Cheap Homemade Chiller

I just finished building my own Chiller. I am posting pics. I got this idea off this site. Basically all you do is buy a styrofoam esky, 4 metres or more of tubing, a Powerhead and ice. Put two holes in the side of esky the same diametre as tubing. One end of tubing goes to powerhead and other end is the inlet back to your tank. Coil the rest of tubing around the bottom of esky and fill with ice or Ice bricks. Turn it on and as the water circulates through the tubing in the ice cold water will flow to your tank. I got my tank down to 18C when it was 34 in the room. It cools slowly so you can leave axie in the tank. Make sure you leave the lid on esky and ice will last for ages. Its just a matter of draining the water out and refilling with ice. A good idea to save buying ice all the time is to buy 10 ice bricks and have 5 in the freezer all the time and swap them around. Better than spending $300.00-$800.00 on a chiller. Whole setup cost me $40.00 with ice.








(Message edited by intermouse on February 26, 2006)

Thats similar to ours, but we got a 70lt icebox off ebay incase we ever have to go away overnight- should keep the ice for up to 2 weeks theoretically.

well I found the ice melt overnight, how anybody keeps it frozen for longer than that I am amazed.. might be the humid weather up her in Brissy i don't know, it was my post that started the whole homemade chiller thing.. smiles

Anyways, I solved my problem by getting strong large garbage bags... putting the tubing inside the garbage bag, a putting in some cold water, not too much enough, just enough to have the tubing half covered.. I have coiled the tubing so a 1.25 litre bottle fits inside it.. then i just use 4 ice bricks down the sides, the water bottle with frozen water in the middle of the coiled tubing, I then seal up the the bag.. just folding it over itself, put the lid on and that keeps things chilled for most of the day.. I change it over in the evening and before going to bed at night... but put in another 2 ice bricks, due to it needing to stayed chilled a little longer... I have been able to keep the temp at a constant 18 degrees. u only need to drain out the water once a week, change the bag and do it all again... I find this way works better and keeps a more consistant temp that Ice... Ice would have it dropping to 15 or 16 degrees and then rising too fast once the ice melted.
I am glad you, Cheryl, said theoretically... because I find it hard to believe it would or could last 2 weeks.. I can't even get it to last more than 12 hours... so I gave up on the ice.. smiles...

Jenny, when you say "ice bricks" do you mean those reusable blue cold packs they sell for coolers? It seems like those would be easier to use (compared to ice) in this kind of setup if you do this routine every day for several months.

Robert, may I use your photo on Caudata Culture?

jenny did you use an icebox, rather than an esky?

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Jennifer Macke wrote on Sunday, 26 February, 2006 - 19:15 :</font>

"Jenny, when you say "ice bricks" do you mean those reusable blue cold packs they sell for coolers?"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>Yes that's what I use. The whole Ice thing is a pain, but chilling the water with Ice bricks works really well.But don't over fill the bag with water.. enough so the bricks are half in the water..
<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Cheryl wrote on Sunday, 26 February, 2006 - 21:06 :</font>

"jenny did you use an icebox, rather than an esky?"<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>I actually use a polystyrene box I got from the supermarket, for free, they use them for brocoli and are more than happy to give them away.. It's thickness is the same as a foam esky.

ah ok. a proper ice box is meant to keep ice for 2 weeks. we put just a handful of cubes in ours as an experiment and they lasted 2 days- the more ice you had in there, the longer it would last.

Feel free to use the photo

where would you get the ice box you talk about? and what cost is involved cheryl?

I got mine from ebay for about $200. It is 70lt... MUCH cheaper than i have seen in any shops- they are usually closer to $400

Sorry if this is a stupid question, I just have a question about the powerhead...
I don't understand fully what the powerhead is/does... how does the water from the tank circulate through?

I would've thought you would've attatched it to the filter somehow...

Sorry, can someone explain it fully? I live in Brisbane so will probably need the same setup and would rather not spend hundreds.

My filter is kind of like this- http://www.theaquariumshop.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=189 it sucks water in thru the bottom section and then spirts it out the top. I have a hose from the output on the top leading through the icebox

That's pretty much exactly what I was planning to do to mine - it's very similar to your filter.

Thanks! Now I'm all set.

If you are going to use the blue gel packs - be sure to wrap them/seal them in good strong freezer ziplock baggies - after time goes by they do spring unexpected leaks.

But I love this idea! Now if I can just scrounge up some more space...........

Sharon

even if they do split, its not the end of the world because the water inside the icebox never actually comes in contact with the aquarium. We managed to drop the temp in our tank from 27C to 21C last night in a few hours. I need to get more ice because of the high temp we had to bring it down from. It will be easier to maintain it at a low temp because im not pumping warm water through the ice box.

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Cheryl wrote on Tuesday, 14 March, 2006 - 20:24 :</font>

"even if they do split, its not the end of the world because the water inside the icebox never actually comes in contact with the aquarium."<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

OOOHHHH my bad then!! I didn't get that part, lol for some reason I thought you were nakedly circulating the water over the ice! SORRY!

Sharon

I was getting out purified water to put into the box (we made a salt water slurry as it is colder than ice) and then half way thru it occured to me that it didnt matter! im the one doing it and i still thought it would end up in the tank. lol

OH LOL that is BAD!!!! All that effort! Well its good to know - it sounds awesomely easy too.

Now i am running the chiller,there are a couple of points i did not consider...

1. it is easier to maintain the tank at a lower temp because otherwise you are pumping warm water through the ice and it will melt very quickly
2. we got the tank to 19.5C until we used a spray bar- now its at 17C. My theory is that the cold water was being dumped into the tank right near the filter and was being taken back up and put thru the icebox immediately again without having a chance to disperse through the tank.

I have a fan blowing over my tank as it is open,that and frozen water bottles keep the tank around 18 degrees.Perth has been real hot, summer is late so i think your cheap chiller idea is awesome. See a need fill a need. Great idea!