# Aquariam Chiller



## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

hey all, 

so this is quiet a test, but lets hope it works.

las week my aquariam got to its record temp this summer or 30 degrees C or 86 F, but it only the start of the summer... so i decided to make a homemade chiller.

so what i plan:

The fan(s) will be a computer fan ,hopefully ill get a powerful one, or more than one.

The Condenser will be a metal tube (Preferably copper) which will be folded(Watch pic 2). it will be smaller ant the tubes less spaced out.

My problems:

moving the water in it.


Waiting for comments!!!


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## NeonFlux (May 15, 2008)

Nice ideas. Thanks for sharing. I was thinking about using a mini fan. It is real hot these days; of course, it's summer time..


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

Real hot yes, and here a fan seems to not de the job, or just evapurate all the water faster, so i am trying this.... if i will be able to build it.


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## bartoli (May 8, 2006)

You can use a powerful pump like Maxijet to move the water through the condenser. However, I would stay away from copper to prevent contaminating the water. The other potential issue is unclogging the condenser after extended use.


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

you have a point.

it depends whats clogging it, for i plan to use it summer and detach it in winter, so i might just clean it with something, now the only question is what


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I also would avoid copper, especially if your aquarium water is acidic. 

It might be ugly, but the easiest set up with no metal at all is something like a dense matting. Pump the water up to the top (use a fountain pump) then release it through a spray bar with really coarse holes. You do not actually want it to spray, but to drip through the matting. Then it will fall off the matting into the tank. Have a strong enough fan bowing through the matting.


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

ah well its a really good idea but i cant use that, or anthing else which uses vaporization.

This is because i live near the sea, so the humidity is alwayes between 70-80% water just wont vaporize, so i guess im back to the drawing board, does anyone have an idea to a good heat conductive matereial which is aquariam safe?


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## Daniil (Oct 30, 2009)

You can use a heater core from the car heating. It is made out of brass or aluminum and excellent heat exchange. will not contaminate water.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/search/?Ntt=Heater+Core


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

good, idea, i have a friend who is a technitian so i plan to go to him and see what he has, i anyway plant to get the fans from him.

just to have you right, heater core is the air conditioning tube?


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## Daniil (Oct 30, 2009)

Don't use air conditioning parts because of oil in them.
Heater core is part of the heating system, if you are going to use a used heater core make sure you flash it relay good.


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## pepetj (Oct 2, 2008)

Tikulila said:


> ah well its a really good idea but i cant use that, or anthing else which uses vaporization.
> 
> This is because i live near the sea, so the humidity is alwayes between 70-80% water just wont vaporize, so i guess im back to the drawing board, does anyone have an idea to a good heat conductive matereial which is aquariam safe?


I live in the Caribbean basin, somewhat close to the shore, with high humidity. I have used both micro-chillers and fans with success in the truly hot days.

We have high humidity all year long. That doesn't mean I cannot use fans to evaporate water from aquarium and that way get a couple of degrees (up to 3C close to surface level) lower than ambient temperature. For more than that I'm afraid a chiller is the only way around.

DIY chiller with dry-ice pellets (frozen CO2) may work if a thin walled hose is somehow coiled and covered with it. Dry ice is dangerous in two ways: one, it should never be touched by skin since it has a temperature below -100F and so it will cause severe skin burn; two, it should be used only in well ventilated spaces since solid CO2 doesn't melt into liquid but goes straight ahead into gas so in a closed room it represents a risk for breathing problems to say the least. It cost around 1$ per pound and should last about one day.

Water may not evaporate as fast as in places with lower humidity but nevertheless it evaporates.

I would at least try running fans blowing to the water surface.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

well, i guess you have more experiance me, ill do what you said then.

EDIT

so i made a new diagram, not hope you understand it.


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

so i worked yesterday and made a 3d Model of it, just without the fans, because they are hard to make.

the fans will be infront of the brown area, it is meant to represent a thin cloth.



















The back and the sides will be made of aluminium, the top and bottem are open.










The orange tube is going to dribble water on the metal, still need to figure out how, it is connected to the aquarium. anyone got an idea how to get the water to go up the tube?










