anyone have ideas on a home made chiller..

[danno14]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1298621

 

[roscoe]

So true a well placed fan will help tremendously. I have 250w halides and dual 65w PC, k4,k3,seio 620, and 2 MJ 1200 and a 6'' fan to cool the tank in the warmest part of the house too. Temp never gets above 79 degrees.

 

[chadmace]

Not to step on any toes but since this is topic is for ideas on a DIY Chiller I think it should be more geared towards that than "a well placed fan" or "I dont need a chiller" When I was looking into getting a chiller this was about the only response I could get which is not helpful. The ambient temperature in my house is typically 60-70. In the summer I have 2 AC units I run in the same area as the tank. I have cooling/exhaust fans in my hood, fan across the sumps, and still have the chiller kicking on and off throughout the day to keep my tank at 78.

Using a lake to chill your tank like Dan is going for is brilliant...now all I need is a lake. I guess its time to break out the hose and make a DIY lake.

 

[mmn_usn]

Kinda hard for me to do the DIY lake... Apt living sucks.

When I get some time off I am going to tear apart my water cooler to see if I can make something out of it. I will make sure I take lots of pictures. I will try it on my 10 before I use it on my 55.

 

[danno14]

The DIY lake thing has merit, but at the expense of space and labor. If in an apartment, good luck! Even doing a chiller their has issues.

DIY Lake
Look around for different peoples experience with sinking a barrel full of water deep enough into the ground and putting a closed loop into it with fluid recirculating to the sump. LOTS of effort, and has to be DEEP!. Still would have limitations upon how much it could cool. D

 

[Sgtomko]

In Anthony Calfo's book he says point the fans so they pull the air off the tank, not blow over it. He seems to be pretty knowledgeable. Make sure you don't pull heat from your lights though.

I was thinking of just setting up a fan of 1/2" copper pipe in the room with my tank, if the air temp is below the tank temp that should work well. If you have an AC unit in the room, put em near that.

 

[achu]

beer cooler?

My place doesn't go above 85 degrees too many days a year (now that I've said that, I've probably jinxed myself!)

Could I either run my reactor tubing or return tubing temporarily through a cooler filled with cans of ice cold coke, root beer, soda, beer/drink of choice, lots of ice and water? I wonder if that would get the tank (and myself) through a few of the hot summer days?

 

[Sgtomko]

achu, that seems like a good idea to me. If it doesn't cool it enough, use a coil of tube in place of the small amount you already have. Be carefull not to cool your tank too much though. keeping it within a 2-3 degree range is recomended.

 

[burning2nd]

im still gonna go with a simple fan on a switch controlled by temp...

my rkII is set so the fan over my sump turns on at 80.9 and shuts off at 80.3
the heater runs at 80.1 and shuts off at 80.5

if your temp of the room can be controlled that is the best way.

 

[tallguy64]

Just a thought to improve the cooling and not to have a chance to turn it into a bactiria breading factory. Jsut my thoughts on this.

Make a closed loop system, Use some coils of copper pipe in your fridge then use some of the plastic waterline pipe to get it to your tank. and then in the tank use a small section of Stainless steel to drop in the tank or sump, glass tube or even a very thin walled plexi glass box, something that would decrease the amount of insulation that the plastic tube provides.

Plus closed loops imo Are better anyways. easier to control too.

Just a thought, i know plastic is a very good insulator so when you looking to change the