DIY Chiller. Copper tubing bad?

[ray0266]

Hi everyone. My new lumatek digital ballasts and t5 lights came in and after installation my water temps have risen for a few degrees. I now have a total of 1170 watts of lighting. So I decided to do another DIY project installing a chiller to keep the temps down. As always, I am going to use what is sitting in the garage and collecting dust.
I have a few choices:
First is to use a Coleman 40 Quart PowerChill Thermoelectric Cooler. I can use this cooler to run my tank water through some tubing inside the cooler and use the rest of the space to keep my reef food refrigerated.
Second is to use a regular water cooler unit and basically do the same thing, running the tank water through it.
Or, I can combine both and get more chilling power for hot summer days.
My question is this. Is it safe to run saltwater through copper tubing or should I use something else? Is there any other material with good conductive properties to use?
Thanks.

 

[Tucson Reef]

Copper is deadly unless its lined, but even then I would not trust it. Now just my oppinion from my experience, buy a chiller thats made for your size and for chilling a reef tank. DIY is great, I used to make my own stand, tank and lighting set ups, fun, yes but seldom saved money. A chiller IMO should have titanium tubing, copper that is coated could break down over time. A chiller made for a reef tank might have more up front cost but will save in the long run by efficeincy and safety.

 

[ray0266]

well thats good to know. thanks.
You just gave me an idea. The coleman chiller uses a perlite block for heat exchange. I should be able to mount the chilling side of the perlite directly on to my sump's glass. (on the ouside where there is no contact with water).
That would be easy, no tubing and small. i have not much room left to work with.
Thanks again for the info.

 

[ray0266]

Tucson Reef,
I know I am going to end up building one and buying one at the end. But what would you recommend to get to cool down 165 gallons of water?
Thnx.

 

[Tucson Reef]

I like JBL's Artica, quite, low profile, titanium, nice digi display thats user calibratable (is that a real word?). Use this site to get a general idea

http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod_chiller_size.asp

But you'll find other people that like other brands, so look around, remember, expensive is not always the best but cheap also does not always save money

 

[ADVRESOURCE]

I have a 240g reef tank. I have a 1/2 hp chiller with immersible wand that goes in the sump. It works extremely well.

 

[jjk_reef00]

+1 for JBJ Artica chillers. I have a 1/3 hp on 120 gallons of water and it works great. It is also nice to have a large LCD display to easily check the current watter temperature.