chiller buyers guide?

[cyberchef]

Fromwhat I know of them, and it's not a lot, you'll want a inline due to the size of the system and how much youmay have to drop the temp. I believe (and someone is more than welcome to corect me on this) the drop in ones are only good for a few degrees on a smaller system.

[Spanky]

the drop ins just need to have circulation like it's a inline.

Greg I think you're looking at about a one hp in line. Wrap the sump in insulation and covered should do it.

Here's the only problem, If you run the chiller after the sump, you'll be shooting cold water in that first tank. If you run it before the sump, you'll lose some cooling to the sump.

Let me think on this.

[Doug1]

Spanky, am I totally off the mark with the insulated "pumphouse" theory? the interior half of the setup is temp maintainable , but I see the sump as being the wild card at this point. I am thinking stabilize it's temp and the battle is half one. Beyond that a good controller and chiller / heater and you should have it made, unless the water turnover rate in the sump is really high, but it sounds like there are at least a couple CLS going on the grow out tank, PErsonally I think about 450 gph thru the sump ought to be a good compromise for water exchange and temp control issues.

[gregt]

What's a CLS?

[Spanky]

and I'm thinking a few thousand gph.

Still thinking.
Stabilizing that sump looks to be the key.

[Doug1]

Greg, CLS is reef shorthand for a closed loop system, which I deduced from the pumps , etc description you were planning on the growout tank. If tahts the case and you have circulation in the growout tanks handled independently of the sumps throughput rate(volume) my thought is that a flow rate of about 500 gph(complete change in 3 hrs, theoretically) should give adequate dwelltime for the chiller/heater to do its thing, as well as maybe collateral settling of detritous as a side benefit. If a higher flow rate thru the sump is needed, thats why I mentioned a CLS for the flow thru chill specifically.

[Doug1]

Bottom line, IME if you dont stabilize the sump(half the volume) temp, its going to make everything else have to work harder. Given the size of a Rubbermaid 150 gal stock tub, my thought is a glorified dog house with 2x6 construction and mega insulation. As i said earlier you can have thermostat operated switch run a decent fan setup(opening covered in cold season) etc, etc

[Mkelly]

I use a 1/3 hp drop in on a 180. I have 2) 250w MH, 2)175w MH and I'm set to add 4) 35w T5's. Sump is behing the tank with all the heat and such and I maintain a nice even 78 degrees F.

It's hot down here. All the equipment throws off massive heat. And to be honest I rarely hear the chiller kick in. Honestly I wouldnt worry about it to much.

I would toss a piece of pink board under the sump keep it from soaking in the cold from the ground in the winter. Mine sits on a cement floor in my basement where the floor is not padded you can feel the cold coming thru in the winter. So a half inch of pink board should do it. Wanna be fancy get the stuff that has a reflective side and place it reflective side down. Sump on the floor heat from the units will rise. /shrug

Doug nailed it. Go get a shed from HD or lowes a big shed like a tool shed. Or if you dont want something that big rubbermaid makes huge enclosures for garbage cans you could probably get everything in one of those.They tend to be tall and thin. So you build the sump up as opposed to horizontal. Nice big double doors room to work, last forever corrosion resistant, weather resistant. Good ones are a few hundred bucks. They sell them at sears.

Toss in an attic fan set it to 90 and when it gets warm in the shed the fan will drop the temp.

I'm a big fan of lots of clean water but what made you arrive at a 150 sump for a 150 tank?

I dont know what most folks use as a filtration rate but its usually double the tank size yes? If thats the case that would be dictated by the pumps not the size of the sump. So if its 150 pump should be min 300.

Don't let me discourage you lot's of water is good! But then you have to do bigger WC's. I see the point of it, I can see lots of merit to it but then you need a pump thats gonna push a min of 600gph. Minimum!!

Anyway thats my 2c worth.

[Doug1]

Mike I am a fan of BIG sumps I have a 75 with a 55g sump, if I could I would use the 150 Rubbermaid stock tub, set up as a slow flow, brightly lit turtle grass tank, return split between the main display and the 55g as a refuge, with lots of breeding critters and macro algae, then again I want a tank with , a coral beauty,flame, and brazilian or african flameback angel as well as a few Dendronepthylia. Not that I want it all

[Doug1]

BTW a sump/fuge or whatever as big as the growout tank gives you way more options for dealing with optimal feeding and water quality issues.
Actually my take on studying(what little I understood) reefs and ajacent grass flats,mangrove swamps, etc the supporting bio systems often exceed the actual reef in size. Most people dont have the space to set up a 5x support system for a typical display tank, but I think it gives you a better shot at keeping some difficult organisms as long as you design it around those

[Joel]

Just a question but why not put the temp probes for the heater/chiller in the first growout tank? Then only when it gets cool/hot would the heater/chiller come on. Just a thought. You would also have to have to shutoff the chiller and heater anytime the return pump was shut down to keep from overheating/freezing the sump water. Just an idea to throw out.

[Doug1]

good point, anyone know if the major controllers support more than one temp probe. My thinking was the indoor growout tanks would be capable of acceptable temps on their own, its the temp fluctuations on the remote sump that worry me

[Mkelly]

Ok so I have sump envy. Why the slower flow Doug more time for exchanges, filtration etc?

Ya know I bet we are the only people who would actually be interested in buying Florida swamp land

[Joel]

my thinking on putting the probe(s) in the first growout tank is that we really don't care what the temp is in the sump we just wanna make sure that the temp is right for our critters. The ambient temp change in the sump area should be slow enough for the heater/chiller to keep up with if they are sized correctly. Kinda like my digital temp probes, I see a lot of people put them in the sump but I put the probe in the tank, like I said before I could care less what my sump temp is.

[Imaexpat2]

RWD

Thanks for the awesome link. You/it, answered a long nagging question of mine.