Need help on DIY Micro Chiller

[hobbes]

Micro chiller. This is a new product that uses heat exchange to cool the water, and can cool the water 5-10 degrees. It is housed in a small hang-on-back filter, so it will also provide some circulation. They are a bit expensive, usually around $200, but you can easily make one yourself buy buying a heat exchange module and mounting it inside a hang-on-back filter.

I' need a mirco chiller for my 1ft cube tank, so do I just buy a heat exchange module and put it inside a hang-on-back filter and run it? How does it really work?

Hope you guys can help me out!

[hobbes]

Ok sorry guys if you didnt know what on earth i was talking about.. Check out this link

Explains it all, I was thinking if it could be DIY-ed

http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_chille...r.asp?ast=&key=

[sunny03]

it is better to get a ready made one

not really worth the trouble to make one

[kareen]

Ice probe is a thermoelectric chiller based on the Peltier Effect to chiller water. ie one side very hot and the other side very cold. I beleive there are such components in the hardware shops in Sim Lim Tower and can be done but the thing is how confident you are in the knowledge of DIY?

[nicholas_yeo]

kareen is right. Piezo electric system is kinda of tricky. Sure u can buy DIY parts (piezo plates + power supply + heatsink + fan) but this system require very high power wattage (will get very hot). Besides, DIY it will inevidently make your 'product' very big..... maybe much larger than your tank

Finally, u need to consider safety issues since u are using AC source to DC which means u have to worry about fire safety and good reliabilty transformer etc....

The return of cooling is efficient in very small application but will not good if u use it for larger tank in terms of cooling vs cost.

[iantoh]

hi there hobbes and all,

i was thinking about making a peltier-type DIY chiller myself, but came up with several obstacles as i was formulating a design for it. chiefly, normal motherboard peltiers are not waterproof, and the microchiller or iceprobe has a special waterproof coating entirely around the peltier. that is, the peltier remains in contact with the coating but is protected from water exposure by it.

thing is, i cant think of a viable way to coat the peltier like in the iceprobe. i have DIYed many aspects to my tank by siliconing acrylic or glass panels together, but i'm not sure that will do with the peltier. apparently, as my friend told me, the planted tank freshwater enthusiasts on arofanatics.com just place the peltier to the side of the tank's glass, and attach a heat sink and fan behind the peltier. anyone have any experience with such an application? maybe we could get together and come up with a solution?

cheers all,

ian

[smyee]

I seen a wine cooler (like big vase type) selling in NTUC Cost about $80 ++, they are using the heat exchange mechanism at the bottom to cool the bottle, thinking buy one to dismantle. Not sure is it workable ?

[somebody]

how much would a micro chiller cost in singapore? any stores selling? thinking of getting one for my 2 feet, if the price is reasonable.

[smyee]

S$235 form reef depot (without the temp control). Check www.reefdepot.com.sg.

[somebody]

so ex ah? a few days ago, there were even ppl selling brand new chillers for $200...

hmmm... =(

hate topping up water everyday!!!

[rockfish]

with that money . u can put half into ur pocket .. and other half.. buy or diy a auto top up . then u dun have to top up water lor ..