Christian Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Hey guys so I'm look into doing a tank build of 4X 55 gallon frag tanks. Here's the catch I'm wanting to place the aquariums in my garage. I can't cut holes in the walls or close off the garage like you would inside the house. I'm currently thinking about running a small tempature controled freezer or fridge with a hose coiled inside it to keep the water cool, and act as a chiller. With out the expensive cost. At least for now. Here is the set up I have. A stand built measuring 48"long by 30"wide and 36"tall. I can hold 2X 55 gallon show tanks on the top and 2 on the bottom of the stand. I will post picture this weekend. Does any one run their reef tanks in the garage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 I have know a couple people that ran aquariums in the garage but most either had ac in the garage or a big chiller on the tank, you plan to use a fridge or freezer to cool the water has promise but you will need to look into the material you use for the coil becaus most of the standard aquarium tubing is not the best thermal conductor so you might find that you don't get enough heat rejection from the coil. That being said if the thermal conductivity of the tubing is not a problem you might have to play with how fast you move things through the coil because it would be some what easy in a freezer (and maybe a fridge) to get the water to cold and then you are running your heater all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 I can put a ball valve to control the speed of the water being pumped through the hose. My plan was to use garden hose to run in the fridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 First, Most garages are too hot with out a chiller. Your chiller fails and then you tank over heats. IMO it's a bad idea. Second, Almost all fridges and freezers including deep freezers aren't rated for continuous use. Your very likely to burn up the compressor in short time. Also you have no control over the tempature unless you put it on a feed pump that is controlled by your controller. Since on/off cycling is the hardest thing you can do to a pump your likely to burn it up quickly too. Third, As larryD stated. You need to use a material that has good thermal properties. Garden hose isn't going to cut it. Aluminum and copper are great but not reef safe. Titanium is about your only choice. At that point why not just buy a chiller it's likely going to be cheaper to buying a titanium core and trying to modify a freezer or fridge. I think this is just a bad idea. Your trying to DIY something cheap that will be a single point of failure your your tanks. A commercially available chiller is a better idea if you have to got his route but it's still a single point of failure. I can't even count how many frag tanks and prop systems that have been located in the garage that have been nuked due to chiller failure. Just look on RC and R2R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+brian.srock Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 If this isn't your house then get a chiller. If this is your house then insulate the garage and you may be able to keep the garage temperate down. This would include insulation at R-32 ($300 if DIY) in the attic and insulation on the garage door itself with pink panels. I'd invest in a temperature gun to help you with finding leaks. Once everything is insulate you can pick up a cheap window a/c ($150 -$200) unit and mod it to vent outside. Do not vent it into the attic as the humidity will cause mold problems. This would be a small 4" hole that you can easily patch up if you decide to sell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Christian - I hate quashing your enthusiasm for the project but unfortunately I'm with Reburn on this one. Too many ways the whole thing can go south. This will sound preachy but at the end of the day, the animals in our charge rely 100% on us to make sound decisions on their behalf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Christian - I hate quashing your enthusiasm for the project but unfortunately I'm with Reburn on this one. Too many ways the whole thing can go south. This will sound preachy but at the end of the day, the animals in our charge rely 100% on us to make sound decisions on their behalf. Says the man who has two giant tanks in his garage! [emoji23] I'm totally sassing Richard. He built out his garage as a fully functional man-cave/office with insulation and AC. [emoji6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard L Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Ha! Good point Ty. As I was writing that I totally forgot my man cave used to be my garage. This hypocrite will shut up now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 Ok guys. It is my house and the only reason I said I can't put any holes in the walls in because the fron and sides of my house are brick. I also don't have an attic above the garage because I'm in a 2 story house. The walls of the garage are filled with blown in foam and the garage doors are not insulated. I do have a 10x10 shed in my back yard but I don't have power to it or I would use that and be able to hold a lot more aquariums. The shed can hold 9X20 gallon long tanks, 8X555 gallons and still has room for me to build another stand to hold 9X10 gallons. That would be the best place but sadly no power. it's really hard to run power from my braker box to anywhere in the house. On to the part of the chiller I'm looking for a low cost just to start once I have the tanks up and running I will switch to chiller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 What's the hurry to set up these aquariums? Whatever happened to the big upstairs tank you were doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted June 27, 2015 Author Share Posted June 27, 2015 What's the hurry to set up these aquariums? Whatever happened to the big upstairs tank you were doing? Are you talking about the in the wall on ore the 160gallon? I currently have a 160 gallon set up upstairs. I'm just looking for a place to hold a lot of frags at one time. And yead the 169 can hold a lot but it's not set up to hold a lot of frags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Well I set up my rodi system in the garage but I'm still trying to figure out how to set up a lot of tanks with out having to AC my garage I've herd of people puting holding systems outside but won't they get just as hot too. How do they keep the holding systerms cool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woods Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I see no way to do this without AC in your garage. Before I started SW 4 years ago, I ran 25 tanks in my garage breeding FW African cichlids. I ran a large air blower to power sponge filters on all the tanks. This also helped with oxygen in the tanks during the summer. My tanks would hit 86-90 degrees during the summer and that was with my garage cracked open a foot all night and open during the day as much as possible. I was only keeping fish so I could get away with it. Keeping corals and even SW fish will require cooler water... A single tank could use a chiller but it would be difficult to chill many tanks without multiple chillers or looping the tanks together with a chiller. The easiest way would be AC... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 I see no way to do this without AC in your garage. Before I started SW 4 years ago, I ran 25 tanks in my garage breeding FW African cichlids. I ran a large air blower to power sponge filters on all the tanks. This also helped with oxygen in the tanks during the summer. My tanks would hit 86-90 degrees during the summer and that was with my garage cracked open a foot all night and open during the day as much as possible. I was only keeping fish so I could get away with it. Keeping corals and even SW fish will require cooler water... A single tank could use a chiller but it would be difficult to chill many tanks without multiple chillers or looping the tanks together with a chiller. The easiest way would be AC... Yeah, I have a really large air pump that I got when I bought like 20 aquariums from a guy who was selling his fish room that was in the garage he was also breeding cichlids only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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