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FAQs about Aquarium Chillers/Chilling Troubleshooting, Repair
Related Articles: Marine Tank Heating,
Cool/Coldwater Marine Systems, Coldwater
Sharks, Related FAQs:
Chilling 1, Chilling 2, & FAQs
on: Fans For Cooling, Chiller
Rationale/Use, Selection,
DIY, Installation,
Maintenance, &
Cool./Cold Marine Set-Up,
Heating, Water Temperature, Metal
Halide Heat Issues, | 
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Heat/Chiller, pump sel. 6/18/08
Hi WWM,
Does anyone know
which pump produces less heat Sedra 9000 or Sequence ReeFlo Dart
Pump, 3600 GPH?
<The Dart will likely impart less heat into your
water.>
This is for my sump. I have a Cali ray tank and all of
the sudden my chiller isn't up to par like last summer and I think
its because I switched pumps form Sequence ReeFlo Dart Pump, 3600
GPH to Sedra 9000. I am trying to narrow the problem down.
<I
would have the chiller looked at. An appropriately sized chiller
should not have issues keeping up with the heat produced by this
pump. Have you noticed the chiller running longer or coming on more
often? Chillers are merely air conditioners for our water, they need
to be serviced from time to time. An air-conditioner tech in your
area will likely be able to help.
Please help me if you can
Thanks Michelle
<Welcome, Scott V.>
Re: Heat/Chiller 6/19/08
Yes it is running non-stop it never
used to. Do they fill them with something?
<Yes, just your
standard R134 refrigerant for most of today’s chillers. Although you
can fill this yourself, I would take it to a qualified AC tech.
There very well could be a leak letting refrigerant escape or other
factors that they will recognize. Good luck, Scott V.> |
Electric Volts... trouble – 07/24/07
Hi I have a 130 gallon
2-California round stingray tank.
<Chilled...?>
Fish and live sand
only... soon to be in their new 300 gallon. Well yesterday the baby ray
3" stopped eating and has been lethargic. All day today I've been
debating weather or not to quarantine him.
<?>
I have 1 other
California round ray in the tank she is fine. Eating and acting
ray-like. So all water levels are fine
<?>
no scratches, the rays
are 1 year old and have had nothing new added to the tank, except a
chiller 2 weeks ago.
<A, good>
I feed grass shrimp on occasion
(after being quarantined for 1 week and treated for parasites) and give
the rays vitamins from Mazuri.
<Very good>
So all day I was trying
to figure out what could be wrong. Well at the end of the day I did a
water change and I had a cut on my finger and I felt electric shocks on
my finger (from the chiller) is this the reason my ray is sick?
<Definitely could be>
And what should I do?
<Two things for sure.
Install a GFCI, AND find/fix the source of stray current... Here likely
an ungrounded outlet... can be easily checked... See WWM re GFIs>
Or
is it because of the shrimp? Is there any good medications for this?
<...? For what...?>
The larger ray is fine.
Please help!! I love
the little guy!!
Thanks for your time
<Do you understand the
above? You might be badly shocked/electrocuted as well... Bob Fenner>
Michelle
Chiller Pump Is Overheating My Tank! – 07/14/07
Hello there,
<<Hiya Stephen>>
I have a brand new Blueline hd-20 external pump
that is being used to pump water through my chiller and re-circulate
the return water in the tank. As seen here
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o46/mynd/AquaPod/chiller-2.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o46/mynd/AquaPod/chiller-1.jpg
<<I see it>>
The distance is short, the pump is super quiet and
is working like a charm.
<<Have heard many good things about
these pumps>>
However, the casing on the pump is really hot and
when I mean hot I mean you cannot touch it for more than 5 seconds
in some places.
<<Typical of a pump that does not employ a
cooling fan…and one reason it is so “quiet”>>
Because of this,
when the water was in the tank tonight at 8pm it was 72 degrees.
