how sad am i

[-JB]

You know you've the bug when... You have to go out to a dinner meeting after work at a great restaurant with a wonderful wine list and eat great food and drink and be merry, all for free. But you'd rather go home to your reef because you just got a new chiller delivered today and you want to hook it up.

Am I pathetic or what?

 

[Len]

Hey, I decided my college based on the proximity to my reef tank .... no kidding. How sad are we

 

[MiNdErAsR]

Yeah...you should have spent the money on a good RO/DI unit, or a reactor, instead of a chiller. A simple fan blowing over the water surface would provide for your cooling needs, and been a whole lot cheaper! But hey...to each his own.

IMO

 

[-JB]

Already have a RO/DI unit and a reactor. I also have six fans on my tank, the thing is so loud it's driving me nuts, and every time the humidity goes up the fans lose any real hope of keeping the temps down.

 

[MIKE NY1]

I hear you -JB, I didn't want to go on a Florida vacation because I didn't want to leave my tank for a week, how pathetic is that!..but I went anyway......for cooling I have my reef in an air conditioned room with the A/C vents blowing at the tank keepng the tank and room cool. The A/C has a thermostat on it so it isn't running all the time.

Mike

 

[myreef]

I understand how you feel JB. I picked up my chiller last week and did not get to install it until Saturday. I will tell you though, it is much better! This CSL chiller is great. It is so quiet. I think you ended up getting the aqualogic, if I am not mistaken. I would like to hear how you like it after it is installed. My chiller only runs about 10-15 minutes an hour now compared to my old chiller at almost 24/7 during the end of June and July. Good luck and have fun installing it!

 

[-JB]

Hey Andy, Yeah I bought the 1/3 inline aqualogic, should hook it up tonight. Re-did all the plumbing over the weekend to get ready for the chiller. So I just need to hook the lines up to it. I'll let you know how it goes. BTW did you end up having the return on the chiller going into the sump or your tank? Also, do you know what the BTU output on the CSL is, I never see that stat mentioned, wondered if it came with the unit.

 

[myreef]

JB, unless the BTU's are on the bottom I can't find them anywhere. I just went and checked. The CSL website doesn't say either. Right now I have it running from the sump to the chiller back into the sump. According to the instructions, it says it is better to go back to the tank. Actually makes sense if you think about it. So I ordered a new pump to push the chiller and the return. My old pump will go to my prop tank. Supposed to put between 800-1800 GPH through the chiller. I bought a MAG 18. I calculated the head and going back to the tank should be similar to what I was getting out of my old pump. Since I had a chiller already, it was fairly easy to swap it out. I did change my hose out for new hose.... Good luck. Only took me about 45 minutes to swap it out.

 

[Mouse]

When i was 13 years old i used to take a 15 gallon tank backwards and forwards every term. I had to move that tank 6 times a year. Fully planted, fully stocked. Never lost a thing, but it drove my mum nuts. Its never been so true but where theres a will theres a way.

 

[-JB]

myreef, wanted to give you an update on the aqualogic unit. Right now it is hooked up in the basement under the tank. It is on a shelf (rated at 1000lbs) up close to the ceiling. I am going from the sump -> pump -> chiller -> sump. Right now I have the temp set for 80F. During the morning or night the chiller goes on for about 25 minutes then turns off. My tank is 180g with a 30g sump, total volume of about 200g, during the day with all the lights on (3) 250MH and (2) 140VHO, with a semi enclosed hood, the chiller turns on between 45-55 minutes then turns off for about 1 hour. This week it's been pretty hot and the ambient room temp with out AC running has been as high as 86F and the tank was nice and cool at 80F. I am using a medusa temp controller and in the manual it has a fairly long section in the back about chillers and how long they should cycle for, the medusa will wait until the temp goes up .6F above the set point then bring it down 1.2 degrees before shutting off. They state the chiller should always run at least 20 minutes to bring the temp down. If it is falling faster than that or turning on more than twice an hour there is a problem (i.e. not enough flow going thru the chiller, wrong placement of the temp probe). Anyway I like the aqualogic a lot. I seems to work great but it is not quiet. The fan blowing thru the unit is fairly loud and so is the condenser when it is on. It puts out a lot of heat that is removed from the tank, so I could not imagine putting this under my tank.

It's great not worrying about my tank temps anymore

 

[myreef]

JB, Thanks for the update! I appreciate it. That's good to know about the chiller running for at least 20 minutes. I am assuming the CSL is the same. Glad you like it. I like my new CSL as well. Thanks again.