Aquarium chiller help

[AdamG280]

I bought a JBJ 1/15 aquarium chiller in February and finally starting using it yesterday. After taking hours to figure out how to calibrate it, I finally got it right. So I waited for about an hour for it to make a difference in my aquarium temperature. It did nothing. So I looked up that it needed a pump between 100 and 160 GPH. Mine was like 400, so I guess it was too far to chill the water. I received a 160 GPH pump today and waited again for an hour to see if the chiller would cool the aquarium. Again, it didn’t make a tenth of a point difference. So, I am not using this for my reef tank, but I know you guys are great with stuff. I’m using this for goldfish because I want to make it 60° in the winter as induce spawning. Does anyone have a recommendation for a chiller that actually works that could achieve that temperature? Thank you in advance!

 

[Rocks reef]

What size tank are you using this on sir?
Also, per Bulk Reef, the recommended flow rate is 100-200 gph. Per JBJ it is 110-160 gph. It has to be slow enough so the coils have time to cool the water. Also, depending on the temp of the tank and the ambient room temp, it will take a while to cool the water.

 

[AdamG280]

What size tank are you using this on sir?
Also, per Bulk Reef, the recommended flow rate is 100-200 gph. Per JBJ it is 110-160 gph. It has to be slow enough so the coils have time to cool the water. Also, depending on the temp of the tank and the ambient room temp, it will take a while to cool the water.

It’s 37 gallons and the ambient room temperature is about 78.

 

[Rocks reef]

I would hook it back up and let it run for a couple hours. You may be asking a lot of a 1/15 chiller though to drop your water almost 20 degrees. Also, the recommended tank size for the 1/15th is up to 40 gallons, you are at the top end of that.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I use a 1/10th HP chiller to cool my 12 gallon down to 57°F in a 70°F room. I think you'll need a higher output chiller to do what you want to do, or a better insulated aquarium to help prevent thermal gain back up to room temp. I use a 1/2" thick acrylic aquarium also.

 

[CHSUB]

I have the same chiller and running about ~250 gph I think, more than recommended I believe? It cools my TWV 40 to 79f in an 80f degree room. However without it tank would run as high as 86. Not sure why you are having problems but something doesn’t seem right.

 

[BeanAnimal]

That chiller is ~900 btu/hour.
37 gallons of water is 300 pounds of water.

1F per pound means it take 300 Btu to lower the tank 1 degree, or about 20 minutes at 900 Btu/hour.

That is ignoring any heat input, but if you are stable at 78, then several degrees of pulldown over and hour or two is easily expected. The further from ambient you get (larger delta T) the more energy gain you are going to have to combat from ambient transfer, so 60 may not be doable.

One way or the other, the chiller should be easily pulling your tank down several degrees. The flow rate is not overly important. Too low and the water in the coil gets too cold, possibly icing up the chiller condenser coil. Too fast and not enough heat is pulled from the refrigerant, sending liquid instead of gas to the compressor intake, called slugging. Ot great for the compressor.

 

[BeanAnimal]

That chiller is ~900 btu/hour.
37 gallons of water is 300 pounds of water.

1F per pound means it take 300 Btu to lower the tank 1 degree, or about 20 minutes at 900 Btu/hour.

That is ignoring any heat input, but if you are stable at 78, then several degrees of pulldown over and hour or two is easily expected. The further from ambient you get (larger delta T) the more energy gain you are going to have to combat from ambient transfer, so 60 may not be doable.

One way or the other, the chiller should be easily pulling your tank down several degrees. The flow rate is not overly important. Too low and the water gets too cold, sending still possibly freezing up the chiller coil. Too fast and not enough heat is pulled from the refrigerant, sending liquid instead of gas to the compressor intake, called slugging. NOT great for the compressor or efficiency,

So something else is wrong here. Slow the flow down and measure water temp at intake and discharge.

 

[Jamie814]

Was this chiller brand new or used when you bought it?
Are you sure the chiller is working correctly?
Is there a lot of hot/warm air coming out of the back of it when it is running?