<<Hmm...I have to wonder why you think you need the chiller>>
By
9pm after adding the water and priming the pump the temperature via
the chiller/heater rose to 77. Here it is 12:36am and the
temperature in the tank in the basement which is 75 degree, with no
lights on in the tank and no salt in the water (just distilled
water) with no filtration in the tank at all has risen to 79
degrees.
<<Quite a jump, but your picture shows this pump hooked
to a pretty small tank. You would likely not realize this kind of
increase on a larger system>>
Now, the chiller has come on and is
cooling the water back down to 77.
<<Doing its job then…>>
I
think the external pump is heating up the water.
<<Yup…>>
This
does not seem normal.
<<Why not…it is quite “normal” for the heat
energy generated by the pump to be transferred to the water>>
If
the temperature of the casing does get this hot and it is going to
continue to heat my water up and turn on the chiller now, what is
going to happen when the lights are on for 10 hours?
<<Indeed…but
did you even determine the need for the chiller/this pump
beforehand?>>
The Chiller should not even be coming on now,
<<…?>>
it's going to be on 20-hours a day. I just need you to
tell me if this is normal behavior for this type of external pump?
<<It is>>
Suggestions are welcome.
<<Try placing a small
desktop fan to blow on the pump…this should cool the casing by a few
degrees and limit some of the heat transfer (though you will now
have to deal with the noise of the fan)>>
Also, there is no
problem with the pump. It is not making any noise, not shaking,
nothing out of the ordinary. It is brand new and other then the heat
seems to be working perfectly.
<<Even “with” the heat, I’m sure
it is working as intended/designed>>
What to do?
<<Try running
the tank without the chiller/just a fan to blow across the surface
of the water…you may discover you could have saved yourself some
trouble/money>>
Kind regards,
Stephen
<<Be chatting.
EricR>> | 
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Re: Chiller Pump Is Overheating My Tank! - 07/14/07
Thanks for
the quick reply.
<<Quite welcome>>
Just to verify things. The
reason I have the chiller and external pump is not only to cool the tank
but to allow 240GPH extra circulation back into the tank as you can see
here:
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o46/mynd/AquaPod/grommetized-1.jpg
<<Ah yes…did get this from your earlier query>>
This Chiller also
acts as a heater which auto changes based on the temperature you set it
for. This means no heater in the tank either. As you can see I am
keeping it simple, heh.
<<Indeed, and I do understand the desire to
keep ancillary equipment out of such a small display>>
I went ahead
and purchased a little fan from Lowes:
<<Excellent>>
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=3084-48819-FB1
0-5Q. Works like a charm and I can now easily put my hand on the pump
forever.
<<Sometimes the most simple of resolutions…>>
The chiller
has stopped coming on except for maybe once all day and the temperature
in the tank has remained a semi constant 77-78 degrees with all the
lights running too.
<<Yay!>>
Thanks for the information, advice
and for giving me a bit of comfort about the pump.
<<Was my pleasure
to assist>>
If you post this please include the response and links if
you can for anyone that wants to see this in progress and its outcome.
<<No worries...we do post all…>>
http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=322
3.0
Kind regards,
Stephen
<<Cheers mate. Eric Russell>> | 
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Jalli Chiller 4/27/07
Hi Bob, Scott from Blue Marlin again.
<Hey Scotter>
I got a call the other day from a frantic home owner
about a leaking chiller on a 350 gallon reef tank!!!! Upon inspection,
the previous maintenance company installed the chiller (which replaced a
west coast aquatics chiller) but clearly couldn't quite get the supply
fitting to tighten up so they smeared the whole thing with some sort of
goop that hardened but obviously didn't work because it leaks.
<Bunk!>
The chiller has only one small label on it that was writing
in Japanese, or similar Asian text, so it has been hard to figure out
what brand it is. I finally had the homeowner call his previous
maintenance company to ask and they said that it was a Jalli Corporation
brand. I didn't even know they existed. Do you know if they have a
website or contact information so I can order new fittings? Am trying
to get the homeowner to install a JBJ or similar chiller, but they spent
about $1,000 on this Jalli thing so I can appreciate their unwillingness
to spend more.
