Do DIY chillers work?

[yohann976]

I've read some articles on DIY chillers. Some say to coil tubing into a mini-fridge and that will lower your water temp effectively. Other articles say that a mini-fridge won't work and to use an air conditioner to cool the tubing instead.

I have a 90 gallon discus tank with 260w PC lighting on for about 10 hours a day. I usually keep the tank at around 84 degrees. On hot days, the temp can easily reach around 88-90 degrees. My fish don't seem to mind it, but it really messes up my plants.

What do you suggest I do?

 

[Thebluyak]

discus like it hot, maybe you can put a fan pointing at your lights to dissapate some heat away from the tank. you could turn down the heater on hot days and let convection heat the tank. you can raise the lights above the tank to allow some air flow to remove some of the heat thats about the only cheap free thing I can think of that might help you since I know nothing of chillers. Fans do work and should help some.

 

[Daryth Darkmoon]

I don't really know anything about chillers, but I read a DYI about making one out of a mini-fridge. If I had the time, money and proper tools I'd give it a whirl. In theory it seems like it would work.

That and I would feel quite the sense of accomplishment reaching into my inexpensive chiller to crack open the celebratory cold brew.

 

[greenmaji]

The heat load is too high for a mini fridge, honestly if it ever worked for anyone it didnt work very long.

 

[roka64]

Wouldn't it depend on how much of a coil you have going through the mini-fridge compared to the size of the tank, maybe it might work for a smaller tank....? Of course, that is not really the question, but I'm just curious....

 

[Marc118]

How would you regulate the temp?

 

[roka64]

On a min-fridge? Don't they have a temp dial? If not, I suppose I would put less/more coil in the fridge....My grandfather heats his pool, with a hose under a black/dark covering, that sits above the pool, so the sunlight will heat up the water in the hoses...It kind of works, but it is a big pool.

 

[Marc118]

I mean yea they have a dial with like 1-10 on it, but with aquariums i dont think it would be reliable enough.

 

[roka64]

i dont think it would be reliable enough.

Agreed. LOL! Are you just following me around posting?!?! LOL!!

 

[yohann976]

I thought that I would try out heat dissipation with a large fan pointing at the water surface of my tank and......SUCCESS!!!! My tank was held at a constant 84 degrees all day.

 

[Thebluyak]

your welcome : )

 

[flanque]

I thought that I would try out heat dissipation with a large fan pointing at the water surface of my tank and......SUCCESS!!!! My tank was held at a constant 84 degrees all day.

I'm not sure how I am going to handle the Summer months here in AU. It's coming into Winter now and the temp is at the ideal spot but come Summer the ambient heat alone is enough to bring it up to 30C.

I'm about half way through mounting some fans on my hood to draw heat away from the cannope but am considoring a DIY chiller.

Do they really not work? I get the impression some are just coiling tubing in a mini-fridge and I recon that probably wouldn't work, but what about my idea (see DIY forum) where in the fridge the tubing is coiled in a container of water inside the min-fridge? The container or water will always remain cold and thus if you coil the tubing in that then with the appropriate flow rate it would work?

What do you think? Failing that I think it's going to be fans mounted on the roof pointing down at the water surface. Pretty ugly.

 

[illestj0rge23]

I have actually made a mini fridge chiller. I used the second size fridge not the really small one, but the step above, i think its like 3.5 cubic feet. And i must say it works great, I put it on my 55 gallon and i got my temp down from about 88/86 to 78 degress. I coiled about 70 ft of tubing inside and removed the freezer cover so that the fridge would get even colder. Whole set-up cost me about 35 bucks for tubing and elbows. (I already had fridge and pump) Not sure how it would work for larger tanks though...

 

[flanque]

Yes I guess the problem is knowing how much fridge you need to handle the tank size you have. I have a 55G (less rock space) and up to 30C temps in summer.

I thought of a DIY rig like this but am not sure if it'll work:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=79197

 

[tropicfishman]

with the mini fridge idea, your not going to get a very good cooling effect, it will chill the water, but by too much, the water coming in will be freezing compared to the tanks water, then you have an uphill battle with tempature flucuations

 

[flanque]

How's that any different to a chiller? The water goes into the chiller, then goes out. I've seen them only with single tubes, one in and one out.

I would assume the same would have to apply there?

Also, if the fridge is regulated to cool to 26C wouldn't that make it the ideal temperature?