fridge or wine cooler ?

[Allmost]

anyone still do automated feeding ?

my NPS tank is in my room and the mini fridge makes too much noise. would a wine chiller work ?

what is the smallest mini fridge that would make less noise ? 3 Cu ?

 

[bues0022]

I'm tagging along because I have similar questions.

 

[SantaMonica]

I do a wine chiller with powdered food mixed with water and sodium alginate to keep it from settling in the chiller. Stays good for over a month.

 

[Allmost]

I do a wine chiller with powdered food mixed with water and sodium alginate to keep it from settling in the chiller. Stays good for over a month.

links ? pics ? more info ?

lol I have tried alot of them, they either cant get the temp down to about 1 degree, from room temp. or they freeze.

let us know about your set up.

 

[herring_fish]

I have seen old pictures of the SM setup but I am interested in how it is working and seeing more pics. It sounds good so far.

I bought a glass front beverage cooler, not knowing that they don't get cold enough so I bought a replacement thermostat and hope to change it out when I have time. The upside is that it looks like it has the same sized compressor that a regular mini-frig has so I hope that it will work at lower temperatures. The down side is that it is just as loud as well. Mine is in the garage so the noise doesn't matter.

 

[GreshamH]

Depends on what you are trying to dose... some products require cooler temps than others. For refrigerated liquid feeds I would not depend on a TEC wine cooler, especially since wine coolers are NOT set cool enough to keep refrigerated feeds... wine gets chilled above the highest recommended temp for refrigerated feeds.

 

[bues0022]

Do you have any recommendations? Also, when you state that some foods need to be cooler than others, can you elaborate on that?

 

[SantaMonica]

My current wine cooler tends to freeze on non-summer nights, so I leave the top open with a stirring stick in it. It's a non-brand wine chiller, and was $20 on the bay a few years ago. You probably have to try several chillers to find one you like. Mine in particular has to be put on "full cold", otherwise it will cycle on and off and make clicking noise. In full-cold mode, there is no clicking, just the fan sound. But it will freeze the food sometimes.

Current mix:

30 ml dried copepods ($)
10 ml dried phyto ($$)
10 ml dried arctipods ($$)
10 ml dried rotifers ($$)
1/2 teaspoon sodium alginate powder ($)
16 ounces water

Blend, refrigerate overnight, blend again, and put in chiller.

I get the pods from AquacultureNurseryFarms.com, and the alginate from WillPowder.com/sodiumAlginate.html (alginate is from algae). I've found the big advantage of powdered foods compared to liquid foods is that it almost does not smell at all (only a bit like hay), and it does not seem to ever go bad in the chiller, even after 6 weeks. Just have to stir it every few days. The "going bad" and the "fish smell" are probably what would stop most people from using open wine coolers; I did it for 4 years. Now, with the powder, you can't tell it's there at all.

These are the last pics before the inhabitants of the cracked tank will be moved to a poly tub with "top down" viewing only.

 

[Allmost]

found a Thermoelectric Technology mini fridge !

no noise no compressor, no vibration, its like a foot away from my bed !

long weekend coming up here so gonna be busy drilling it

thank you everyone.

 

[herring_fish]

Does it get down to 34 degrees?

 

[Allmost]

Well plugged it in last night and this morning it was prety cold lol havent used the thermometer yet though.

I think Uhuru [Mike] was using the same type of fridge, with no compressor.

but good point I will be sure to measure the temp before attempting to cut it open

 

[herring_fish]

So I hope that you will post pictures as you build. Also, what is the model number of it?

 

[bues0022]

^ I am also curious the make/model. No noise is a great thing with a SW tank - it reduces things my wife can complain about!

 

[Allmost]

it was "koolatron" the brand.

on the manual it sais it can go max 40 F under room temp. I just saw that.

Im gonna wait before I drill it, at least a couple of days and measure the temp in the afternoon when the T5s of my SPS reef heat up the place. see how it is.

its all in my room so too messy for pics now, but I will start a thread once things are set up and cleaned up

 

[bues0022]

Winter might be ok, but in the summer if your ambient temp is ~80F, it would only bring it down to 40F - and that would be working the butt off that thing also.

If there's enough room maybe you could give it some "help" by putting a block of ice inside also?

 

[Allmost]

hmm you might be right about the summer thing ! it would consume way too much electricity then as well. and probably heat up the place more too ... I do run AC in summer to keep things cool but still.

Ice could work but it would be more work which Im trying to automate lol

time to experiment Im gonna heat up the place this weekend and see how it goes. if it cant hold, Im gonna try a regular compressor mini fridge to see if I can stand the noise and vibrations ... gotta love the return policy haha


thank you guys for all the advice, much appreciated.

 

[GreshamH]

Do you have any recommendations? Also, when you state that some foods need to be cooler than others, can you elaborate on that?

Sure...

Some are preserved in a greater manor then others. In the case of Reef Nutrition feeds, we employee a very light preservation and thus temperature is a greater concern then let's say, Kent Marine products.