So any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
--
Scott C. Wirtz
Owner
Blue Marlin Aquatic Creations
<Yeeikes... I would likely try cutting off (gingerly) the existing
material (try crushing the bits with channel locks... if this doesn't
split the material, sawing with a hacksaw blade in three parallel lines,
about equi-distant across the threads... yes, will foul up a bit, but
can be Siliconed over with new thread to thread couplers...) I would
also call Todd Gabriel at Custom Aquatic: www.customaquatics.com as I
think they handle or used to handle this line. Good luck. Bob Fenner>
New chiller install - Temperature swings
Being in Arizona, and
using as much lighting as one can stuff into canopy, I have always
struggled with temperature related issues. Using fans, I achieved a
stable 84 degrees. With exception of the rare spike, and lots of algae,
I have not had many problems with this temp. I finally decided the fan
attrition rate was too high, and have purchased a 1/4 hp chiller (around
120 gallons of water to cool). I would like to get to that magical
number of 78 degrees, with the occasional swing to 79 or 80 on the 115
degree days. My question is: what is a safe amount to drop the temp from
day to day without causing stress to the corals or fish? Should I do
this over a couple of weeks, or a couple of days? Thanks!
<Hi. I
would aim to drop the temperature over a period of a few days. Lower it
one (1) degree every day until you achieve the temperature that you
want. 79 degrees F. sounds like a good temperature.>
Take Care,
Graham Stephan
Wetwebmedia.com Crew - Chiller can't keep
up! -
I currently have a 110 Gallon tank with 2 x 250 watt Metal
Halides and 2 x 03 Actinics PC. I am having, what I think is a
problem. My tank temp. goes from 78 in the morning, then when the light
start turning on it will reach about 84 degrees. <A six degree swing is
pretty sizable and stressful.> I think that is too much fluctuation in
temp. I currently have a 1/5 chiller, which runs about 12+ hours a day.
<I guess it can't keep up w/ the tank, unless it's plumbed incorrectly
or you have it in the aquarium cabinet.> What should I do? Buy a bigger
chiller (1/3 or ½)? <I'd start by removing all or part of the cover (if
one) and using a cheap fan to blow across the surface of the water. My
120 that runs 2x400w MH and 220w of VHO actinics uses only a 9.99
Wal-Mart fan for all its cooling needs. Try it!> If so, in-line or coil,
which one is better on electricity and chilling? <In line's are better.>
My current electricity bill is 200 + a month. <Ouch! Good luck! -Kevin>
Help and thanks in advance. Michael Water cooling, Harmful
metals 7/11/05
I'm trying to set up a cooling device for my
aquarium because it is reaching temperatures of 80 F plus in the summer
and was wondering if there are any problems with using an aluminum coil
chiller.
<Ah, yes... aluminum is toxic in concentration, and unless
there is a thermal exchange mechanism, exposing system water to the air
as in "swamp cooling" will add too much pollution. Bob Fenner>
Chiller performance 8/24/06
Hello! Hope you can offer
me some technical help here. As I explained in the previous e-mail, my
chiller broke down a couple of weeks ago and I lost almost everything in
my tank. Now I had it fixed (the compressor was replaced and the heat
exchanger lines flushed out of any debris) and is working again but
after some research I read many warnings about short cycling of the
compressor if the unit too big for the aquarium volume. The chiller I
have is a Resun CL-650, a 1/4 hp unit and my tank a 55gal + 10 gal
refugium, will this be what killed my chiller?
<Mmm, doubtful>
I
don't recall the frequency of the on-off cycles previously (it have been
working for more than a year) but now I am and the compressor kicks in
for more or less 15 minutes to pull down 2deg from 84deg to 82deg set
point and then shut off for about 20 minutes and the cycle repeats (this
with an air temp of +/- 91deg in my living room) would this cycle be
considered short cycling?
