IceProbe Chiller

[mykgillespie]

Has anybody ever used the IceProbe Thermoelectric chiller before. I'm planning on setting up a 24 gallon and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this chiller, any likes or dislikes? I'd like to drill it into a CPR Bak Pak, any idea if the probe would be too big to do this? I hate having equipment in my aquariums, especially something this small. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and ideas.
Myk.

 

[justinx]

I have heard good things about it. BUT . . . I am almost positive that it would not fit into a bak pak. What kind of lights are you planning on running? I run 2x75w VHO with a ballast mounted in the canopy over my 20H and I dont have ANY heat issues. It has been over 80 here, and all I do is prop open the canopy.
HTH
Justin

 

[mykgillespie]

I plan on doing an open top with a Giesmann 150W Halide pendant a couple of feet over the top of it. Also, I think you're right about the IceProbe unfortunately. I'll have to try to find another way to hide it.

 

[justinx]

You wont even need one with a pendant. Set it up with all the equipment and only water . . . nothing living, and let it run for a couple days. I am willing to bet that your water temps will be fine.

 

[mykgillespie]

I agree with you on that. The reason for the chiller though was mainly that I was concerned with the small volume of the tank that temperture swings could be an issue. Where I live in New England, the weather can be 68 and rainy today and 86 and sunny later today! What I plan on doing is running the chiller and a titanium heater off of a Medusa controller to try to keep things as constant as possible. I'm sure keeping the tank warm will not be an issue, but if the ambiant room temp. gets too high I would like to have the chiller in place to maintain consistancy, or at least slow the rise in temp.

 

[justinx]

Do you have AC? Water takes much longer to heat than it does to cool with the use of fans, so keep that in mind. If you know that it is going to be really hot one day, then dont turn the lights on, or shorten the photoperiod.

 

[mykgillespie]

Very true, I'd like to have one anyway though just in case. Maybe I'm just trying to justify getting one so I can feel like I have money and tell people that I run a chiller on my tank Plus I'll have to convince my wife of it's importance! Also, I was looking some stuff up, and instead of the Bak Pak, I think I'll use an AquaClear 500 to hold the chiller, heater, probe, thermometer, and to run carbon on occasion. Instead of using the Bak Pak as my skimmer, I'll use an AquaC Remora with the pre-skimmer box. For circulation I can use an Aquaclear 301. The Remora pre-skimmer and the AC 301 are black and the AC 500 intake tube is somewhat clear, so this should hopefully satisfy my need for not seeing a lot of gear in the display aquarium. Any other suggestions?