On the bottem there will be a "tub" which will have a hole connected to the tube returning the water to the tank. i will use PVC pipe with stoppers at every side, and cut it in halve.










waiting for comments bafore i start to make it


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Copper & shrimp = death watch out!


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## pepetj (Oct 2, 2008)

Can you show us were the heat transfer takes place? If the cloth covers the water falling would it trap inside most evaported water? you need to induce water evaporation into the room to lower the temp a bit.

I still visualize placing fans close to water surface in the display tank more efficient than all this. Moving water through PVC pipes is easy to do with a powerhead but it's likely to increase water temperature due to friction with the pipe/hose walls.

No idea why you want to use metallic parts... I try to avoid metals in my tanks as much as I can.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo


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## Se7eN (Sep 23, 2010)

I just use 3 computer fans mounted in my canopy blowing on the water surface. Works great for me, but my house theromostate is set at 73 degrees and I live in Georgia USA...


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## JG06 (Nov 5, 2006)

I have often wondered if a coil of aluminum or stainless tubing piped through a dormitory sized refrigerator or freezer might provide enough thermal pull down to be worth it. 

Then again, if you rig up a brass or aluminum heater core in a one of these small appliances - and possible have a CPU fan blowing over it - I wonder if you could get the same effect? 

Hmm...


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## plamski (Oct 27, 2009)

Aluminum + shrimps= dead.
Ask me if you don't believe it. I have DIY Peltier chiller which can cool down 120gal tank to 10C.Heat exchanger is from aluminum and it is cover with freshwater save oxidation. Still after 6 months all the shrimps are dead.
I did spent a lot of money to make cheap chiller.There is no such a thing.
Best way is to buy one titanium chiller for 200-300.


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## wearsbunnyslippers (Feb 18, 2008)

a coolworks microchiller is less than $200


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

well, the projest stopped, because the very simple matter that my aquarium broke, but our last plan which i didnt post was to do a exteranl system:

nm another tank, weith a motor or powerhead to move the water inside in high speeds ( plan was to use strong powerhead) and add fans or cpu coolers.

btw, here a normal cooler, ( not a fan) costs 2000 sherkels, bout 500 dollars i think, mybe a bit less, ant thats the basic one.


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## C Campbell (Oct 18, 2010)

I figure you could always make a chiller out of a cheap mini-fridge. Just drill 2 holes in it coil your vinyl tubing up inside it. You could probably chill a good number of tanks that way. Just connect the pumps to temp controls and you would be good IMO. Plus nothing to contaminate your tank!!

-Cory


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

not sure, i think it depends. i dont know about fridges, buy i would think they would use cooper, for it is a good conductor.


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## C Campbell (Oct 18, 2010)

Tikulila said:


> not sure, i think it depends. i dont know about fridges, buy i would think they would use cooper, for it is a good conductor.


I wasn't talking about using the coil from the fridge, I was talking about using the whole fridge as the chiller and coiling up a vinyl hose inside the main compartment. That hose would be connected to a pump in the tank.


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## Klaus07 (Sep 18, 2011)

Instead of using plastic or aluminum tubing in a fridge why not buy some titanium tubing and have someone bend it to coil it. I have a friend who did that, he replaced the copper tubing in a water cooler with titanium and he was able to cool his darter tank to 58 deg F.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Yes I've seen people do that before. Buy a $50 mini fridge and coil up some tubing in a bucket of water and put it inside the fridge. Be sure to watch the temperature closely though because it can get cold fast. Maybe use a heater as well and set it at 78F so if the fridge makes it too cold the heater can compensate.


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

oh, yes i saw that way, but it takes space, and not worth the trouble for small tanks. might do it if i get a bigger tank.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

Zapins said:


> Yes I've seen people do that before. Buy a $50 mini fridge and coil up some tubing in a bucket of water and put it inside the fridge. Be sure to watch the temperature closely though because it can get cold fast. Maybe use a heater as well and set it at 78F so if the fridge makes it too cold the heater can compensate.


that does not work, trust me.

