Used marine chiiler be used for fresh water?

[lvanilla]

Can a used marine chiller be used for fresh water aquarium? will there be any side effects? Wat precaution must I take?Thanks!

[lvanilla]

Anybody knows? Can teco 240 support a 4 footerX2X2 without MH? The teco chart shows it is possible. But I will like to hav feedback from users. Any comments? Thanks.

[David]

Hi Ivanilla

Chillers for aquariums can be used for freshwater and marine...I dont believe there is any difference for the two.

Regarding performance of the product what do you mean by 'The Teco Chart Shows it is possible'....????....are you referring to a borderline case or clearly able to over perform?

For chillers is concern, it is better to have one that can over perform.

[vinz]

Don't forget Teco was designed for a temperate country, so better to get one that out-performs if you can afford it.

David, I think you missed the word "used" in his post. He's probably worried that salt or other stuff left in the chiller might affect his FW tank.

I know one forumer who bought 2nd hand chillers previously used for marine tanks. Seems to be no issue. To be safe, run water thru the chiller, or let it run on a large pail of water for a few days, changing the water once a day.

[jacian]

For freshwater, RA240 should not be a problem for 4x2x2. I know Sherwin is using RA240 for his 4x2x2.

[lvanilla]

Thanks to david,vinc and jacian for yr feedback.

I feel that teco chart doesnt help much as they never state clearly how close is borderline case and mayb they should make two types of curves, mayb one w Metal Halides and the other using normal lamps.Another model up costs a lot of money.so how to judge properly? The best is to get real feedback frm helpful users.

BTW sherwin set his tank at wat temp? On a normal day, how long will the chiller run b4 it stops and how often it run per day?Does he use matal halide? Mayb sherwin can help me out here. Thanks.

If I m using 2 eheim 2028 pump,2 MHs,350 lites of water and I set to 27 degree, will it stress the teco 240 chiller? Or it is good enough. thamks.

[tawauboy]

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On a normal day, how long will the chiller run b4 it stops and how often it run per day?Does he use matal halide?
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i believe Sherwin is using mh lamps.

how long and how frequent the chiller runs, will vary due to environmental conditions. if your tank is situated in an enclosed room, the room ambient temperature will be much high than one than is ventilated. so Sherwin's chiller operation cycle may not be applicable to you.

getting a bigger chiller may save you repair cost over time because a bigger chiller will mean shorter operation time which increases the mean time between failure.

[lvanilla]

Mine is located at the balocony. So ventillation should not be a problem.
If his is set at 27 degrees and his is running short period at long interval, i think it will be ok for me to use teco 240 rite?

Thanks.[:]

[Sir Plants-a-lot]

I'm using an RA240 on my 6ft tank (72"x22"x22&quotwith no problem. The only thing I don't like is the 2-degree delta before the compressor comes on. I have it set at 26C and the chiller waits till the tank goes up to 28C before it comes on. I think other chiller brands have a 0.5 or 1.0 degree delta.

My tank is in the living room without aircon, and used to be about 30-31C. Now the RA240 easily keeps it around 27C. The compressor comes on when it reaches 28C, takes about 2 hrs to lower the temp to 26C. Maybe 10-12hrs later the tank is back at 28 and the compressor comes on again. The chiller is only running about 15% of the time, so it can easily handle a 6ft tank.

If you're worried about leftover salt in the chiller, pump a bucket of water through it. The salt will dissolve within minutes.

Regards,
Kevin

[pink]

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On 6/26/2003 10:32:07 PM

I'm using an RA240 on my 6ft tank (72"x22"x22&quotwith no problem. The only thing I don't like is the 2-degree delta before the compressor comes on. I have it set at 26C and the chiller waits till the tank goes up to 28C before it comes on. I think other chiller brands have a 0.5 or 1.0 degree delta.

My tank is in the living room without aircon, and used to be about 30-31C. Now the RA240 easily keeps it around 27C. The compressor comes on when it reaches 28C, takes about 2 hrs to lower the temp to 26C. Maybe 10-12hrs later the tank is back at 28 and the compressor comes on again. The chiller is only running about 15% of the time, so it can easily handle a 6ft tank.

If you're worried about leftover salt in the chiller, pump a bucket of water through it. The salt will dissolve within minutes.

Regards,
Kevin
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I am also using the RA240. The 2 degree delta setting can be changed to 1 degree or any other degree delta (within limits). There are also a host of other parameters that can be changed.

