Ice Probe Micro Chiller

[Brad]

The history on this comment is that I upgraded my 30gal with a MH light. Immediately, I began to have temperature problems. There was so much light that it began to raise my temperature too much by the end of the day.

So I ordered the "Ice Probe". It was small, and relatively cheap compared to other chillers.

Then I added a 10gal sump. Since then the water temperature has been very stable...but it was winter.

It has been getting pretty warm here lately and my temperature has started to climb again. So I finally dropped the Ice Probe into the system.

Here's my point. I'm impressed. This thing works extremely well. I was concerned that it wasn't big enough to influence 40gal, but it handles it without problem.

I took the easy way on installation. It is designed to bulkhead directly through the wall of a tank, but I just hung it in the overflow of my skimmer. Here's a picture of the chiller in action.

 

[vega]

Can you tell us how much Temp drop with this?

TIA

 

[Brad]

Hard to say for sure...

...but I had temperatures climbing up to 83.5 degrees...since putting the chiller in place I have yet to see it climb above 80.5 degrees. Normal tank fluctuation seems to be between 78.0 and 79.5 degrees.

Total water volume is about 40-45 gallons.

If you stick your finger in the outflow of the skimmer while the probe is running (it goes on and off by thermostat), you can feel that the outflow is cold. I'll measure the outflow temperature and post it here.

I should be able to figure out:
1) the flow rate of water past the cooler
2) input water temperature
3) output water temperature.

 

[Mai]

I had the same problem with my 10gal. The IceProbe works great. My temps were around 84 deg and it has brought the temp down to 78. It works great

 

[cvjoint2]

ice probe

I have one in my 5 gal tank but I have a very hard time believing that it works the way you say it does on such a large volume of water. Maybe you live in a much cooler climate where the outside air has something to do with the effectiveness of the chiller