lharmon Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Hi all: Had my chiller turn into a heater for few hours today.... Luckily my wife caught it fairly early (temp got to about 88). Lost 2 fish and a fire shrimp, but it looks like all the others will survive (not sure on all the snails and hermits as I don't even try to keep count - but some are still moving around). Corals are all soft and look like they will pull through. a couple look a little rougher than the others so time will tell. Have the tank opened up, lights off and fans blowing now and the temp is down to about 82 and still appears to be coming down. I think with the house AC and fans I can hold it here or maybe even get a little lower while I find a new chiller. Now the question - who's got a good recommendation for a chiller? Tank plus sump minus rock capacity is about 200 gallons. Some 1/2 HP and even some 1/3 HP say they can control up to 300 gallons. Others say it takes their 1 HP to control over 150 gallons. Just looking for some input from anyone with experience using a chiller on this volume of water. Chiller is about 15 feet from tank and while it is inside, it's not in an AC controlled area so it needs to be a pretty efficient unit. Unfortunatley I really don't have $1500 to $2k to spend on the commercial and high end units. Trying to keep it under $1K if possible. any recommendations for a good chiller for a decent price is appreciated. Hoping to get it ordered before this weekend so I have it by early next week at the latest. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Ecoplus commercial grade chiller, not that I work with chillers daily or anything You could get one that can handle your needs for your price if you look around. Otherwise ask "hydro" and he can help you. Also, what type did you used to have and before you junk it I'll come grab it to play with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Some are more efficient than others. Also look at the temperature change ratings per gallons of water. Some are grossly overstated cooling ability per volume. 1HP should cool 800 - 1000 gallons about 10 degrees if running all the time. Ecoplus, active aqua, Aqua Euro, pacific coast, JBJ (Pricey though) are all pretty good and reliable at this point. There seems to be some defective ones with just about every brand, but you normally know if you have one of those in a month or so. You may be able to borrow one and gets yours repaired for much cheaper as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizardx322 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 hey i would recommend a 1/2 hp AquaEuro i got mine for $800 about a month ago i have a 190 g dsa and a 40 gal sump and my a/c in the house is broken right now. i run 400w mh for 8 hrs and my tank temp does not get above 78.8 lmk if your interested i can give you the site where i got and by the way this chiller is a great size not too big and also very quite your welcome to come check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'm going to start a thread on sizing chillers in case it can help anyone else too, there is actually a formula for it. You may want to check it out Also are you sure your chiller can't be reapaired? If you can get it to biocubed he can bring it out to my shop and I'll take a look at it. Maybe its just the controller which I have generic replacements for. If its repairable it may only cost you $100-$200, if its a compressor maybe a little more. hydro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lharmon Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thanks for the input everyone. I'll do some looking and research on all of these. I'll post what I can find on my current chiller tonight Bio - you'd be welcome to it if your interested. I did some research on it in the past and only came up with a little info - very limited labeling on it to search on. I'd like to get a new one that has a some excess capacity so it's not working all out all summer long, but everything comes down to price and what my wife thinks fits in the budget! I'm sure most can relate - wife's not happy then no ones happy! The temp was down below 80 this morning (79.5), so I think with everything opened up, the fans blowing and the AC turned down an extra couple of degrees I'll be able to survive for the time it takes to get a new unit secured and installed. All the surviving fish looked much happier this morning - time will tell on some of the corals... light out will keep them a little upset - I'll probabaly give them a couple hours each day as I monitor the temp to give them a boost. Thanks again to all that have responded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lharmon Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 Thanks Hydro - I'll try to pull it out tonight. Maybe I can drop off at Bio's tomorrow and the two of you can take a look at it Friday. It does appear to be an older unit. Wish I knew more about it, but it was inherited with the entire system and set-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bimmerzs Posted May 8, 2012 Share Posted May 8, 2012 Did you find a solution yet? Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All WYSIWYG Posted May 10, 2012 Share Posted May 10, 2012 I checked out the chiller and it needed a fan motor, instead of finding a motor he decided to replace it with a new unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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