<Is rather short, but shouldn't be a
problem here. Bob Fenner> Chiller Type/Placement - 09/29/06
Being in Alaska, I have never had much need for chillers, but know I am
being asked to put a 100g saltwater tank in the hallway of an office
building.
<<Okay>>
All of the offices have huge inefficient
windows making the offices cold, so they crank the heat up. The hallway
doesn't lose much heat so it is always over 80-85 degrees.
<<Uncomfortable>>
This puts my tank averaging 92 degrees.
<<Yikes!>>
The tank is a self-contained one, meaning there is a
false wall in the tank and there is an overflow system into the back
where there is a prefilter, a skimmer, and a wet/dry trickle, then a
pump returning it to the tank.
<<Yes...am familiar with (if not a
fan of) the design>>
Nothing ever leaves the tank. I would rather
not drill bulkheads, but have read that the drop-in chillers should be
drop kicked.
<<I've only ever used in-line chillers but have heard
the drop-in design is "less than efficient" as well>>
Also I read
that even if I use an in-line chiller, the heat pulled from the tank
will increase the temp in the room and will heat the tank etc. A
vicious cycle. What are your thoughts?
<<Mostly truth here. I
initially installed my chiller under the tank...didn't have problems
with keeping the tank cool (the chiller did a very good job of this),
but the chiller pumped a bunch of heat in to the room...ended up
relocating/plumbing the unit from under the house in the crawlspace. To
be quite honest, it sounds like you have a "much less than ideal
location" here for a tank. You will need a fairly large chiller (I'm
estimating 1/2hp in-line...3/4hp drop-in) to get the "pull-down" it
appears you will need. You can locate the chiller under/next to the
tank and still maintain temperature (in the tank) in my opinion, but the
heat/noise pumped in to the hall will be terrible (who would want to
stand out there and view this tank under such conditions?!) Unless you
have means of remotely locating a chiller, I'm not sure placing this
tank here is plausible under current conditions. Regards, Eric
Russell>>. Octopus and Chilling Incident
Hi Bob,
I tried frozen shrimp (the ones that are for human
consumption) which was totally rejected by the octopus. I then tried
some small frozen fish which was also ignored.
Today I will start
feeding it with live oysters which will be staying in the other tank and
fed to it at a rate of 3-4 / day. The only question is how can I know
that it is well fed .. or perhaps overfed..
<Do look for small live
crabs... If the animal is very small (like the size of your thumb),
small live crustaceans of other sorts>
Do you still have your octopus
in that tank ? How long have you been keeping it ?
<Have never kept
these cephalopods, other than in retail settings>
A really
interesting animal.. I think that in the next edition of your book you
should include more information about it.. as well as some cool water
marine fishes.. (as usually our website is at your disposal for this
purpose). I hope that till then we will have acquired enough information
to justify a chapter in your "Bible" !!
<Thank you for this. Some
friends and I are writing some related works together... the next on
"The Best Fishes for Marine Aquariums"... and the following work will
likely be on "non-fishes"... will accumulate your note here for this
latter title>
You will read full details in the August update of our
site but I would like to let you know in advance (for your book.. )
While on a business trip the thermostat of the chiller stuck in the "on"
position and the water temperature dropped from 21 C to 4 C where it
stayed for 12 hours. My son stopped the chiller and allowed the
temperature to reach 21C in 20 hours.
No fish or invertebrate losses
!!
<Amazing how tough aquatic life can be when it starts in good
health. Bob Fenner>
George Temperature Fluctuations- needs
add-on controller for chiller 6/18/03
Hello Crew of Great
Wetness!
