Cheap chiller

[slapshot]

I have a weird problem, 300 gallons of my water is in the basement feeding my 150 display. The heater and airconditioner for the house are in the same room as my fish room. So in the summer my tank is nice and cool. Pretty much the heater runs as the room temp gets into the 60s and I try to keep it stable year round so I am stuck with 79 to 80. Then comes winter and the heater takes the temp. up to 80 in that room. With fans, 5 of them, I can keep it at 79. I want 77 or even 76.

So, here is my solution. My water runs into an old trickle filter. It has a rain plate so the water rains down through the tower. I keep it because it has a built in skimmer and why not, extra water. I long ago took out the bio cubes and replaced them with a pile of live rick rubble.

Now the good stuff. I ran 4 inch flexible duck from and outside hole I drilled and added an in-line fan. This enters one side of the tower. With an elbow to direct the air down and oposite the next step. Then I ran a duplicate line to another hole with oposite and higher up and another in-line fan basically drawing out. Connected the fans to my controller and whooo who a cooling tower. I was able to drop the temp to 77 tonight. I'll drop it to 76.5 in a couple days and then 76 a few after that.

The air temp in the tower went from 77.9 to 69 as soon as the fans turned on. I removed all my other noisy fans and it has turned on twice in the last hour for about 10 minutes each time. It took 2 hours to drop the temp from 77.9 to 77. That is probably due to so much water needing to be cooled. fans shut off and the tower temp went back up to 76.

Chiller cost $600 to $900. My cooling tower $98.57 A couple of bonuses, no heat in the room from the chiller. Outside air for the PH issues, costs basically noting to run. :bounce2::bounce3::bounce1:

[uhuru]

Sounds cool! Pun intended :) I have to save up for either a 2nd chiller or a bigger chiller to replace my current one before next spring.

[slapshot]

Today is a test of the worse case. Its 45 outside, wife put the heat on so it 82 in my room. I have the temp set at 77 in the tank.....its 77.2 and my PH is up from 8.05 to 8.11. Cooler is set to turn on at 77.1 so I am a happy man.

I think 77 is a good temp because I have such a mix of corals. 76 seems to low for the sps and anemones. Everyone seems happy in the tank. Really it is just a degree lower then I have been keeping it, but without it I would have been over 80 today. With my barrels wrapped in insulation. They are not now. :)

Had to add another $9.00 to the cost for draft dampers. I figure I'll need them when it gets to 10 degrees F outside.

[slapshot]

It was a warm day in Michigan today. It was 71. So I figured my tank would have heated up. To my surprise right at 77.2 when I got home from work at 8:00. According to my Neptune graph the water hit a high of 77.6 at 5:30 today. Fans ran all day but the temp held. This is about the worse case. Any hotter and the air conditioning would have come on and cooled the room. No more $600.00 chiller in my future. :bounce3:

Best of all my gorgs look fuller and my Feather Star is open and happy. It does not seem to be affecting the SPS. Colors all still good.

[alcove]

my 17 gal nps reef stays 70-71 via ceiling fan gotta love LED!