Chillers for planted tanks--flow rate dilemma

[mrkookm]

Originally Posted by Jason K

250l/hr, i could possible do...I gonna ask the manufacturer.

I've used a few different Chillers over the years and I can tell you that that little chiller will work just fine with the 66gph.

Just to give you a little background- I had a 3/4hp Tradewinds Chiller (check the min GPH recom.) on a 90gal tank and was only putting 550GPH for over a year. No way could I dial it so that 1000+ gph (had ext pump) flowed into my tank. The unit ran flawless with no issues and it was a ridiculous size for my little tank.

So it's not that serious. It will not freeze up as long as you have water flowing trough it constantly.






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[Jason K]

Originally Posted by mrkookm

I've used a few different Chillers over the years and I can tell you that that little chiller will work just fine with the 66gph.

Just to give you a little background- I had a 3/4hp Tradewinds Chiller (check the min GPH recom.) on a 90gal tank and was only putting 550GPH for over a year. No way could I dial it so that 1000+ gph (had ext pump) flowed into my tank. The unit ran flawless with no issues and it was a ridiculous size for my little tank.

So it's not that serious. It will not freeze up as long as you have water flowing trough it constantly.

Ok, so you were running at 1/2 the recommended min flow rate...so that promising! Why did you stop using it after a year, if I may ask?

[mrkookm]

Originally Posted by Jason K

Ok, so you were running at 1/2 the recommended min flow rate...so that promising! Why did you stop using it after a year, if I may ask?

That thing was a monster, but the only reason why I held onto it was because I got it for a steal. I ended up tearing down the tank due to us prepping
for a house move at the time and knowing deep down that it wasn't a practical sized chiller I sold it.




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[mrkookm]

Just looking through some old pictures and found these, so I wanted to show that I wasn't making up some story. I do know a little something about chillers..I owned 2 others, but can't find any pics of those.

[Jason K]

Originally Posted by mrkookm

Just looking through some old pictures and found these, so I wanted to show that I wasn't making up some story. I do know a little something about chillers..I owned 2 others, but can't find any pics of those.

I thought you were a liar, but now I have no choice but to believe you

Anyway, you've made me feel comfortable that chillers would be feasible for my set up, thank you for that...but now I'm wondering if it's practical. In your experience did you have your chillers set up in the same room as the tank, or plumbed elsewhere? I'd have to have them in the same room as the tanks, and I'm thinking the heat exhausted from the chillers would effectively negate the benefit of having them in a relatively poorly ventilated room.

[mrkookm]

Originally Posted by Jason K

I thought you were a liar, but now I have no choice but to believe you

Anyway, you've made me feel comfortable that chillers would be feasible for my set up, thank you for that...but now I'm wondering if it's practical. In your experience did you have your chillers set up in the same room as the tank, or plumbed elsewhere? I'd have to have them in the same room as the tanks, and I'm thinking the heat exhausted from the chillers would effectively negate the benefit of having them in a relatively poorly ventilated room.

Well if you have a need for it then it is worthwhile, but I needed it because of the heat generated from my lighting (halides 250watt x2 and later 175watt x2) and then later my pumps- bigger is not always better Anyways without the chiller my temps would climb to 94deg easy, so a chiller was a practical choice for me. I tried evap cooling which worked up to a certain point low 80's. The only problem was I got caught up with thinking bigger is better- not always.

If your temps are high 80's then a chiller might be for you since evap cooling would prolly be a pain.

I had my chiller beside the tank due to space constraints in an apt and while it wasn't the ideal situation, it worked as intended and reliably. I had too much heat being generated.






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[Jason K]

Just in case anyone is interested, I'm posting the emails to/from AquaEuro. Have not yet heard back from Hydrofarm...

I asked: "I wanted to use your 1/13 hp chiller for a planted freshwater aquarium. I would operate at a flow rate significantly under the min flow rate recommended. Is that not a good idea?"

They responded: "I would not recommend purchasing our chiller in that event. It must be operated at the correct flow rate requirements otherwise it either wont work for you or it will freeze up and damage the compressor. Sorry but it must be used in those parameters."

I then asked: "One follow up question. What is the minimum flow rate for the 1/13 hp chiller? I see 50gph listed in the product manual, but I see minimum recommend flow rate of 160 gph in the product descriptions on most websites. I could run my tank in the 50 gph range, but not at the 160gph range."

They then answered: "At 50 gph, your pump has to be right next to the chiller itself. It is too slow of a flow rate. It should be 160 gph."

[xmas_one]

For what its worth I ran a 1/10 HP chiller with a 2213 for years no problems. That minimum flow business is a bunch of hooey.

[Jason K]

It's just really curious they would dissuade me from buying their product...don't know what to think about that!

[Jason K]

Again, just in case anyone is interested, I received a response from Hydrofarm.

I asked: "What is the minimum flow rate required for this product (AACH10)? I see 250 l/hr (~65gph), and I also see 160 gph. I would need to operate at a flow in the 60 gph range. Would this product not be appropriate to use?"

They responded:" We recommend between 160 and 250 gph. 60 gph should be fine, but we can't guarantee that it will work."