DIY CHillers

[adamc1303]

My water temp is to hot, I can not afford a chiller at the moment and do not have room for one anyway. I posted this about 2 months ago and got the cpu fan Idea, that didn't work out to well. The refiridgerator idea is way to complicated for me to. Does any one know of any other DIY chillers or methods on cooling water. Tank size 90 gallon and I run a sump setup wet/dry. Anything will help.

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:help: :help:

 

[adamc1303]

Not all at once!

 

[mpls man]

what are you running for lighting?? do you have a canopy??..I have a 75 gal reef with 542 watts and the temp keeps at 80*, i have 2-4" fans blowing both in, with the back of the canopy open, with the fans blowing in that causes evaporation and is replaced with ro water .. what type of setup do you have ?? this will help for other people to help as well.

 

[adamc1303]

I sis a 90 gallon fish only setup and I do have a canopy. I had the fans blowing down, and also out.

 

[adamc1303]

How do you have them installed. I only have flourecent lighting since it is a fish only tank.

 

[mpls man]

I have my 4" fans mounted in the sides, both blowing in, if you have fans in the sides,i would have them blowing in as well, if you have fans on the top, have them blowing out because heat rises, there for the heat will go to the top, you shouldn't have any problems with just ps, unless there isn't enough room for the heat excape, try those ideas?

 

[adamc1303]

How do you mount them, if it just against the canopy then they don't blow that much air because they do not have where to get the air. It sort of chokes the fan, I know people cut squares in the canopy but I want to avoid that.

 

[daveb]

You can go buy a small 5000 btu window AC unit for less than a $100 almost anywhere. Set it up so it blows cold air into the cabinet where your sump is. I have had a setup like this now for over 8 months. Works great. I did buy a Medusa Temperature Controller to control it, but even before I got that, I just used a timer and had the AC unit come on with my MH lighting. It keeps my tank temp at 79 degrees, 24/7, with only a 1 degree temp fluctuation.
Dave

 

[adamc1303]

What would you do if you can not get to the back of the cabinet because it is like 3 inches away from the wall it is against? Is there a way of maybe geting the cold air into a tube, like the type people use on their druyers to blow the air out the window?

 

[mpls man]

here is a pic of my canopy....

 

[daveb]

Exactly, just duct it to the cabinet.

 

[adamc1303]

Duct what? the tank is aginst the wall. SO say I would have the ac beside the stand how would I get the air? there are sytems that fit over the whole ac vent. it has to be at least 14 inches wide?

 

[daveb]

Go to a hardware store, you will find all sorts of shapes and sizes of ducting for air conditioning in homes, you can fabricate something that will work just fine, I promise.
Dave

 

[carshark]

yeah hey I like this thread its good for people to learn. but I guess here is my question. he mentioned that he has a fish only tank, with flourescents. what kind of flourecents? Normal output? if so, why would he need heat displacement? what about his heater itself? that thing could be going bad. might wanna check your heater first....

 

[adamc1303]

The Flourescents are not the problem and the heater is off. I live in a condo on the second floor so it gets very hot in the apt when the ac is not during the day. Thats all it is. I am going to the home depot today to see what we can do.

 

[carshark]

yeah hey I like this thread its good for people to learn. but I guess here is my question. he mentioned that he has a fish only tank, with flourescents. what kind of flourecents? Normal output? if so, why would he need heat displacement? what about his heater itself? that thing could be going bad. might wanna check your heater first....
Originally Posted by Adamc1303
How do you have them installed. I only have flourecent lighting since it is a fish only tank.
edit: somehow post got misplaced, but i see now that it isnt the lighting thats the problem. how hot is it in your house?

 

[adamc1303]

The tank creeps up to 84 easy

 

[benter]

He doesn't run his A.C. during the day...Maybe the simplest fix would be just to try and run the A.C. you have in the apartment before you go and buy one just to run the fish tank..what would you do with the condensate as it drips everywhere..and it would probably not be much difference in the cost to run the apt. one all day vs. running a small one on the tank. IMO

 

[adamc1303]

Guys I adjusted my cpu fans and the temp droped to 76 in about 12 hours. So I now have my heater set at 79 between the fans and the thermostat on the heater I will see what happens wthis weekend. Thanks for all te help.

 

[offshore80]

I run a chiller on my 300 gallon system. It was all the power heads and mag pumps heating up my water not my PC's. I saw a guy who had a 155 gallon tank with the same problem all his pumps were transfering there heat. He took a dorm size refrigerator and drilled an inlet and outlet hole in the side. Put a mag pump in the sump and about 10' of 3/4 hose and coiled it in the Fridge. turned on the fridge and pumped the water through the hose then back into the tank. It seems to work very well. If my chiller goes out. I'm doing that.