Chiller recommendations

[torface]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some recommendations for a chiller, my requirements are:

- to suit a 150l tank (which currently averages 27-28 degrees)

- must be fairly quiet and energy efficient

- must be reasonably priced

- must not kick out too much hot air as the room retains a lot of heat as it is.

Pretty standard requirements really :)

Also, I can't really justify 2 chillers at this stage, so i'd really like it for my display tank in the living room, which has a sump. Is it easy to plumb the chiller to a sump? The other option is to keep all my future CRS in my new 3ft tank and run the chiller alongside my Eheim 2217, but that tank is going in the laundry room!

So far, I like the look of the "JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10hp for tanks up to 450l" but I don't really have a clue :p

[OzShrimp]

Hi all' date='

I'm looking for some recommendations for a chiller, my requirements are:

- must be fairly quiet and energy efficient

- must be reasonably priced

- must not kick out too much hot air as the room retains a lot of heat as it is.

[/quote']

I think you pretty much just ruled out having most chillers. They are pretty much an air conditioning unit so i wouldnt say they are very energy efficient and most of them are noisey its just a matter of how often it kicks in.

Price will come down to how efficient you want it to be for your tank, obviously the larger one you have your eyes on will chill the tank alot quicker then opposed to one that has a maximum capacity of 150litres :)

I am also pretty sure they all kick out hot air when they are running.

Depending on how hot your room stays running the chiller will cause condensation on your tank, i have experienced this when i have gone away from home and air con has been off for extended period of time :)

[torface]

I realise that there's going to be a certain ammount or noise, heat and energy guzzling. I probably didn't phrase my post right :). Just wondering if some are noisier/hotter/more efficient than others. If there's not much difference between brands then I could just go with the Hailea HC 150a which is less than $300...

[blindfisherman]

when I researched this for myself im pretty sure the tecos were slightly more efficient.

as far as noise. I find the bubbles from the air stones are louder than the chiller. I run the tc10 by teco and am very happy with it. only issue is they are pricey, I picked mine up for 350 with 2 spare bulbs tho.

[ninja]

Is it going into a cupboard?

[torface]

Thanks blindfisherman.

You got a good deal on yours, I just had a quick look and those are about $1200, which is a tad out of my budget right now :(

[OzShrimp]

I realise that there's going to be a certain ammount or noise' date=' heat and energy guzzling. I probably didn't phrase my post right :). Just wondering if some are noisier/hotter/more efficient than others. If there's not much difference between brands then I could just go with the Hailea HC 150a which is less than $300...[/quote']

It all depends who you speak to. When i brought mine i was tossing up between a hailea and a teco as well. After going to quiet a few LFS the general consensus was that most of the parts are made in the same place anyways :).

I ended up buying a Hailea HC500A and cant really complain. Its running on a standard 4ft and temp reads on it at 23.7 (set at 22). When it kicks in it will run for 1-2 mins.

I also find that my sudo box is louder then my chiller when i have it fully running but my tank is set up in a large loungeroom though :)

[torface]

Is it going into a cupboard?

No, it'll sit next to the cabinet, my new sump will take up the whole space under the tank

[ninja]

I've got 3 different types, all work well, don't have any problem with heat build up in the 2 that are in cupboards with open backs. The one that is in a closed cupboard does build up heat in there, so I have to leave one of the cupboard doors open.

if yours is in the open, you don't have a problem, except pesky kids touching things???

[torface]

Nope, no kids in my house... ever... just cats, which are probably worse sometimes LOL

What ones do you have ninja?

[ninja]

A Daeil DBI-050-D, haven't noticed any noise.

A Hailea.

A Resun CL-85 the latest one is a chiller-heater, it's the one that builds up heat in the cupboard.

i don't have issues with noise on any of them because I have a lot of noise anyway with water overflows all around the room from very large aquariums.

[torface]

Thanks ninja. What model is the Hailea you have?

Tossing up between a Hailea and the JBJ i mentioned above. Does anyone out there own the JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10hp?

[2OFUS]

I have a jbj Artica and cannot fault it

extremely quiet

i Also have the Hailea 300a which is much noisier

[torface]

It's looking like the JBJ is the winner :encouragement:

Just need to wait till pay day now!

[HexaD]

+1 on JBJ, i have a vid on my thread on what the noise level is like, you can have a look there. 1.5 years and still going strong, love it!

[torface]

I only found a couple of videos of your poor sick chocolate cherry. Couldn't even barely hear a chiller in that!

[JonX]

I have a JBJ Mini-Arctica Chiller w/ Digital Controller 1/15HP bought it for $300 online.

It's rated for 150liters, has worked well on my 76 liter or summer. You might want to get one double the capacity of a chiller to be on the safe side. =)

JBJ Arctica Chiller 1/10hp

$445

[torface]

I have a JBJ Mini-Arctica Chiller w/ Digital Controller 1/15HP bought it for $300 online.

It's rated for 150liters' date= has worked well on my 76 liter or summer. You might want to get one double the capacity of a chiller to be on the safe side. =)

$445

Yep, I think that's the one im going to get :)

Besides a pump if I connect it to my sump, do i need anything else to go with it??

[JonX]

You should pay a bit more and get the bigger jbj chiller so it does less work.

[torface]

Oops, that is what I meant to say! I'm going to get the one you linked, the one that is $445. It's rated up to 450l so should be good for my 150l tank :)

[HexaD]

Sorry that was a post in AL lol, here, click the pic below

For those who asked about whether the chiller is noisy, this is the video taken when i tweaked the chiller to kick in at 20c (around the 21second mark)

[torface]

Thanks HexaD! That's very helpful... Seems pretty quiet :)

[torface]

To all of you with the JBJ chillers... where did you buy it? I've so far only seen it for sale on one website (Guppys) and was just curious if there were any other options?

Also did you have to get any kind of "installation kit"? Where di you get the hoses for it? Or does it come with them?

[Robert]

Dont waste your money with guppies unless you are spending less than $50. They are renowned for their lack of customer service and you need that if you are spending a few hundred for warranty reasons. They wont even listen if it breaks during shipping.

[torface]

This is what i've heard, but i haven't seen the JBJ chiller for sale anywhere else!