Questions about chillers

[Tofumushrooman]

Hey all just wanted to say a big THANKS for all the support in gettign my tank set up and running big thanks to Mike(nuuze) and Steve(funman1).

Question about chillers. I was thinking of possibly getting a small one for the summer, but was wondering if i could get a smaller than what is "recommended" and get a 1/15 hp or somethign smaller for my 58. As of now i have never had a problem in keeping the tank cool, i have a large (and loud) fan in the canopy that helps to evaporate plenty and keep the tank cool.

Would this work? what are yalls thoughts about it? Im looking to buy in the next 2 to 3 months probably so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Joe

 

[wpnorton]

IF you've never had a problem...Why worry about it. If you think a Chiller might be quieter than the Loud Fan, you might want to consider it. The chiller would draw considerably more power and might not be worth the expense. My advice is to stick with the fan or find a quieter fan for you cooling if it works.

 

[boviac]

I have a 1/5 HP in-line chiller on my 50 gal tank with about maybe 12 gal sump/fuge. I take my glass lids off the top in the summer and let my self-made canopy fans (installed to cool my PC lights) to assist in evaporative cooling. I tend to let my AC only run when the house gets it the mid 80's and subsequently I have the chiller kick on at 82.0 to 81.0. Mine still runs quite frequently in the summer since my house temps are higher and I use a submersible return pump. The fans minimize the heat from the PC lights. But my tank still gets warm fast. This does help in the winter however.

I wouldn't use a 1/15 HP chiller on anything bigger than a 10 or 20 gal tank unless you already have the air space around it conditioned to near tank temperature. I know of some people who put frozen 2lt bottles in their sump during the hot parts of the day to help minimize the heat rise. I may try that too to minimize chiller run-time cost.

1) figure out what max air temp of the room in which you are keeping your tank,

2) decide the maximum water temp you want your tank to reach,

3) use your tank volume and add up all the other little heat loads, small ph's, lights, etc,

4) get an engineer that understands thermal mass transfer and then buy 1.5x size chiller than what they would recommend.

IOW - go with the recommended sizes.

HTHs.

Buying and undersized chiller will cost you more in the long run with excessive runtime and will simply wear out faster.

I'm all for alternative methods of cooling though but I doubt I would still be in the hobby without my chiller.

 

[BlueCorn]

Another consideration is that chillers don't "remove" heat. They transfer it from the tank to the air around the chiller. Having the chiller in the same room as the tank raises the air temperature of the room, causing to tank to warm, and the chiller to run longer, raising the air temperature of the room......

My chiller is in my garage, which is behind the wall that the tank sits in front of.

 

[boviac]

Yeah - I face that problem but I rent and don't have much choice - but you should see my house designs!!! Tank rooms with chillers outside - da works!

 

[tcoral]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12138118#post12138118 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boviac
I have a 1/5 HP in-line chiller on my 50 gal tank with about maybe 12 gal sump/fuge. I take my glass lids off the top in the summer and let my self-made canopy fans (installed to cool my PC lights) to assist in evaporative cooling. I tend to let my AC only run when the house gets it the mid 80's and subsequently I have the chiller kick on at 82.0 to 81.0. Mine still runs quite frequently in the summer since my house temps are higher and I use a submersible return pump. The fans minimize the heat from the PC lights. But my tank still gets warm fast. This does help in the winter however.

I wouldn't use a 1/15 HP chiller on anything bigger than a 10 or 20 gal tank unless you already have the air space around it conditioned to near tank temperature. I know of some people who put frozen 2lt bottles in their sump during the hot parts of the day to help minimize the heat rise. I may try that too to minimize chiller run-time cost.

1) figure out what max air temp of the room in which you are keeping your tank,

2) decide the maximum water temp you want your tank to reach,

3) use your tank volume and add up all the other little heat loads, small ph's, lights, etc,

4) get an engineer that understands thermal mass transfer and then buy 1.5x size chiller than what they would recommend.

IOW - go with the recommended sizes.

HTHs.

Buying and undersized chiller will cost you more in the long run with excessive runtime and will simply wear out faster.

I'm all for alternative methods of cooling though but I doubt I would still be in the hobby without my chiller.

I was just about ready to get a 1/15 hp for my 30 gallon with MH. Do you think this will be too small?

 

[kevin95695]

The smaller the chiller, the more often it will likely run, and when it does, it will also likely run longer.

 

[bladeruner143]

Good info Beerguy! I was just going to say that. I think going with fans is a better thing for you right now and using that money towards a quality skimmer. A couple well placed, quality fans go a long way towards keeping your tank cool, esp if you have a large canopy (not sure what size yours is)

 

[Brian Prestwood]

Evaporative Cooling

Evaporative Cooling

For the ultimate in evaporative cooling, leave the lid on and blow air through the air space between the lid and water line. From the pictures below you can see the tubes on the left side have fans that blow air in and the fans on the right side have fans that suck it out.

I took one of my lid plates out and replaced it with two panels with holes for the tubes.

I recently switched it to one tube per side and larger quieter fans.

 

[Nuuze]

No problem Joe!

I say try better fans route first before a chiler like few others mentioned. In my experience, a fan blowing air across the tank between tank and lights make a huge difference.

Last summer I tried it with a cheap $9 Honneywell fan from Walmart. My chiller normally comes on for 10-15 minutes every hour or so in the middle of summer. When I connected the fan to come on with my halides the chiller came on once or twice a day.

If you decide you go chiller route due to high evaporation then I would at least go 1/10 for shorter run time because your room will get a few degrees warmer than it is. Do you have any ventilation or AC in the room the tank is in?

 

[Tofumushrooman]

Yeah im in an apartment actually i can turn the ac on if i need to but ofc the power bill is already climbing due to the increasin amount of water in my house haha. Im thinking that a combination of a fan (im raising the normal oceanic canopy with 4 custom legs), and possibly ice 2L (never heard using 2L in the sump but thats a great idea).

I really appreciate the info i agree getting a bigger one now and only having it run for shorter spurts would be much more efficient.

Does anyone have a good recommendation for in canopy fans? i have whatever one they give you with a coralife MH retro and its loud(loudest thing in the tank from what i can tell) Just throwing the Q out there in case anyone has a good suggestion.

Oh and very cool design with the pipes. I will have to keep somethign like that in mind when i get around to setting my 150 back up i really like the idea if you hide them in the canopy/structure.

Beerguy thanks for that info! it sounds like a chiller in my current setup would almost be counter intuitive.

Again I want to thank EVERYONE who has chimed in and helped out I really appreciate it!

Joe