Aqua Medic Titan Aquarium Chiller (1 Viewer)

[Wildfire]

Does anyone have experience with these? Here is my situation:

I've got an ambient air temp of 78, and a rough average tank temp of 80 - 81. I would like to pull that down to 75 - 77 consistantly (I've got the low-end covered already with a heater).

Tank volume: 135g
Sump volume: 25g
Lighting: (suspended hood which doesn't TRAP the heat so much)
2 x 400W MH
2 x 4' VHO Actinic (96 W?)
Return pump: In-Water CAP 3000 (45W)
Powerheads: 2 x 25W, 1 x 23W
Skimmer Pump: 1 x 25 W (only runs at night, from 2200 to 0600)

So I need something that can give me a 6 - 10 degree pulldown on a 160G water volume with 1135 W of heat input into the system.

Does anyone have a sizing for this? I'm coming up with a 1/2 HP chiller, and the one from the subject line seems to be in the right price range for me......

Also, yes, I know I need to get an external return pump, and I'm looking at doubling my VHOs to 4, but 6' length, 2 x Actinic, 2 x AquaSun so I think that that would be a trade off....

Thanks in advance

 

[Guest]

A 1/2 HP unit is probably about right for a tank that size, although I'm not sure why you would want to keep your temperature so low unless you're keeping sub-tropical species.

As for the external return pump vs. adding the extra VHO's, you're probably right as long as you don't get a pump that throws a lot of heat into the water. They ALL will add heat, but most of the externals add less heat than submersibles (with the notable exception of the Velocity pumps).

Also, be sure to factor in the extra head added by the chiller (figure about 8' of head for the chiller alone) when sizing your new return pump.

 

[Guest]

I would think a 1/4hp would be enough. I had a 1/4hp drop in on the coral prop tank when I was at moody gardens. It was ~110 gallons of water, 3x 400w halides, 6x65w PC's, room temp of at least 83, and that chiller kept the tank at 78. Without the chiller the tank would get 88+. HTH. If your planning on upgrading to a bigger tank anytime in the future, 1/2hp would be the way to go though.

 

[Wildfire]

So you plumb the chiller in on the return line? I figured I'd plumb it on the drop from the tank to the sump, and have it dump out into the sump, where the "cold" water could mix with the "warm" sump water to more evenly distribute the temp before hitting the main tank (also, this scenario REALLY simplifies my plumbing)

Do I HAVE to have the chiller on the return line? Does anyone have their plumbed into a drop instead like I am thinking about doing?

Thanks

 

[ShaneV]

I dont have a chiller, so I am guessing here, but I would think that a chiller relies on the pressure from a pump to do its job, so I dont think a gravity fed line would work. You could have its own seperate pump for it, but that would add more heat to the water and defeat the point.

 

[Guest]

Like I said, the chiller adds about 8' of head pressure, so no, you couldn't put it on your drain line because it would restrict your drain too much.

The ideal solution is to have the chiller on your return line - this ensures the best mixing of the water. I've seen some people who have used a small Mag pump to power their chiller and dumped the cold water right back to the sump. I tried that setup and was not happy with it. What it did was cause my chiller to run half as long, but kick on twice as often. That's because the water wasn't being completely circulated and mixed with the tank water. So, my chiller was kicking on every 20-30 minutes and running for like 7-8 minutes. That's a lot of wear and tear on the chiller, starting up so many times. By putting the chiller on the return line, it runs for about 20 minutes to cool the system 1 degree, then it kicks off for about an hour, which I feel is a lot better for the chiller.

 

[Guest]

Love my 1/2HP Titan. It brings down my temps in no time on my 100g. It measures in Celsius though and has a built in controller!

 

[Wildfire]

Okay, now I'm getting caught up on my threads...

I'm confused now about temp. In my first posting I put

"I would like to pull that down to 75 - 77" and a response was made "I'm not sure why you would want to keep your temperature so low "....

My rationale for searching for a lower temp was my reading that MOST marine species prefer water from 75-78 degrees (mostly on-line aquaria sellers like Dr. Foster's and Marine Depot Live) so I assumed that my "natural" tank temp of around 80 was bad....

So, everyone vote on what your favorite tank temp is please. Maybe I don't need a chiller after all......

 

[Guest]

There's a lot of debate on the subject, and if you ask 10 different people, you'll probably get 12 different answers.

My personal opinion is that anywhere in the 78-82F range is acceptable and safe. The more important factor IMO is stability - try to keep the temperature consistent within a 1-2F range, instead of having wild swings.

 

[Guest]

There's a lot of debate on the subject, and if you ask 10 different people, you'll probably get 12 different answers.

My personal opinion is that anywhere in the 78-82F range is acceptable and safe. The more important factor IMO is stability - try to keep the temperature consistent within a 1-2F range, instead of having wild swings.

well said

 

[Wildfire]

Thanks everyone.... My life suddenly isn't as tragic as I thought it was.....

See those who are coming on Saturday!