Seeking advice on chiller

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saltwaterchris

Guest
I need to purchase a chiller for my 75g reef tank. My MH lights are making it very difficult to control the temp especially with summer around the corner. My 75g tank has been running for 15 months and I am just now setting up a sump beneath the 75g. It appears that there are two types of chillers...drop in and in line. I think a drop in would be nice as I do not have to buy another pump to run water through the chiller. On the other hand the drop in seems to be quite a bit more money. I would also like a dual stage monitor (built in?) to control chiller and heater. Does a drop in have a probe? Is it placed in the sump or the display tank?
Looking for advice....thanks in advance.
 

spiderwoman

Active Member
I believe the probe would be in the sump. If I were purchasing a chiller, I'd definitely go with in-line one and have it outside of the stand. I've been looking into getting one for our 75 and 150. I'd stay away from the ones that have the heater built in. You are better off using just a standard heater in the sump that has it's own temp control. The less components you have in the chiller that can break, the better off you are.
 

scsinet

Active Member
You don't need to buy another pump. The chiller can be plumbed right onto your return line, as the last piece of equipment before the tank.
Drop in chillers tend to have reliability issues with that flexible hose... I've never bought one myself.
For a 75g, a 1/5 will work well, a 1/4 will give you room to go to 125g in the future. Always consider the future upgrade because chillers have a low incremental cost.
The only chillers I know of that can accept a heater are the Prime chillers... I'm not familiar on their quality, but the heaters that fit them are Hydor Theos which are total crap. Personally, I've always run my Jagers in the sump.
A dual stage controller is a nice to have but not necessary. Rancos are the best controllers for heaters, though a full blown controller like a Neptune or RK are also very good choices as they do other things too.
In a larger sense... the controller options have pros and cons.
With an external controller, you get somewhat more accurate temperature control, and the controller can also run other things like heaters. However, because the controller involved a probe remote to the chiller, you risk catastrophic freeze up. With an external controller, the probe is not mounted inside the chiller but somewhere else as you mentioned like the sump or DT. If the pump feeding the chiller fails, and the controller calls for cooling, the chiller will switch on with no flow. It will begin cooling the water in the heat exchanger, but with no flow, it will just keep cooling that water until it eventually freezes. This WILL destroy the heat exchangers (and in all practicality will destroy the chiller). That's the risk. You can counter that by installing a flow switch on the chiller's plumbing that shuts it down in a low flow condition, but this adds about $100 to the cost.
I've always bought chillers with internal controllers. The JBJ Articas are very nice with internal controllers. If you want to go wtih an external controller, Aqua Logic makes the best chillers, period.
 
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saltwaterchris

Guest
You are really a knowledgable young man. I really appreciate this board and the advice given. I think what I will do is go with the JBJ in line. Looks like a nice reliable model. One other question as I am not a plumber (yet). I have not plumbed the sump yet as I was awaiting this chiller discussion. Should I use flex hose or PVC to plumb the line into the sump and the return line from sump to chiller to display tank?
Again thanks for all the advice.
 

scsinet

Active Member
The JBJ units have fittings that pretty much require flexible vinyl hose to be used.
I prefer the neatness of hard PVC, so I ran PVC up to the chiller then used a created a short whip of 12" pieces of vinyl hose to hook mine up.
 
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