DIY Aquarium Chiller

[Navanod]

So if the Taiwanese DIY chiller works to cool both the person AND the tank, isn't it better to use air-conditioning? Same principle isn't it?

The DIY chiller cannot cool the person, it only cools the tank. It'll in fact make the room very warm and humid.
At best, if the person pipes the exhaust air out of a window, then it'll only cool the tank without heating up the room. Hehehe.
One more problem is that the water tank that supplies water needs to be topped up even more often than an aquarium using fans.

Yes, its better to use air-con

[ladygaga]

The DIY chiller cannot cool the person, it only cools the tank. It'll in fact make the room very warm and humid.
At best, if the person pipes the exhaust air out of a window, then it'll only cool the tank without heating up the room. Hehehe.
One more problem is that the water tank that supplies water needs to be topped up even more often than an aquarium using fans.

Yes, its better to use air-con

Okay, now here is coming no humidity one.

Sorry for a little bit hijack this post.

[Shadow]

alamak i think DIY is just a hobby right? for such a small tank, a good chiller is not that expensive. it is quite ugly but the thumbs up for the effort. i couldnt do it anyway.

I doubth it will be cheaper. You can get electric chiller such dolphin for about $100?

[eviltrain]

Sometime its the fun in cracking your brain to DIY the things and make it works.

[felix_fx2]

I doubth it will be cheaper. You can get electric chiller such dolphin for about $100?

It confirm will not be cheap.
A single water block cost more then that .

But for some diy is fun.

[crevette]

Hi all,

I once found this DIY chiller on the net. It was made from a mini-bar-fridge. Basically, 2 holes were drilled on the top of the mini-fridge.
The water hose from the external filter ran into the fridge from one of the hole and made a coil inside the fridge and came out from the
other hole. If anyone has a bar fridge in the store room may want to consider making one.

Cheers

[Oliverpool]

I just testing the iceprobe now. Not officially DiY but I drilled a hole in the shibura 301 canister filter and fitted the iceprobe there! Now doing trial run to see if it leaks. Should have it up and running this weekend and will report back how it works ;-). I have a small 6g tank that is consistently at 28-30 degrees daily.

[crevette]

Would you need to get a thermostat to control the iceprobe ?

[lizhien]

...but I drilled a hole in the shibura 301 canister filter...

saw a guy messing with this canister outside GC on monday.. I wonder if its you..

[RonWill]

I suppose that depends on who was holding onto that danged thing at the time... but yeah, I'm looking forward to some good results as well, before I go drill a hole in a brand new Gex tall cube tank!!!

[stormhawk]

IceProbe is only meant for really small tanks. The fact that you need to drill a hole to place the IceProbe makes it unfeasible for those without the right tools. The use of cooling fans coupled with proper ventilation will bring down the temperature better without the need to modify the tank. It uses the same Peltier effect via TEM as other small DIY chillers do, so why not use a Dolphin chiller instead, if TEM is required?

[Shadow]

TEM is good for small tank or tank that located in the bedroom. Although it is not as efficient as compressor chiller, it is quite with only fan noise.

[Oliverpool]

My tank is only 6G so definitely qualify as a small tank. Check out the Fluval Edge tank and see why a fan is not suitable. I am currently running a fan and I need to top up twice a day. Check the tank and u will understand why. I thought about the dolphin. There has been many reports that running acidic water through the aluminum fins will corrode the fins and some folks suffered a total wipe out when that happen. As such I did not want to take the risk.

Actually for most folks with open top tanks, the iceprObe can be used easily without any drilling. Of course its also more expensive then the dolphin. It does have the advantage of having the option for temperature control and the cooler probe is "protected" with a food safe plastic casing. the Dolphin is much cheaper and can be easily stacked to improve cooling. Pick your poison. Oh ya a cheap 1/20 chiller is not that expensive
But the size and noise just does not work for me 

IceProbe is only meant for really small tanks. The fact that you need to drill a hole to place the IceProbe makes it unfeasible for those without the right tools. The use of cooling fans coupled with proper ventilation will bring down the temperature better without the need to modify the tank. It uses the same Peltier effect via TEM as other small DIY chillers do, so why not use a Dolphin chiller instead, if TEM is required?

[johnlim]

can anyone help me to DIY Chiller .which i have try out to made one using peltier 12V 5A the cooling as fast by the wiring is very hot .please advise how to slove this problem...thanks

[Shadow]

You mean the wire hot? Use bigger and better wire

[eviltrain]

can anyone help me to DIY Chiller .which i have try out to made one using peltier 12V 5A the cooling as fast by the wiring is very hot .please advise how to slove this problem...thanks

the diameter for the wire you used might be too small. better for you to use 2.5 mm wire.

[avex30]

can anyone help me to DIY Chiller .which i have try out to made one using peltier 12V 5A the cooling as fast by the wiring is very hot .please advise how to slove this problem...thanks

confirm cable undersize you need to mod the cable size up.

[felix_fx2]

Wire hot or peltier hot?

Wire too thin sure hot, can cook eggs.
Peltier one side cold other side hot, use heatsink.

[johnlim]

Hi Mr Felix,
Can you teach me how ,what type of wire can i use for my Peltier (6 - 12v , 3 - 5A) and what type of power adaptor can i use ,currently i am using 12V 5A adaptor to test by the wire is hot .
this is my set up 12v cpu fan ,heatsink ,peltier & heatsink .please advice

[felix_fx2]

Your peltier buy which voltage?
Got one side should be hot, you will need to Id which side it is and apply heatsink on that side.

My experience with peltier limited to pc cooling 5 years ago. (was helping someone who built a peltier based cooling machine.)

I only powered the peltier unit from the 12w rail on the molex.

Google has some setup examples.
If it's not detailed, I'll help you find somemore. There should be more gurus here who can help.

On a sidenote hope you understand, wrong choice of pipe can lead to lots of trouble as per stated before in this thread. So thread lightly