How To Diy A Chiller

[alvy]

Hello, after much experience and knowledge gained from the diy process, i've decided to write a brief walkthru to explain how one can also make his own chiller! I wrote it in another forum, so bear with me!

http://www.aquarealms.com:/viewtopic.php?t=12391

[Cookiemunster]

yup I've seen his chiller in action personally. all I can say is I had to touch it to see if it was on.

Other than the heat from the fan blown at me, I could not tell if it was on. Its that silent.

Efficiency wise, alvy has a 8x2.5x2.5ft tank with an almost equally large sump. So the amount of water we are talking about is really large.

He still manages to maintain his tank temp at 26degrees.

The only thing is, the entire unit is huge. Its slightly bigger than a commercial 1hp chiller. But then thats the thing that makes it so much more efficient.

truly the DIY guru.

[Achilles Tang]

Wowee!!

No wonder you don't have much time on your hands! How many manhours did you invest in this project!

I should visit you once of these days soon... want to see your monster tank!

But how you are lighting it with just 2 x 150w MH?

[alvy]

i spend lots of hours with the tank project..but i only do it when i'm free from my work! so effectively, i work on it only once or twice a month!!

i'm only lighting it with 2 X 150w now (those are my old pendants) because i'm still designing my own SS pendant which can hold a specially mod spider reflector (larger than the orginal with 2 bays for the bulbs) and 2 bulbs (1 X Radium 400w and 1 X 250w iwasaki) i'll have 2 X SS pendants side by side with my 2 X 150w 10kk at both ends. At the end of the day, i should have 2 X 150w DE, 2 X 250w Sakis and 2 X 400w Radiums! also i've to build an external cabinet (out at my roof terrace) to house a tall sump refugium and my 4 ft skimmer. And the last bit has to go to my tank cabinet which partition my livnig room and my dinning area! So my chiller has to be powerful enough to cool 1800w of lighting..and i'm confident tt it'll do the job!

cookie: my tank is only 7ft lar!!effectively speaking, the aquascape area is only 6 ft!

[panlee]

hi alvy Any pic of your tank? It sounds cool...

[hamannbmw]

cant wait to see the pics

[Dazza]

you're a champ alvy. I gt lost after the first paragraph hahaha.

[MadScientist]

How much does it cost? How big is that mega cooler?

[joestoys]

If you have pictures of the parts and step by step assemble instruction will be great.

Indeed you a DIY guru!!

[soggy]

is your whole reef system automated? i wouldn't be surprised if it were. auto feeding, auto top up, auto water change, auto light bulb change, auto parameters-test-and-if-not-satisfactory-then-dose-accordingly. by the sounds of it, you can diy almost anything man.

you really remind me of something being mentioned in angela's ashes. 'you might be poor, your shoes might be broken, but your mind is a palace.'

[SpiderOne]

soggy. he lives in a palace already man

[MadScientist]

that set-up sounds familiar. are u describing the ocean?

[soggy]

he probably does. and he made everything in it by himself.