G'day Guy's/Gal's,
Summer almost whiped out my tank this year from the heat & the Mrs's kicked my ass as we lost a couple of corals :golf: Ambients temps were 35c (around 94F) making my tank water temps 32c (around 90F) :look: I looked into purchasing an Aquarium chiller retail but just couldn't afford it
Now me being an avid DIY'er I figured how hard could it be to make a real chiller from scratch. I already had most of the parts lying around from old refrigerators/Air conditioners that I found in hard rubbish so I was pretty much set to go.
My parts:
-Compressor: Mini bar fridge
-Refrigerant used: R290 (or better known as BBQ gas) with a boiling point of approximately -53.4° C
-Condensor: 120mm with 2 x 120mm fans in push/pull config
-Evap: Air conditioner evap I hacksaw'd in half & re-welded
-Capillary tube: 2.8m of .031mm
-Fans: 4 x Random 120mm fans I had laying around running on 5v so very quiet, used a old pc power supply to run them
-Resorvior: Insulated 20Litre plastic tub :laughroll
-Copper: 1/2 roll of 1/4" copper refrigeration piping
-Valves: Couple of access valves for high/low side
Total cost: Approx $100AUD in random parts
System build after an eVac & charge:
The tub with the copper pipe is the heat exchanger. The evaporator you see submerged in the water freezes to around -10c which in turn cools the water it's submerged in. The tank water is pumped out of the tank through the tubes, the tubes run through the freezing water & back into the tank. None of the water from the Resorvior is pumped into the tank & vice versa.
Overall shot after I've tidied her up a bit:
Got it setup at the front just for testing to see if the system needs adjusting before it goes at the back:
Fully insulated the tub:
Chiller at home at the back of tank. It's really quite a small chiller, fits in there nicely.
This pulled my 90L tank temps from 33c to 25c in about 2hrs in 35c ambients
At which point my tank heaters kicked in. I had to switch the device off in the end as my tank temps where still dropping :baby: All up this cost me just under $100AUD. I'm going to be getting one of these thermometers for it.
http://www.reefshops.com/digital-dual-mode-heater-and-cooler-controller-atc800.html
Cheers
C-BuZz
Summer almost whiped out my tank this year from the heat & the Mrs's kicked my ass as we lost a couple of corals :golf: Ambients temps were 35c (around 94F) making my tank water temps 32c (around 90F) :look: I looked into purchasing an Aquarium chiller retail but just couldn't afford it
Now me being an avid DIY'er I figured how hard could it be to make a real chiller from scratch. I already had most of the parts lying around from old refrigerators/Air conditioners that I found in hard rubbish so I was pretty much set to go.
My parts:
-Compressor: Mini bar fridge
-Refrigerant used: R290 (or better known as BBQ gas) with a boiling point of approximately -53.4° C
-Condensor: 120mm with 2 x 120mm fans in push/pull config
-Evap: Air conditioner evap I hacksaw'd in half & re-welded
-Capillary tube: 2.8m of .031mm
-Fans: 4 x Random 120mm fans I had laying around running on 5v so very quiet, used a old pc power supply to run them
-Resorvior: Insulated 20Litre plastic tub :laughroll
-Copper: 1/2 roll of 1/4" copper refrigeration piping
-Valves: Couple of access valves for high/low side
Total cost: Approx $100AUD in random parts
System build after an eVac & charge:
The tub with the copper pipe is the heat exchanger. The evaporator you see submerged in the water freezes to around -10c which in turn cools the water it's submerged in. The tank water is pumped out of the tank through the tubes, the tubes run through the freezing water & back into the tank. None of the water from the Resorvior is pumped into the tank & vice versa.
Overall shot after I've tidied her up a bit:
Got it setup at the front just for testing to see if the system needs adjusting before it goes at the back:
Fully insulated the tub:
Chiller at home at the back of tank. It's really quite a small chiller, fits in there nicely.
This pulled my 90L tank temps from 33c to 25c in about 2hrs in 35c ambients
At which point my tank heaters kicked in. I had to switch the device off in the end as my tank temps where still dropping :baby: All up this cost me just under $100AUD. I'm going to be getting one of these thermometers for it.
http://www.reefshops.com/digital-dual-mode-heater-and-cooler-controller-atc800.html
Cheers
C-BuZz
