Thermoelectric chiller

[Justin_NY]

i have a 25 gallon tank with 110 pc . i am thiking buying a thermoelectric chiller for the tank for summer. what do u guys think about this chiller? is it really work?
any input is very welcome.
http://www.aqua-medic.de/index0.html

 

[SWW1268]

I have one and tried it on my 30 gal last summer. I don't think it works that well. The tank was around 84 and 86. You might say at least it didn't get worse than that, but I'd rather get something that can get the temp to 80 or below.

It does work well in a small tank. I moved it to a 5 gal and it kept the temp in the 70s.

There's an interesting link in RC about a DIY cooler using a small A/C ->

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177020

Be warned, it has 8 photos.

 

[Justin_NY]

what happen to your chiller than. do u still have it?

 

[tinyreef]

justin,
you can try a cpu heat sink and fan (preferably glued onto the back of the tank). i'm using a 2.5" x 2.5" heat sink on my 15H and getting at least a 6F~8F cooling effect. i wasn't really able/willing to measure its effectiveness until the recent hot/cold spell we had.

the heat sink & fan cost me about $15 and the ac adapter was around $12 from radioshack. it's unobtrusive and very quiet. i glued it on with ross super glue which also has a remover kit (just in case)

 

[4angel]

Hi Tintreef how about some more info on your chiller concept. I read the RC thread and it seems the DIY chiller was a lot of $$$. Your chiller set up seems more my speed. break it down for me man.

 

[tinyreef]

not much to break down. i bought a cpu fan/heat sink kit from an online computer store and pulled off the plug end to expose the leads. i twist connected them to an ac adapter i also stripped the ends of. you have to make sure the ac adapter is sufficiently powered (mA~amps) for the fan and you get a 12V adapter to match the fan voltage (all 12V from what i've seen).

i positioned the heat sink/fan on the back of the tank where first, it was unobtrusive and second, where the water flow was at least decent. i used ross's superglue because it was cheap

and it came with a remover solvent (just in case). total cost was about $28~$30 and i set it up in about ten minutes including bracing the fan to allow the glue to dry in place. hth

 

[SWW1268]

So, you stuck the metal part of the heat sink in the water? I'm not sure I get it. A pic would help.

 

[tinyreef]

sorry, i'll post one tomorrow (it's an office nano).

i glued the heat sink onto the outside tank wall, right onto the glass.

 

[SWW1268]

I got it, but a pic would still be nice. What was the room temp when it pulled down the 6 to 8F?

Thanks

 

[tinyreef]

the room temp at the time was around 76~78F. i had turned the heater down to 74F (thinking we were in for hot weather from then on) and the cpu cooler pulled the tank down to 74F. the heater tripped on and was fighting it out with the cooling unit. normally i had the tank heater set for 79F~80F (actually kept the tank around 80F~82F).

 

[SWW1268]

I'd be real interested to see what happens in the summer when the temp is in the 90s. Please keep us posted.

 

[tinyreef]

yeah, i'm really hoping it does well when put under alot of strain (i.e. summer months). that's when the desk fan is running 24/7. hopefully this unit will perform well enough that i don't need that noisey and obtrusive fan anymore. my desk gets eerily quiet every october when i turn it off finally.

edit: i tried to post a pic but i can't work it out. i'll be posting a couple at my www.nano-reef.com/tinyreef/cpucooler.html

[ April 25, 2003, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: tinyreef ]