1/15 Prime Chiller and maxi-jet 900 PRO

C

Cyclist

Member
Hi all,
I was wondering how to hook a 1/15 prime chiller up to a nano using a maxi-jet pro. I was thinking that I would use the power head outside the tank rather than in the tanks to avoid extra heat.

Anyone know the best way to hook this up? Should the power head pull the water through the chiller or should it push it?

Also anyone have a 1/15 prime? Can you tell me which of the two attachments is the inlet and which is the outlet?
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
Prime is a discontinued model from the Current USA company. Don't know much about their chillers but they stopped making them which doesn't bode well. Here's a link to their discontinued product manuals, etc. Product Downloads | Current-USA

You should find out what the recommended flow rate through the chiller is first. Then you should google 'pump head loss calculator' and download the small app to calculate how much head loss you will have. A pump rated for 230GPH is only making that with zero head loss, it goes down from there depending on a variety of factors that the calculator I mentioned will factor in for you.

A powerhead isn't intended for the use you have in mind and the maxi jets have a pretty poor rep these days. If you do plumb it externally be sure you have ball valves installed on either side so you can do maintenance on the pump. I think you would be better off with a different pump to be honest and wouldn't trust that pump not to spring a leak if installed externally. If you decide to go with another pump make sure you have the head loss and proper flow rate figured out first. I like Eheim hobby pumps for smaller applications like this myself.
 
C

Cyclist

Member
Not much to chillers if you have looked inside of them. I would not doubt that it was sold and rebranded.

So I decided on going with the maxi-jet 900 PRO and probably not the correct choice. My thoughts are to run it as a submersible and use it to push water to the chiller. With the output of the chiller stright to the return to the main tank.

So because I have the apex and two returns, I am going to flush the chiller every 30-60 minutes by running the power head for 30 or 60 minutes (rotating between the two power heads and returns). When the the temp goes up to 83 I'll turn on the chiller and pause the power head rotation and run the power head connected to the chiller only untill temp is back down. Apex will turn off chiller and return the power heads back to their normal rotation.

Sound good?
 
D

DaveK

Well-Known Member
What your planning doesn't make much sense to me. Could you give us a diagram for what you plan?

Generally when you use a chiller, you run the water through it all the time and use it with a thermostat to control the chiller.

Doing it manually just leaves you so many places to go wrong. I can't recommend it.
 
C

Cyclist

Member
Dave,
I'll use the Apex to control everything, so it is all automated :)
Picture a tank with two powerheads and two returns. Currently the Apex runs them on a rotation. So I pland on disconecting one of the returns and run it to the chiller and back to the return.
The Apex will continue to run the powerheads on a rotation untill tank reaches 83 at which it will stop the rotation and turn on the chiller and run only the powerhead to pushes the water to the chiller untill the tank cools down. Once it reaches the desired range of 78, the Apex will turn off the Chiller and restart the normal rotation of the powerheads.

I have the powerheads on rotation now to provide different currents in the tank, and with the MP10 as additional.
 
C

Cyclist

Member
shoot, I don't even know if I need to have a chiller on the tank. I am learning that a reef tank in the 83-85 range is ok. Can this actually be true? Seems like it goes against old school thought.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
In short, no I don't think it's okay and I've never seen any reputable source that did think it was okay unless it's a species specific requirement for something collected from extremely warm waters. Keep in mind the warmer the water the faster the metabolism in cold-blooded critters and you can expect nuisance algaes to grow at a faster rate too. I try to keep my tank between 77.0-79.0 F.

You also want to keep the temperature swing to a minimum of 2-3 degrees over 24 hours max. With a controller a 2 degree F range is very achievable. I have a 2-stage cooling scheme on my tank, as soon as the temp hits 77.5F a cooling fan comes on over the sump for evaporative cooling. If the temp gets up to 79.0F the chiller kicks in until the temp is back down to 77.5F. You do not want it dropping the temp 5 degrees in a short period of time, that causes a lot of stress on everything in your tank.

Not sure if the 2 return pump idea is of any benefit really. I'm assuming you have a separate sump and both return pumps are in the sump? A single larger pump that runs all the time would probably help more.

Cyclist said:
shoot, I don't even know if I need to have a chiller on the tank. I am learning that a reef tank in the 83-85 range is ok. Can this actually be true? Seems like it goes against old school thought.
Click to expand...
 
C

Cyclist

Member
reefer gladness, thank you for your input.
Currently the tank stays between 77-79, but it has hit 81. We don't run AC because we live on the beach and get the ocean breeze, but it still gets hot inside the house.
I'll hook up the chiller this weekend.
reefer gladness said:
Not sure if the 2 return pump idea is of any benefit really. I'm assuming you have a separate sump and both return pumps are in the sump? A single larger pump that runs all the time would probably help more.
Click to expand...
Filtration is done in the back of the tank kinda like a Nuvo Aquarium - Mini 38 except each return has its own power head.

Any setup I do now will be broken down in a few months. I just want to keep alive what little I have now. I am looking at getting the above mentioned aquarium here shortly.
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
I hear ya, I'm pretty close to the beach myself and most of the houses near the ocean don't have central AC. Do as much cooling as possible with a fan, you lose more water from evaporation but running a chiller inside the house makes the whole room warmer. My fish were happy last summer but I was suffering for it.
 
C

Cyclist

Member
So I finally spent some time getting it plumbed and gave it a run. I was not happy about the loose of flow for the return connected to the chiller so I decided that each return would have its own return pump and the chiller would have a dedicated power head.
Back to the drawing board
 
reefer gladness

reefer gladness

Well-Known Member
That's why you should always factor head loss before deciding on which return pump to use. There's a calculator you can download if you google headloss calculator.
 
C

Cyclist

Member
I'm still a little bent on if one really needs a chiller.

I can't see why one is needed because most of the items (corals) kept in our tank are collected from the Indo Pacific and the Caribbean where the water temperatures are normally between 85 and 89.

I agree that if you keep your tank at these temps, you will have a greater metabolism and the tank will have a greater chance for algae, but .... .. ...
Fish live in those same water were the corals are collected and algae can be contorlled.
Shoot even the beloved nemo enjoys water in the 80 range.
 
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