Ice for a chiller

[mwebber28]

I'm sure this has been thought of and tried but I cant find any info anywhere.

Has anyone ever froze some RO/DI water and added it to their sump on hot days like we have been experiencing?

My normal temp range is between 74-76. It has been up to 80 the last few days, thanks sun and sky lights. I have opened the doors to my sump area and put a fan by the door to help decrease the temp. This has had little to no effect though.

I was thinking about freezing some water to add to the sump and let it cool the tank water(I hope) to my normal range instead of just replacing my normal evaporation level. I currently add 1/2 to 1 gal a day. I was thinking about freezing 1/2 gal and replacing that way. . If my heater is set for 74 then it should in theory help maintain the bottom temp. Am I about to kill my stuff or will this work.

Any other ideas aside from spending $$$$ for a chiller that I would only use for a month out of the year?

 

[senji]

freeze water bottles or gatoraide bottle then plage in sump. my controller shuts down the light when temp reaches 83 deg.

 

[mwebber28]

freeze water bottles or gatoraide bottle then plage in sump. my controller shuts down the light when temp reaches 83 deg.

Great idea. See thats why I love this place so much. I got a couple bottles I'm going to fill now.

Thanks

 

[TJL]

I successfully used both methods for many years during our 2-week Summers here in Washington...lol before buying a chiller. I typically just added RO/DI ice cubes into overflow box a handfull at a time but when leaving the house would place frozen jug into sump. Sold my chiller last year so I'm curious to see if I'll need to this year with having LED's and an open top on new system. So far only has varied 77.4 - 78.6 but will have to wait and see what happens if/when we reach into the 90's.

Cheers, Todd

 

[mfinn]

I did the ice bottles for years also, before I bought a chiller.
I had several sets of 1 gallon jugs ( clorox bottle worked great) that I could swap out on really hot days. Even had my wife trained to check the tank temp during the day when she was home.

 

[jezzeaepi]

Might want to try a larger fan as well, and pointing it directly at the surface of your water in your display. This accomplishes two things. 1. blows the heat from your lights away. 2. The water surface in your display has the largest amount of surface are for the purpose of evaporative cooling. I have 500watts of light, a chiller, and one large fan. I get by most of the summer using just the fan so that the chiller doesn't have to kick on and heat up my living room.

If you are having 6 degree temperature swings during the day I would definitely try to get a handle on things because that is a bit much in our enclosed environments. Why do you keep your tank temp so low normally? I keep mine in the 78-80 range, so during the summer, even if it gets to 82, it not much different from normal so its not too bad.

 

[mwebber28]

Why do you keep your tank temp so low normally? I keep mine in the 78-80 range, so during the summer, even if it gets to 82, it not much different from normal so its not too bad.

I seem to get better results from my Acro's at that temp range.

 

[senji]

i keep my tank pinned at 79 with my reefkeeper.

 

[jezzeaepi]

I seem to get better results from my Acro's at that temp range.

Fair enough. Maybe ill try experimenting with a slightly cooler tank this winter.

 

[mwebber28]

Fair enough. Maybe ill try experimenting with a slightly cooler tank this winter.

I look forward to the results.

 

[seakingaquariums]

instead of spending on a chiller, just get an AC Unit or somehting for that room. That way you don't have to be burning hot while ur tank is nice and cool

I'm not sure what lighting set up you have, but one small thing is you could consider running your lights later at night if you have hallides. Usually towards the end of the day the temperature will stop rising, and u can run your lights then. During the day the lights will only add to the problem.

I'm also a supporter of a fan pointed At the surface of the water if that's possible . I've found in the past that this is really really really effective.

Whatever method you choose, try to get this done as soon as possible. corals are more sensitive to temperature than many people think.

 

[Ichthys]

Check out the thread where we discussed this a few months back

Summer is Here lets talk Heat Control

 

[mwebber28]

Check out the thread where we discussed this a few months back

Summer is Here lets talk Heat Control

Thanks for the info... great thread. im considering the led thing but am not sold on it yet. I need to see that Acro's can grow under them.

 

[senji]

this a friends tank under leds u tell me what u think

 

[senji]

 

[mwebber28]

Very nice. What does a set up like that run?

 

[senji]

that 1 was 144 leds and cost 1200 but was for 180g tank give me the specs of ur tank and ill give u a quote.

 

[Peppie]

I know that light system. It goes for more than $1200

 

[senji]

swore eric said 1200 but u know more than i do but remember leds are comming down in price fast

 

[mwebber28]

that 1 was 144 leds and cost 1200 but was for 180g tank give me the specs of ur tank and ill give u a quote.

I'm at work now but I'll shoot you a PM with my tank specs when I get home in the morning.