chiller alternative

I have a small fridge I planned to use and seen it being used by others. They would coil poly tubing and run it through the fridge to keep the water cool. You could essentially use the same controller to power the fridge down once the water reaches its temperature but then you would still be using electricity. I ended up buying a chiller to keep the water cool. Then the chiller was heating up the room where my equipment is and I had to install an exhaust fan to remove the heat into the attic. I don't think there is a green way to cool a tank. The only way would be to put the tank in another room inside the home were the temperature is usually maintained between 75 to 80 degrees (depending where you live of course)

 

Are you suggesting someone run copper components in a reef? I am sorry but that's pretty poor advise that if followed would have crashed a tank :-/

 

Put a block of ice in a bucket on a table, put a fan behind it......BAM redneck AC. LOL Good Luck 50JumpChump

 

I was thinking the same thing. Besides an old fridge should be turned into a keg-erator

 

I think its a nice thought about being green and trying to save the planet. But nothing about reef tanks are green. I do have one tore down, thats as green as it will get.

 

i have herd of this being done for growing corals in a green house, from what i was reading you need to put the tubing in the ground about 3 feet deep , if it was right under the floor as the summer season went on the surface ground will heat up in time.

 

I agree on copper tubing as a really bad idea. As far as putting the tubing under ground goes, if need be I could have my son climb under there and dig a hole or run it into the crawl space of the main house, I am sure it stays cooler there...

As far as green goes, this tank runs no lights and will run a recirculating pump at least some of the time from a solar panel, has heater that I will need to power during the winter, and currently is running a protien skimmer and powerhead. It is a 75 gallon tank.

 

It's full of beer on the back porch close to the grill... LOL

 

I think the copper was meant as cooling coils where the water won't come into contact with. Copper is a great conductor, and is also used in commercial chillers for the refrigerant. Water is passed through the super cooled coils (is a separate water line) that will cool the water. I'm hoping that is what the poster meant by suggesting copper coils anyway.

 

If the fridge is already running, whats not green about using the excess energy from it to cool your tank?

I personally dont think it would work well. But I dont think I would of believed in the concept that we could put a man on the moon in the 60's either.

What ever you do I hope it works and works well.