the fridge! Cut holes in the sides etc.. He says it pulled his 200 g from 85 to 70? Pretty kewl if it works. Ii thought about winding the return tubing as much as possible inside the fridge for more surface area. He also says he has left over room for frozen fish food.
Hook up a temp controller to the fidge and see if it works.
later
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Shane H
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Posted: July 23 2003 at 7:45pm |
Marcus,
I saw one of those window mount a/c units at a garage sale and thought of you and your post. You could insulate the heck out of your stand and install an a/c unit to cool the sump area. These units do produce a lot of heat externally though. Just a thought ...
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jfinch
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Posted: July 23 2003 at 8:40pm |
FWIW, a long time ago I recall running the heat transfer calcs for this and a small dorm fridge was not capable of removing any significant heat from a typical reef aquarium (maybe it would work on a mini?). But don't let me discourage you... I'd love to see the results of a project like this. One of those window mount AC units might work if you could work out how to capture all the cooling (I think you'd want to do away with the fan and somehow incorporate the freon coils in a heat exchanger design).
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Marcus
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Posted: July 23 2003 at 9:27pm |
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I'll check into the window a/c unit. Thanks!
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Brad A.
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Posted: July 24 2003 at 3:28am |
Guess this guy is fudging the truth then?
http://www.reefs.org/library/diy/diy13.html
Somebody at reefs.org liked the idea????
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mdawson8931
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Posted: July 24 2003 at 3:57am |
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Just a thought I had. I run fairly high performance PC's and instead of relying on the fans to keep them cool, I run a piece of flexible ducting from my house vent to the intake on my pc's. Of course this only works if you have central air but then again I dont now why it wouldnt work with a window unit. Kept my machines frigidaire cold though.
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Mike
Layton, Ut.
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