<I'm not that happy to see you, but cheers anyway <G>>
I have a question regarding temperature. I had to purchase a chiller
because my setup was forcing tank temperatures above 84 degrees in a
house that has an ambient temp. of 78 degrees! The chiller comes on at
79 degrees, runs for about 20 minutes, then shuts off when the temp.
hits 81 degrees. This is automatic, at least the 2 degree difference
between when it kicks on and when it shuts off is automatic, I don't
have control of it, I just set it for 80 degrees. The happens about
every 3 hours or so. Is this 2 degree fluctuation between 79 and 81 too
much based on the frequency?
<2 degrees is tolerable. DO add on a
digital controller if you prefer though for finer control>
I don't
think I could do anything to change this...Thank you
Paul
<best
regards, Anthony> Not Moving Query Before Answering.. Making a
Tank Quieter and Cooler 4/6/05 (Whose Take?)
Hi. I sent this
e-mail to you last week and since I received no response, I thought
maybe my Spam Blocker got it. So I am going to resend from a different
e-mail address.
<Sorry that you didn't get a reply. With the huge
volume of mail that we get, once in a while one gets blocked, bounced,
lost, etc. Thanks for giving us a second chance!>
I appreciate any
help you can give me. (I have looked at other questions and answers on
your site and they tend to conclude that: there is no quiet way to cool
a tank with a chiller and the JBL chiller is probably the best on the
market today. So maybe my questions below are not worth responding to.)
<All questions deserve a reply! Most chillers are noisy, but it is not
hopeless.>
I have two questions that are related. Let me start by
describing my current setup. I have a 135 gallon reef aquarium with a 30
gallon sump. It is six feet long with 4 VHO lights (kept about 3 inches
above the glass) and is used as a room partition with dedicated outlets
in the cabinet under the tank. I had a custom cabinet built with the air
vents on the 4 doors below, on both sides. I have a single return that
is powered by a Mag 9.5 (950 GPH) pump. In addition to the return pump,
in the sump I have a Aqua Medic Turboflotor protein skimmer powered by a
Rio pump and also a smaller 200 gph Rio pump for more power through the
skimmer. Finally I have a drop-in 1/4 HP Delta chiller with the coil
placed in the sump. The tank is doing great.
<Sounds like a very
nice set-up. Submersible pumps like the Rio and Mag add a surprising
amount of heat!>
I moved into an a/c apartment about 1 ½ [??] ago,
which we keep about 68-72 degrees. Even in the winter my tank runs hot.
The chiller is set to run when the temperature of the water is 77
degrees and it seems to be running 4-6 hours a day, mostly when the
lights are on (which is around 11 hours per day). Without the chiller
on, the tank will go above 85 degrees during the day and come down to
around only 82 degrees at night. In the summer the temperature goes even
higher.
<77 degrees is a bit on the low side for a target
temperature. Most folks run their reef tanks at 80-82 degrees. In the
summer I often tolerate up to 85. It is much more important to avoid
spikes greater than about 5 degrees. Adding vents and fans to the
cabinet and hood will help a lot. I had a very similar set-up and never
needed a chiller.>
Question 1: My wife complains about the
noise since the tank is right in the middle of the living room/den. Any
way that I can make the setup quieter?
<Since this is an apartment,
you can't move the chiller to the basement. You can place the chiller on
a vibration dampening pad.>
Question 2: The chiller seems to
be not performing well. I bought it about 3 years ago. I try to keep the
water at about 77-79 degrees. Over the past couple of months, I have
seen the tank go to 85 plus degrees and hear the chiller running but the
coil is not very cold. (The grills are kept fairly clean and clear.) If
I play with the chiller (jiggle the adjustable coil hose or turn the
chiller off and back on) it seems to kick in better. With summer
approaching I am getting nervous. Any ideas what I can do to cool the
tank? Should I buy a new cooler that might work better? Is there a
chiller out there that would also make the tank a little quieter.
