I need a chiller....what are you using?????

Alright, so Im in the market to buy a chiller;D....I would love feedback as to what everyone recommends.

55 Gallon with 20 gallon sump.

 

get some fans from radio shack.. the ones that are 12 volt, red blades, and about 9.99 are much quieter than the $20 ones..

 

TradeWinds chiller is what I run and it works great. With the addition of fan if you go that route will cause accelerated evaporation and more humidity in the house.

 

I use JBJ Artica Chiller. It is very easy to use and reliable in my opinion

 

thanks everyone....got me an aqua euro usa mighty pro chiller 1/10 hp

 

I installed 2 120mm canopy fans and a clip on over the sump along with an ATO system and sold my chiller since it had not run in well over a year. Thats with 2x250w MH and 2x140w VHO in a completely enclosed canopy and the systems stays 79-81 year round with fans only in Phoenix.

 

Wow...thats impresssive AZDesertRat. Do you lose a lot of water with the evaportation caused by the fans?

Can you post a picture of the fans and links where you purchased or where to purchase them?

I am/was in the market for a chiller, and I have a similar light setup as you...although I am in CT...but we still get some really hot weeks here in the summer and I dont want to fry my fish/corals.

Thanks!

 

The fans are 120mm Vantec Stealths purchased from newegg.com. They are powered by a variable voltage DC power supply, wall wart some people call them, that can be adjusted from 3v to 12v DC. The sump fan is an $8, 7" Wal Mart clip on that blows across the length of the sump when needed.
Photobucket seems to be down right now so no pics. Basically I have one fan down low in each end of the canopy, both blowing in along the length of the tank and equal sized exit holes inthe roof of the canopy above the reflectors so heat escapes but light does not. Its amazing how much air movement you get by convection alone even when the fans are off since heat rises.
The canopy fans are on the same timer as the lights so they come on and go off at the same time most of the year. In the very hottest period of summer I run one canopy fan 24/7 and the other with the lights. The sump fan is strictly controlled by temperature on the the RKL so comes on and goes off as needed. In the old days I ran it 24/7 and evaporation was quite high, this way its much less but still can reach 3 gallons per day in summer. Normally its about a gallon a day. I don't think I would attempt fans only without an ATO unless you have a large return section, mine can drop 6 gallons before I have to add water but in summer thats still a pain. My ATO is a Spectrapure UPLC II by the way and is fantastic.

 

may i ask what temp your house is during a hot summer day to still be at 79-81?

im definetly going to have heat problems once summer hits, im inland california and it gets up to about 103-105 during the summer (nothing compared to AZ, but still too hot for a fish tank without a chiller)

 

We have a digital setback thermostat on the house AC so it can be 80 in the house until early afternoon when the wife gets home from work. The normal temp is 76 when we are home then sets back to 78 at night, then to 80 at 6 AM until noon or so.
During April and May and again in September and October we use a Mastercool swamp cooler which is not great for the tanks since it adds lots of humidity to the house and evaporation from the fans is not as effective. It seems to work good enough though and thats why I finally sold the chiller after two summers sitting idle.