Recommended chiller

[will?]

I would like to begin by saying that I'm not entirely a cheapskate, but would appreciate being able to buy something a little cheaper than what I've seen. I've been looking desperately for a chiller for a 150L reef aquarium as I live in Australia and as you can imagine, corals don't take well to steam. Does anyone have recommendations for an effective chiller that may be able to cool the tank to low 20's so I can grow corals, (I have everything else set up already). Preferably under the $200 mark as I've recently spent a lot on a new filter.

 

[air_run]

It will "almost" be impossible to find a chiller for around $200 unless it is used. Even a 1/13 or 1/15hp chiller will typically run around $400 - $500 new.

With that being said I ran a JBJ Mini Arctica Chiller 1/15 HP (DBA-050-D) on a custom 40g/150L reef tank for two years and it worked really well. Easy to setup and dial in and it was surprisingly pretty quiet for a chiller. They do put off some heat into whatever space you put it in so keep that in mind. Again, I would be on the lookout for a used chiller in the 1/13 to 1/15 range to fit your needs.

 

[tzabor10]

That is a tough price point for a quality chiller. You might be stuck with frozen water bottles in your sump for the time being

 

[will?]

That is a tough price point for a quality chiller. You might be stuck with frozen water bottles in your sump for the time being

Oh, bugger. what do you think is a reasonable price?

 

[320reeferid]

Have you tried looking for a hailea HK-150? Not sure about the price there in aus

 

[snorklr]

for what its worth I bought a used JBJ and had issues with it overcooling but was able to get good info from JBJ tech and the parts I needed to fix it...still worked out cheaper than new

 

[Northern Flicker]

$200 USD or AUD?

$200 AUD = $133 USD right now - you won't find anything in that range. You would be better off getting a window AC at this price point tbh.

 

[will?]

$200 USD or AUD?

$200 AUD = $133 USD right now - you won't find anything in that range. You would be better off getting a window AC at this price point tbh.

Oh, dang

 

[Doctorgori]

Not pretty but You can rig up a run of vinyl tube in a mini fridge ….Im pretty positive there are threads on this as I got that idea from the web looooong ago….

 

[will?]

Not pretty but You can rig up a run of vinyl tube in a mini fridge ….Im pretty positive there are threads on this as I got that idea from the web looooong ago….

Honestly kind of desperate enough to try it at this point lol

 

[DanyL]

If you already have an A/C unit, you can probably hook up a heat exchanger to it, and they go for a lot less than a chiller.

I also agree with the others, at this price point, even in my country where you can find them cheap for second hand, it still goes almost twice as your budget.

As for running through a mini fridge - it depends.. it depends how good is the mini fridge, and how hot it is outside.
For small volumes, it might work.

 

[Fritz05]

I assume you tried fans? I was surprised by how much one 15 cm diameter fan cools my 250l tank. I have it hooked up to a wifi-controlled outlet. There is of course quite a bit of evaporation, but an ATO is a lot cheaper than a chiller.

 

[Doctorgori]

As for running through a mini fridge - it depends.. it depends how good is the mini fridge, and how hot it is outside.
For small volumes, it might work.

It was long ago when I was reading threads on this but as I recall one snafu is that refrigerators will add heat to the ambient air. So unless the unit is away from the tank, you are sorta spinning your wheels.
So perhaps doable given fridge location, ambient temps and the amount/rate/area of water circulated

 

[DanyL]

I assume you tried fans? I was surprised by how much one 15 cm diameter fan cools my 250l tank. I have it hooked up to a wifi-controlled outlet. There is of course quite a bit of evaporation, but an ATO is a lot cheaper than a chiller.

Fans can be very helpful, and the heat can be managed with a bit of help from the A/C in the hot days.

However, as someone that comes from a hot country in the Middle East, all you can really grow in a tank under these conditions are softies, and even than - almost everyone I know, including me, ends up cracking as we see the temps rise on the very first summer and runs in an emergency to purchase a pricy chiller.

I’m confident that Australia will be under the same heavy heat conditions as in my area, if not more, and I would highly suggest not to wait for an emergency to occur, but to be prepared with a solution beforehand, because then you can take the time and find a good deal instead of being pressured to buy anything that’s available for you to purchase at that moment.

If I may add a quick personal frustration here - I’m so jealous of you guys that are able to randomly spun up picos or grow phyto. You have no idea how many times I wanted to do something like this and than realized it’ll be impossible to keep in the summer without spending a good chunk of money or ridiculous engineering efforts just to keep it cool.