Fridges are good at keeping things cold, not making things cold. There are threads on just about every fish web site about this. Its one of the few things that every one agrees on, buy a chiller.

now a evap cooler is another animal all toeghter.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I don't know I've never tried it but here is the thread I read all those years ago.

The guy who did this lives in Singapore where the humidity can get very high. Temperatures are also pretty high. He cooled his tank down to 71.6 F initially and then later on to below 68 F until he turned up the heat. Room temperature was 88.7F when he started. His tank is 52 gallons. As you can see from the picture the dial on the fridge isn't even maxed out its around 4 so it leaves you a lot of room for more cooling if you need it. On smaller tanks you can probably put it down to 1 and get the same effect. Or perhaps cool multiple tanks with it, or heck even keep some cool beers in there as well.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/48798-DIY-Chiller

And pics for you lazy people who don't want to click on it 


















































And Planted Tank talking about the link for extra reading.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/107783-unconventional-tank-cooling.html


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

go read the threads on RC in the DIY section... they actually use facts and stuff( I know they have no place on the net)


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

TAB said:


> go read the threads on RC in the DIY section... they actually use facts and stuff( I know they have no place on the net)


?

Post the link please.


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## DaTrueDave (Dec 28, 2003)

Zapins said:


> or heck even keep some cool beers in there as well.


Actually, I think this would be the key to making it work. You would have to provide some sort of conductive medium that the fridge cools, and then have the hose/tubing run through that cool conductive medium. Just having the tubing running through the air inside the fridge isn't going to do it, as air is a very poor conductor. And keeping the fridge full of cool items (like beer) would increase the efficiency as there would be less air that the fridge is trying to keep cool.


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## Disturbed (Aug 17, 2011)

I too think something to wrap the tubing around that stayed cold would have a huge benefit. I would think the bucket full of water would do the trick. With enough coils going through the water round and round and maybe a low flow pump. Nothing too fast to give the water in the tubes time to cool. Most of u don't need to drop the temp down too much.


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

all your doing is adding mass, it will infact be worse.

bean animal wrote a very good artical about this a few years ago... here is a link

http://beananimal.com/articles/dorm-fridge-aquarium-chiller.aspx

like I said, facts and stuff have no place on the net lol

just one of those things where it does not add up to do DIY.

you would be amazed at how much we actually need to drop. don't foget, we are always adding heat to the tank. Generally pumps/power heads are the worst at this. Lights with good venting add very little. infact most people see a drop in temp when thier lights and cooling fans come on.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Right but we aren't talking about cooling a 75 gallon aquarium like your link. He even says that for under 30g it should work ok. And I believe the original poster's tank is smaller then 30g, 13g in fact. So it is feasible. 

13 gallons of water weighs 108.55 pounds (there is less water in the tank then 13g due to substrate and decoration etc... but assuming 13g of water). Using his value of 100 BTU per hour. It will take approximately 1 hour to reduce the temperature by 1 degree F. Now even on the hottest days I don't think the temperature raises by more than a degree an hour so if you set it at 80F it should be able to keep the temperature at 80F throughout the day. It might not be the most efficient way possible, but it is certainly cheaper then buying an $800 chiller or even a $300 chiller (if those even exist). As far as worries over burning out the compressor I'm not sure, I've never tested it, but I somehow doubt it would burn out on a 13g tank. It might shorten the lifespan of the fridge from 10+ years by adding more wear and tear on the parts but its not going to die overnight IMO. You can also add a small fan on the back of the fridge to help drive off extra heat.

I did a bit more reading and other people are saying that the 5-6 cubic foot interior mini fridges use a 400 BTU (390 actual) BTU compressor, so Bean's numbers may or may not be correct on what a mini fridge is capable of. 

You could even use the fridge as a fish tank stand + a beer cooler and chiller all at the same time. The possibilities are endless!


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## Tikulila (Feb 18, 2011)

I agree with Zapin, when you but a 50 or 60 G you would probebly have enough money to but the chiller, or at least the fans.

a fridge with a bucket of water, inside it a Thin tube, willl work O.K. even though it might not be The best.
evapurate cooling is a whole different story, and is also a possibility. any comments on that?


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