Thermoelectric Chillers -- Worthwhile??

[CraigLampe]

I am thinking of purchasing one of these for my 125 gal reef with 30 gal sump because the MH's just heat the water a little too much by the end of the day...

anyone have experience with them??

are they at all worthwhile??

I have a friend with a thermoelectric "ice probe" which is similar and he says it cools his 29 gal about 2 dgrees and uses 50W of power

the thermoelectric I am looking at is at Foster&Smith and it is 240W, say "up to 75 gal" (but this is the same BS with heaters, it really depends on room temp and how much you want out of it...)

anyway, here is a temp chart of what my reef does:
(actually this doesn't look as bad as when the outside temp was higher, and during the summer, the highest point in the day will be about 83 or 84 degrees!!)

Anyway, just curious because the thermoelectric chillers seems to be about 1/2 the price of conventional types!!!

 

[CraigLampe]

oh, there are also 220W of actinic but they don't seem to show up as a temp change on this graph!!

 

[jamesw]

If that's your tank temperature in Farenheit, you need a heater, not a chiller!

I would recommend (this is my opinion only) that you keep your tank at between 78 and 80 degrees.

Cheers
James

 

[CraigLampe]

Well, yes but in the summer it never gets below 77 degrees, and keeps climbing up toward 83-84 degrees!! :? actually, right now I think you are right I need a heater for those low points :roll: , but the lower it gets during the night, the lower it STAYS during the day, for example if I use a heater to make the MINIMUM temp 75, I will be raising the PEAK END-OF-DAY temp by 2 degrees!! 8O I would rather not exceed 81 degrees!

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
For your tank size, a thermoelectric chiller will not do you much good. Typically they are geared toward tank smaller than 20 gal, unless they come up with some larger model in past 6 months or something.

 

[CraigLampe]

Actually, the one I was referring to is the following:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... CatId=8173

And is pictured below, the smaller one is called an "ice probe," and only provides 50W of cooling power, though the larger of these is 240W!!

This seems like it could chill my tank about 3 degrees(?)

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
The 240W TE chiller is something new in recent months. It is about 1/3 horsepower, if it is very efficient, and with that price, it is very competitive with compressor based chiller.

However, I do not know if anyone has used this newer, more powerful TE chiller... so I can't offer anything useful... maybe you want to be a volunteer?

 

[CraigLampe]

Well, I think after about 2 more temp spikes to 82 degrees at the end of the day it will be hard to resist!!

except for that $400 price tag!! :?

 

[dick182]

Ummm. It would be easier to put a heater or 2 in and run your temp at about 80 or 81. Then you would stay within a degree or 2 all the time. You'd still be in normal temperatures.

 

[esmithiii]

My tank usually runs 80 min to 83 sometimes 84 in the summer.

I simply use fans on a temp controller. My SPS are growing like crazy.

Ernie