<I
am not sure which chiller will be quieter. I would have a pro look at
your current chiller. It is often hard to find refrigeration or AC folks
that will look at a chiller, but if you shop around you will find one.>
Additional question to my earlier e-mail: If I get the JBL in-line
chiller, with my set-up do you think I can get a Mag 12 (1200 GPH) pump,
send the water first through the cooler and then straight back to the
tank or do you think it is better to have another pump in the sump that
sends the water to the chiller and back to the sump? Is the heat from
adding another pump to the sump defeating the purpose of a chiller?
<I would suggest one large external pump to supply both the chiller and
the tank. This will reduce the heat being transferred to the tank.
Running through the chiller to the tank will cost you a great deal of
flow and may exceed the maximum pressure recommended by the
manufacturer.>
Thank you for your help. David
<Glad to help!>
Making a Tank Quieter and Cooler
Hi.
I sent this e-mail to you
last week and since I received no response, I thought maybe my Spam
Blocker got it. So I am going to resend from a different e-mail address.
<Don't know what happened David, I did send the response.> <<And
Marina posted on Dailies.>>
I appreciate any help you can give
me. (I have looked at other questions and answers on your site and they
tend to conclude that: there is no quiet way to cool a tank with a
chiller and the JBL chiller is probably the best on the market today. So
maybe my questions below are not worth responding to.) <<NEVER the
case!>>
I have two questions that are related. Let me start by
describing my current setup. I have a 135 gallon reef aquarium with a 30
gallon sump. It is six feet long with 4 VHO lights (kept about 3 inches
above the glass) and is used as a room partition with dedicated outlets
in the cabinet under the tank. I had a custom cabinet built with the air
vents on the 4 doors below, on both sides.
I have a single return
that is powered by a Mag 9.5 (950 GPH) pump. In addition to the return
pump, in the sump I have a Aqua Medic Turboflotor protein skimmer
powered by a Rio pump and also a smaller 200 gph Rio pump for more power
through the skimmer. Finally I have a drop-in 1/4 HP Delta chiller with
the coil placed in the sump. The tank is doing great.
I moved into
an a/c apartment about 1½ [??] ago, which we keep about 68-72 degrees.
Even in the winter my tank runs hot. The chiller is set to run when the
temperature of the water is 77 degrees and it seems to be running 4-6
hours a day, mostly when the lights are on (which is around 11 hours per
day).
Without the chiller on, the tank will go above 85 degrees
during the day and come down to around only 82 degrees at night. In the
summer the temperature goes even higher.
<David, your chiller may
need a Freon charge. Any A/C guy can do this.>
Question 1: My
wife complains about the noise since the tank is right in the middle of
the living room/den. Any way that I can make the setup quieter?
<Ask
the wife to leave?:):) Joking. Try lining the interior of the cabinet
with insulating Styrofoam. That should help.>
Question 2: The
chiller seems to be not performing well. I bought it about 3 years ago.
I try to keep the water at about 77-79 degrees. Over the past couple of
months, I have seen the tank go to 85 plus degrees and hear the chiller
running but the coil is not very cold. (The grills are kept fairly clean
and clear.) If I play with the chiller (jiggle the adjustable coil hose
or turn the chiller off and back on) it seems to kick in better.
With summer approaching I am getting nervous. Any ideas what I can do to
cool the tank? Should I buy a new cooler that might work better? Is
there a chiller out there that would also make the tank a little
quieter?
<As above, check the Freon level.>
(Additional question
to my earlier e-mail) If I get the JBL in-line chiller, with my
set-up do you think I can get a Mag 12 (1200 GPH) pump, send the water
first through the cooler and then straight back to the tank or do you
think it is better to have another pump in the sump that sends the water
to the chiller and back to the sump? Is the heat from adding another
pump to the sump defeating the purpose of a chiller?
<Any additional
pumps is going to add a little additional heat to the tank. Thing is if
you pump the water through the chiller and into the tank you will get a
significant flow drop. I think I would use another pump to pump water
from the sump to the chiller and back into the sump and use the existing
pump for flow back into the tank.>
Thank you for your help.
<You're welcome. James (Salty Dog)> |
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