Chilling my tank

[Fmellish]

I have a 140 gallons of total volume that I need chilled. The temperature of this volume would range from 77-85F but with the aid of a heater I have narrowed that range to 82-85F.

I have tried fans in the stand and/or canopy and have had some success, but the resultant evaporation and condensation prove too much of a problem. My hinges are rusting, the fans are rusting, and I evaporate too much water every day.

So I am considering getting a chiller, however I have some questions:

1) Isn't a chiller inefficient by nature? The pump to run the chiller only adds heat to the water volume that the chiller must then in turn cool down. And doesn't a chiller use a condensor that will add heat to my room in order to cool down the water?
2) How much heat will be added to my room and how much noise for the new pump and the chiller itself?
3) If I tend to run my house's air conditioning during the hotter months, isn't the chiller working against me only adding heat to the room, and if I use my house's A/C, then could reducing the ambient room temperature be enough to not need a chiller?
4) Are items 1-3 enough of an issue to say that a chiller isn't a good solution?
5) How large of a chiller would I need to maintain 140 gallons of water volume at 79 degrees farenheit considering an ambient room temperature of 76 - 79F, and (2) 250W MH lights on for 6 hours per day plus a skimmer pump, plus a return pump, plus a chiller pump?

You can visit my tank blog using the little red house icon above. Realize this install is in the middle of my living quarters and I have managed to design a silent system. I would hate to lose that quality, although if I do use a chiller it would obviously have to sit outside of my stand.


All opinions and advice welcome.

Thanks
Josh

 

[WarDaddy]

how to size a chiller

looks like you will need a 1/4 hp chiller

yes the chiller removes heat from your tank and sends into the room, however, the chiller is removing the heat from the water that your lights put in the water. It is ineffecient for you house AC to try and cool your water volume, you just can not get enough cooler air around the water to reverse the heat you are adding withthe lights. So the chiller takes the heat out of the water and places it in the air, where your house AC can effeciently cool it. Afterall that is what your AC is designed for, cooling air

You can run a chiller off a pretty small pump, the chiller wants 480 gallons per hour... that is something like a Quietone 2000, small effecient quiet pump, and not too hot at all.

The only way to cool without the chiller is through evaporation, and that means top off water. Store your top off water in the cabniet to the left of the tank, you know the cabniet with the zip ties to keep Mike's kids out of them.

My tank is hitting 81, i have added a couple fans, increased the heater settings for a low temp of 78, so the swing is smaller, it was going from 75 to 81, too much.

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks Bryan

Do you like your chiller? How loud is it?

Thanks
Josh

 

[WarDaddy]

I love it, it is running on my Horse tank, keeps that tank at 74 all the time.

I would say it runs about 15 minutes every hour. It shoulds like a quiet fridge, or a gaming computer. I hear a quiet hum when it is on, and if you are near it, you can feel the heat.

 

[NicoleC]

1) Which is why you vent, if at all possible.
2) Depends on the chiller and how often it runs.
3) If you run your house AC low enough to compensate for the extra heat generated by the tank lights, pumps, etc., then yes. But that's pretty cold.
4) No, but you should certainly explore other options in addition to a chiller to reduce, if not eliminate, chiller usage. For example, improving house insulation to help keep the temp down plus the fans, etc. you mentioned. A good set of cellular blinds provides more insulation than almost anything else you can do with your windows. Or, you can put any/all of the lights, fans, skimmer pumps, etc. on a temp controller, so the fans don't run all the time. Or you can run a late night light cycle, or an early morning one.

The way I look at it, the chiller is insurance -- I don't WANT the chiller to run, but I want it to run if it needs to.

Better ventilation will solve all the fan issues you had save top-off -- evarporation means it's working! Install a small stand-alone top-off unit with a 5g bucket in back (or whatever is the appropriate size to handle a really bad day of evaporation whithout being so much that a float switch failure will dramatically change the salinity in your tank) and fill it up nightly.

 

[coralGoodie]

I would suggest you getting a chiller. I got mine 3 weeks ago before it started to warm up. I set my chiller to 82 deg. My room temp reaches 75 during the day but I hardly notice that my chiller is kicking in. My hetaer was set to 76 but for some reason it kicks in when them temp reaches 80 so what I did was I replaced the heater with a more reliable one. I need to check tonight if it works.

I'm also happy with my chiller. If have bought one a year earlier, I oculd have saved my nice Tree coral. Now, my fish and corals are happy, thriving and propagating.

 

[Fmellish]

Thanks Nicole, thanks coralGoodie.

I am also looking into a patio cover to shade the back (west facing) side of my house, (where the tank is). Between 1:00 PM and 7:00 PM it is hotter than hell on the back of my house. Hopefully a patio cover can shave 5-10 degrees off of the ambient temp in the back of the house and allow me to look out the windows without being blinded.

Josh

 

[NicoleC]

My patio cover out back (east) is soooo helpful! I can't cover the living room side where the tank is (west); too bad.

 

[mmoore0803]

hey......quit pickin on my kids

I knew u only put those on when the 2 terrors come over

 

[Fmellish]

No no, I put those on to keep Bryan out of my cabinets. I just forgot to take off the zip ties when you always came over Mike.

 

[mmoore0803]

sure you did......that must be why they are always off when we show up unannounced eh?

 

[Fmellish]

There are a lot of things that are "off" when you show up unannounced.