3 tanks to connect to 1 chiller

[Darick]

Fridge not so fresh. Live ones better. Hahahaha. Just make sure you don't run out of fish and shrimps in your fridge. Hehehehe..

[Darick]

I got 2 tank. The one with rcs is 2 ft running with a fan. Now is 27 degrees. The other is a GEX slim 45 with no shrimps. Just cycle tank because of ada soil scare that I've got recently. lol. This GEX tank is 28 degrees.

Yours 32 degrees in the kitchen right. Did anyone put a stove under it? Just kidding. Someone just cooked in the kitchen and kitchen temperature goes up?

[Darick]

I uses both stick and digital. 2 ft tank is digital and gex slim 45 is stick. Stick shows 28 (without using fan) and 2 ft digital show 27.

Won't it be hotter if someone is doing cooking or no one cooks? Normally if fried food will have a lot of oil as well.

[Darick]

Interesting to know that at 13th storey you can get temperature at 32. I stay 2nd storey where I only get up to 30. At least I've not notice any higher.

Must probably be facing the Sun. That would be a disaster. Hope you quickly find out the cause. You have even insulated 2 sides of your tank. Something else must be heating up your tank. Only you can figure this out since there are many more factors that I'm not aware of.

[johnchor]

hi bro

yup yup.
the only thing i can think of is the stick on thermometers is not accurate.
nvrmind i order a temp probe with powersupply cutoff from taobao $15.
then i can dump the stick on thermometers.
hehehe...

[johnchor]

hi bros

i did another round of full test today results as below for my modified dolphin MC-790(225w) TEM chiller with 2x12cm fans on a 1.5ft tank.
1) from 32 to 22 degrees took 3 hours
2) from 25 to 22 degrees took estimate 1.5 hours
3) chiller set to kick out at 22 degrees and rest for 2.5 hours
4) chiller kick in again when temp reach 25 degrees for estimate 1.5 hours
5) total for 24 hours cycle, chiller runs for 9 hours per day.
6) power consumption is 60.75 kWh or $15.63 per month

its quite costly to run actually...$15.63 per month

some issues noted in my experiments
1) it is quite hard to maintain at temp between 22-25 degrees. it took longer to cool down than between temp 32-26 degrees.
2) alot water condensation on the tank glass when water reach 23-22 degrees. but it ok cos it is near the toliet....lolx

i hope i can improve the cooling efficiency further.
1) making a hot air reflector/sucker connected to the 2 fans to pump hot air out of the kitchen windows. this may minimize heating up the kitchen room temp thus low ambient temp.
2) by installing a larger heat sink measuring 36cm x 12cm x 2cm, i also noticed if the base of the heat sink is thicker, the better the heat sink. example a 1cm thick base diffuse heat much faster than a think 2mm base. a better heat sink with more fins.
3) and finally installing 3x12cm fans.

will update again.
cheers!

[Darick]

Wow.... You really going through a lot of trouble on this. I'm not sure in the end if it is worth any of this. But then again.... interest is the thing that keeps some moving forward.

Not surprise that it takes longer to get colder under the same room temperature. It's only logical. Water condensation occurs when the outside temperature is much higher than the internal (tank) temperature. So again, it is normal and logical.

If you are looking at cost wise, I'm not sure if at the end of the day, it is worth it from what you have tested. The more electrical devices you need, the higher will be your cost.

Hope you achieve your objective. I'm interested with what you are doing at the moment. If you can share any specific objective in doing this, then probably more good fellows with knowledge and experience can help you along.

Cheers.

[johnchor]

hi bro

ya i am keeping some shrimps that needs cool temp between 18-25 degrees.
i cannot go down to 18 degrees because of heavy condensation. so the best is around 22-25 degrees.
total i spent on this project so far now is $80
1)$40 for 2nd hand dolphin MC790 tem chiller
2)$24 for 2x12cm DC fans from simlim tower
3)$16 for temp probe/cut off switch from taobao
4) hot air reflectors, i am going to use my old 2ft tank divider plastic to do this. now designing it.

larger heat sink and 3 fans upgrade is just a thought, i will need to do it if i hookup another 1.5ft tank.. but that's in future...hahaha

the objective is simple.
1) to cool to 22-25degrees for multiple small tanks using 1 chiller.
2) to save electric as possible.
4) to use 2nd hand or old parts to save money as possible.

cheers!

[Darick]

Hope you achieve your objective. Good luck.

Cheers.

[johnchor]

hi bros

i found another way to cool mutilple tanks with one chiller

design is like this
1) top most tank connect directly to chiller.
2) 2nd tank below connect to a stainless coil and dip it in tank 1 to cool down tank 2
3) 3rd tank same, connect a stainless steel coil a dn dip in tank 2 to cool down tank 3

this way, so i can avoid mixing water of the 3 tanks, aviod diy overflow system and aviod flooding.
what do u think bros?

thanks

[Urban Aquaria]

hi bros

i found another way to cool mutilple tanks with one chiller

design is like this
1) top most tank connect directly to chiller.
2) 2nd tank below connect to a stainless coil and dip it in tank 1 to cool down tank 2
3) 3rd tank same, connect a stainless steel coil a dn dip in tank 2 to cool down tank 3

this way, so i can avoid mixing water of the 3 tanks, aviod diy overflow system and aviod flooding.
what do u think bros?

thanks

Thats an interesting idea... would be a good project to try out.

[johnchor]

hi bro

is just a thoughts after reading some reef aqua forums...
i am not sure if it can work though... lolx

[johnchor]

hi guys

i just wanted to update the results for my idea.
i wasnt able to find stainless steel coils. instead i bought 2m 7mm stainless steel tubes from kelantan lane.
i did not have a tube bender so i cant make beautiful coils. instead i bend it into a small frame which can fit to the back of my tank to be hidden by driftwoods and plants.
verdict yes, it can cool down 2 tanks to same temp. the lower tank takes a while longer to cool down(example 30mins) more than the top tank connected directly to the chiller.both tanks now run at stable 26-25 degrees using 1 chiller. of course the chiller has to work harder. with 1 tank it runs 6 hours. now with 2 tanks it needs to run 10.5hours.

cheers!

[BFG]

Did you connect both stainless steel tube in series?

[johnchor]

nope bro

just one tube per tank. tank3 goes to tank2 , tank2 goes to tank1 which is directly connected to the tem chiller.
this is because small internal filters 5w 200L/hr do not have the head to pump up so high directly to tank1 like 1.5m above...lolx
ofcourse this result is only for small tanks 1.5ft only. larger tanks i am not sure....
i also forgot to mentioned. i insulate all the tanks with 1inch thick styrofoam board. bottom , back, sides and even the top.
this helps to stablize temp between 26-24 degrees.

cheers!

[Ingen]

I know this is an old thread, would like to know what size of stainless steel pipe should I get if I want to fit 12/16mm hose? Is the cooling effect significance if we use normal hose instead of stainless steel pipe?