Question on Chiller

[Dreamgarden]

Hi everyone,
Planning to get an Artica chiller 200 watts ¼ hp for my 3X2X2 ft tank, can anyone advise roughly how long(kicks-in cycle) it takes to cool down my tank to 25 deg C without considering the initial startup or after large amount of water change.

Tank spec:
3X2X2 ft Planted tank
180 watts PL

Anyone with similar spec?

Regards

[Rupert]

Good question - I would not surprise me if Artica have a formula for this eg 1 litre of water at 28C has ? amount of thermal units that must be lost to reach 25C, then multiply by your crude water volume [340] at an ambient are temp of x degrees C. You might want to check their website, all I could find was the below

http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod_chiller_size.asp

A practical consideration is the location of the chiller; will it be in a large open area with good air flow or small area with bad recirculation air flow? This question is asked as ambient temperature of the circulating air has such a large impact on time to reduce water temp.

[tawauboy]

it is difficult to advise as various information are not available
a) ambient temperature
b) initial temperature
c) flowrate
d) location of chiller
e) location of tank
f) ...

if you worry about the running cost, a 200w chiller will cost ~$1.00/day (running nonstop). so assuming a 50% duty cycle (1/2 hour on, 1/2 hour off), it'll cost you ~$0.50/day.

[Dreamgarden]

Thanks guys for the infor, running cost is the main concern now.
As 110W or 200W chiller both can do the job, but thinking to get 1 size higher hoping the chiller do not need to run that hard to chill the tank and also in case of future tank upgrade.

Regards

[BFG]

Keep the return hose as short as possible to minimise heat gain. Maybe add insulation material to maintain the cool water temperature till it reach your main tank. Just some tips to share.