I am surprised that your water temp takes 10-12 hours to move from 26C to 28C. I have 2x150W MH, and my tank is 3.5ft, and my water temp will go up from 26C to 28C within 3-4 hours, and it takes my chiller about 2 hours to pull it down again to 26C. Like this, i think I must look into other ways to prevent my water temp from going up so fast...

[lvanilla]

Hi kevin, r u using MH? Thanks for yr great info!Maybe pink is using MH so temp go up faster. Wonder wat u use for a 6 footer tank? So the chiller only run twice or three times a day?

[tawauboy]

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Like this, i think I must look into other ways to prevent my water temp from going up so fast...
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insulate all 4 sides of you aquarium with a heat insulator. maybe with the front insulator removable. that will leave your aquarium top exposed. that will minimise the surface area for heat conduction. should take longer time for your tank to heat up.

[Sir Plants-a-lot]

No, I'm not using MH lights. I'm currently in the process of upgrading my lights. I have 2 of the normal long aluminum light fixtures that stretch across the top of an open tank. They contain two five-foot 58 watt tubes each. I upgraded one of the fixtures to 4x55W PL (2x6500K, 2x8000K) last weekend and the temperature of the tank didn't change. I'm going to upgrade the other fixture today, which will give me 8x55W (2x6500K, 6x8000K). I'll let you know if the temperature changes, but I doubt it will. My PUB bill will certainly change, though...

I currently only have the base of the tank insulated, but plan to insulate the back as well. The other three sides are open for viewing.

Regards,
Kevin

[Sir Plants-a-lot]

Pink, can you tell me how to change the settings?

Regards,
Kevin

[pink]

Courtesy of ikoivoon over at the reef club:

1. Press and hold "UP" and "DOWN" together until Display shows "Pon" (program unlocked).
2. "Pon" will only be displayed for a while and the water temperature will be shown again.
3. Press and hold "SET" until Display shows "b1".
4. Value for "b1" ("b2", "b3" etc) will appear after a while.
5. To change from "b1" to "b2" to "b3" etc, press "SET".
6. To change value in "b1", "b2", "b3" etc, press "UP" or "DOWN".
7. Press "SET" to confirm changed value.
8. After all changes have been made, wait for a while for the Display to show water temperature again.
9. If needed, press and hold "UP" and "DOWN" together until Display shows "Pof" (program locked).

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"b1" (SET Point, in degree, default = -)
This is the same as pressing "SET" outside. It is used to set the chiller cut-off temperature. Example: If "b1" = 26, then the chiller will turn off when the water temperature is chilled to 26 degrees.


"b2" (Ramp SET Point, in -, default = 0)
No information.


"b4" (Dead band, in -, default = 0)
No information.


"b5" (Upper Hysteresis, in degree, default = 1)
Example: If "b5" = 1, then chiller will turn on when the water temperature raises 1 degree above the temperature set in "SET" (or "b1&quot. If "b16" set to 1, then can set "b5" in 0.1 resolution. Example "b5" = 0.7.


"b6" (Lower Hysteresis, in degree, default = 5)
Not used – For heater only.


"b7" (Set Point Lower Limit, in degree, default = 1
Lowest temperature that the user can set in "SET" (or "b1&quot.



"b8" (Set Point Upper Limit, in degree, default = 3
Highest temperature that the user can set in "SET" (or "b1&quot.


"b9" (Anti-cycling Time, in second, default = 180)
"b9" defines the minimum time the chiller will turn on again after the chiller turns off.
Example: If "b9" = 300, then chiller will turn on at greater than or equal to 300 seconds after the chiller turns off.


"b10" (Alarm Set Point, in degree, default = -50)
The chiller will alarm when the water reaches this temperature.


"b11" (Alarm Delay, in minute, default = 999)
The chiller will alarm when the water reaches the temperature set in "b10" only after X minutes, where X = value in "b11".


"b15" (Off-set, in degree, default = 0)
Example: If the tank thermometer reads 25degrees but the chiller displays 28degrees, then set "b15" = -3 so that both the tank thermometer and chiller show 25degrees.


"b16" (Resolution, in NA, default = 0)
When "b16" = 0, the temperature resolution is 1degree.
When "b16" = 1, the temperature resolution is 0.1degree.


"b17" (Measuring Unit, in NA, default = 0)
When "b17" = 0, the temperature is measured in degree C.
When "b17" = 1, the temperature is measured in degree F.


"b21" (-, in -, default = 3)
No information.


"b26" (-, in -, default = 0)
No information.

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I also have the PDF version but haven't read it for a while.

[Sir Plants-a-lot]

Thanks a lot!!!

Regards,
Kevin