It was long ago when I was reading threads on this but as I recall one snafu is that refrigerators will add heat to the ambient air. So unless the unit is away from the tank, you are sorta spinning your wheels.
So perhaps doable given fridge location, ambient temps and the amount/rate/area of water circulated

Yup. Both chillers and refrigerators would heat up the room while cooling the tank, though a chiller would have far better heat transfer efficiency, and this would throw a lot less heat into the room.

I would actually advise against running the fridge far from the tank, because the longer the tubes are - the more heat it will absorb in the way back to the tank, possibly making it insufficient. One could try to work around this by insulating the tubes, but I’m not sure how much that would help.

Another thing to consider here is the contact time - tubes that just go through a fridge may not have enough surface area to make a significant difference, so I would consider having a good amount of extra tubing inside the fridge, or even a container the water goes through to increase the contact time.

 

[Doctorgori]

Fans can be very helpful, and the heat can be managed with a bit of help from the A/C in the hot days.

I lived in Phoenix, evaporation cooling worked well in the Sonoran desert, but anywhere in eastern N.America, evap cooling in that summer humidity is close to useless

I would actually advise against running the fridge far from the tank, because the longer the tubes are - the more heat it will absorb in the way back to the tank, possibly making it insufficient. One could try to work around this by insulating the tubes, but I’m not sure how much that would help.

Yes, I the hot air discharge from the refrigerator coils needs to somehow be directed away from the tank, or at least be in a room with a lot of volume … I thought one DIY design had vinyl coils inside the fridge and wrapped around a water jug….

 

[will?]

I really appreciate you guy's help and I'm currently looking into some 2nd hand coolers for around 400 dollars. I think the fan is a really good idea, and that someone else has experience with them in a relative climate.

If I may add a quick personal frustration here - I’m so jealous of you guys that are able to randomly spun up picos or grow phyto. You have no idea how many times I wanted to do something like this and than realized it’ll be impossible to keep in the summer without spending a good chunk of money or ridiculous engineering efforts just to keep it cool

And yes, it's really cool. I don't really know much about phyto because it looks too hard to juggle on top of school, but if it's easier in Australia, I'm reconsidering it. It's actually amazing how few people actually have Pico's tho, or a saltwater tank at all for that matter, seeing that we're so blessed to have what we have.

 

[gbroadbridge]

I would like to begin by saying that I'm not entirely a cheapskate, but would appreciate being able to buy something a little cheaper than what I've seen. I've been looking desperately for a chiller for a 150L reef aquarium as I live in Australia and as you can imagine, corals don't take well to steam. Does anyone have recommendations for an effective chiller that may be able to cool the tank to low 20's so I can grow corals, (I have everything else set up already). Preferably under the $200 mark as I've recently spent a lot on a new filter.

Fans work for me on both my tanks in a Sydney Humid summer (Nano and 90 gal system)

Never found use for a chiller - keep in mind the chiller compressor bit needs to be plumbed outside otherwise you're just heating the room which is self defeating.

 

[Hatuey]

That is a tough price point for a quality chiller. You might be stuck with frozen water bottles in your sump for the time being

Holy crap this would have been much easier than what I was doing.

 

[DanyL]

And yes, it's really cool. I don't really know much about phyto because it looks too hard to juggle on top of school, but if it's easier in Australia, I'm reconsidering it. It's actually amazing how few people actually have Pico's tho, or a saltwater tank at all for that matter, seeing that we're so blessed to have what we have.

I’m not sure it is easier if Australia, because the temps are quite high, as is in my country.

But I do see a lot of Americans, as well as Europeans growing them year long, and the main thing their dealing with is the exact opposite - needing a heater during winter.

For us living in hot climates however, chilling just a few liters is a real pain, and isn’t as simple as using a cheap heater element or even just a hot bulb.

keep in mind the chiller compressor bit needs to be plumbed outside otherwise you're just heating the room which is self defeating.

It’s not as detrimental as some think it is.
Most of the reefers that use a chiller have it right under or besides their tanks, including me.

It’s very similar to your fridge in the kitchen.
The only thing that does needs to be taken cared of is good ventilation in case of placing it inside of a cabinet.

 

[Temok747]

I used evaporative cooling using some custom 3D printed fan mounts I designed and built to chill 120L frag tank it works super well! I have it plugged into a control loop with my hydros system so it kicks on when it gets too hot. It cools about 2 degrees C in about half an hour. Would definitely recommend it. Its very affordable at 60 bucks us for a set of 2 120mm fans.