the best CHILLER?

[Mouse]

Eco-Chiller, mega cheap compared to refrigerant coolers.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> ECO Coolers - Technical Data (Suitable for Fresh or Salt Water)

Functions
Once again, Deltec have shown the way to reducing water temperature economically in the modern salt and fresh water aquarium. The need of water movement and light to keep salt water invertebrates and fish requires pumps and lights creating heat in the water column which is not healthy for a stable aquarium environment and leads to coral bleaching and stressed fish.

Economical and Environmentally Friendly
The ECO cooler is environmentally friendly and economical and can be used for both salt and fresh water aquariums. The principle of the ECO cooler borrows its technology from a water cooling tower. It is possible to use the ECO cooler in conjunction with refrigerant coolers, therefore, reducing the size of the electricity bill substantially and being secure in the knowledge that even on the very hottest days of the year the temperature in your aquarium will remain stable.
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Basically the little spray bar in the middle rotates spraying the foam below with water, which is then cooled by two fans (in the smaller 4 in the larger) blowing through the foam. Only problem is the guy who i knoe thats got one has a 300G tank with 400W MH bulbs, to keep his tank at the right tem he looses about 25G of water a DAY in the summer.

[ April 16, 2002: Message edited by: Mouse ]</p>

 

[MandarinFish]

How much are those Mouse? I am stoked you posted that...

I am looking for a financially reasonably way to do it.

If I have to spend a grand to cool my system, I may just freeze water in 2-liter plastic Coke bottles and drop them in to my sump. I heard that's a good, cheap way to do it.

Pain in the arse over time though.

Good thing I'm a teacher and have summers off though.

But I seriously would like to know how much and where these Deltec units can be had.

 

[mrgoont]

Last summer I tried to go the cheap route to chilling my tank. I went out and bought one of those little campus Fridge and drilled 2 holes in the side and ran about 50 feet of hose coiled thru the fridge. Crank the fridge as high as it goes and pump the water thru hoping that it will cool the water a bit. Guess what...it worked to reduce the temp about 2 degrees at the most. So instead of my water being 86 its 84...IMO not good enough.

Plus imagine the fridge running around the clock trying to stay cool while warm water is constantly being pumped thru. Not very economical in the grand scheme. And high temps in my tank isnt just a summer time problem. With 3 strips of compacts sitting on a glass covered tank there really is little chance for the heat to escape no matter how cool I keep the room temp. I finally broke down and bought a chiller and Im assuming in the long run it will pay off.

 

[ujohnk]

Hi Mouse
I wouldnt call £400 cheap for the smallest Deltec unit.You can buy a teco chiller for that price.

 

[Len]

If you're evaporating 25 gallons a day inside your house, you're gonna have serious problems with any woody material. Mold is one of many concerns I would have.

I've had my Aqualogic Delta chiller, plumbed outdoors, for 4+ years with absolutely no problems. I can't comment on Teclima, but the Aqualogic has proven to be more reliable and economical (according to my electric bill) then my previous CSL, Ultramarine, and WCA chillers.

[ April 16, 2002: Message edited by: Leonard ]</p>

 

[Mouse]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

If you're evaporating 25 gallons a day inside your house, you're gonna have serious problems with any woody material. Mold is one of many concerns I would have.

Nope, that was the demo tank in the LFS. Very warm environment and the tank is in the shop window. They have a huge blind but the heat still gets to it. Thats if you could ever call England hot.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Hi Mouse
I wouldnt call £400 cheap for the smallest Deltec unit.You can buy a teco chiller for that price. <hr></blockquote>

But is the Teco unit rated for the same gallonage? Basically a simmilar rated refrigerant cooler would be about £1000. And these units i would imagine to be allmost silent in comparisom.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> How much are those Mouse? I am stoked you posted that...
I am looking for a financially reasonably way to do it.

If I have to spend a grand to cool my system, I may just freeze water in 2-liter plastic Coke bottles and drop them in to my sump. I heard that's a good, cheap way to do it.
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Thats ok man, im glad it got your head ticking.

Look at the design, you basically have a container with a rotating bar on the top. And this feeds the open filter wool type stuff below with a slow controlled flow, this is then subjected to a flow of air supplied by two fans.

Heres the rotating bars available seperately, you could incorporate one of these into the top of a sump.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr> Sprinklers

60057 Sprinkler arm with elbow

60058 Sprinkler arm with elbow, large

60059 Sprinkler arm with T pc

60060 Sprinkler arm with T pc large

60061 The bearing for sprinkler arm set

60062 Flex hose 375 mm , 40mm d

60998 Black filter netting price per square metre

60999 Nettling 315 x 315 mm sprinkler box
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These are available here

Deltec Plumbing Supplies

All you need then is to construct a box with the sprinkler on top, the medea in the middle and somwhere for the fans to sit, and an exhaust for the saturated hot air to escape.

I thought of doing a simmilar thing with drip plates instead of the wool and the spray bar. As long as your sump was a custom build, this feature could easily be incorporated into the final stage of the sump where the water level could be kept low enough for the contraption to be self contained. All you would need then is a T piece to direct the flow from the tank outlets to the chiller compartment, then the other outlet can supply the sump at the other end feeding the skimmer.

My sump should be set up like this:

Skimmer - refugeum - coolant compartment (low water level to allow dripping and dispersal of water) - return to tank.

once connected to a computer you could have an additional fan wall mounted blowing under the halides, and then this also activating the fans in the sump compartment.

Just think of Nuclear cooling towers. Same principal. Slow the flow, Disperse and airate. Easy.

[ April 17, 2002: Message edited by: Mouse ]</p>

 

[Mouse]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

Last summer I tried to go the cheap route to chilling my tank. I went out and bought one of those little campus Fridge and drilled 2 holes in the side and ran about 50 feet of hose coiled thru the fridge. Crank the fridge as high as it goes and pump the water thru hoping that it will cool the water a bit. Guess what...it worked to reduce the temp about 2 degrees at the most. So instead of my water being 86 its 84...IMO not good enough.

The idea is sound but you were using convection rather than conduction to remove the heat.

To have the heat conducted away you need physical contact between coolant and tank water, i.e. no air.

What you should do is fill a bucket with water and put that in the fridge.

Use a powerhead in the bucket to stop the water from freezing.

Then put the coil in the bucket. This way you have direct conduction with a pre-cooled medea (the bucket) as opposed to using the temperature of the air in the fridge to cool the coil.

Now thats a ripper of a cooler!!!