Luniyn
- #1
Posted this in another section of the forum and it was suggested I place this here in the DIY section. The only reason I didn't put it her first is because I've never tried this so I don't know how well it will work. However, this question has come up many times recently especially with the hotter months approaching, so I was toying around with this idea of an inexpensive chiller for your tank. Now, maybe if there is anyone out there with these parts I will mention below that is willing to try this, we could see if this is a viable option or maybe with some small modifications (some of which I mention below) it might be doable. In any event, here goes....
A chiller is really just the simple process of taking water from your tank, cooling it off, and then putting it back... except they want $250 for the cheapest one I've found. So the question is, can we do it cheaper.... maybe.
What you will need:
First you need a water pump and it would be nice if it didn't have to be a submerged pump so it doesn't have to be in the tank. Also it doesn't have to be really powerful, in fact the lower the power the slower the water will move through the pipe (you'll see why that's important in a second). I found one at the good Drs. website for $19.99 and it's the . The next thing you will need is a (have seen them for a few bucks at gas stations). Then the only other things you will need is some plastic tubing to fit the pump, a short piece of PVC pipe with a large diameter that can fit into the cooler easily, some salt, and a bag of ice.
How to assemble:
1. Place your water pump near your tank and hook up some of the tubing to the tank. If you have a hang on back filter then just place the intake tube into the tank and make sure to cover the end with a straining device of some sort so the fish don't get sucked in. If you have a inline filter then you could possibly take the outflow of that and put it into the pump.
2. Place your Styrofoam cooler right next to the pump.
3. Find a screwdriver or something that you can poke a hole with that is as close to the size of the tubing as possible if not a bit smaller.
4. Take the lid off the cooler and poke 2 holes into it on opposite corners of the lid. (See diagram below)
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5. Get your PVC pipe and spiral wrap your tubing around it as close as possible so the entire pipe is covered. Make sure to leave 2'-3' of tubing lose at one end and several feet of tubing lose at the other end. Also secure the tubing to the PVC pipe so it doesn't unravel (some silicon glue or you can tie it down with fishing line... anything water proof).
6. Place the PVC pipe into the water cooler and feed the 2'-3' line though one of the holes in the lid. Then take the longer end and feed it through the other hole in the lid. Make sure that you have some slack in the line so the lid can be removed but not have to lift the PVC pipe out to do it. Secure the tubing in the holes with some silicon glue.
7. With the PVC pipe in the cooler and the lid attached on top, connect the 2'-3' piece of tubing to the outflow of the water pump. Take the longer end and run it back up to your tank. If you have a hang on back filter then you could place it into the filter tank so that the water goes through filtration before going back into the tank, but if you took the outflow of your inline filter then just run it back like you always have.
8. Now that everything is hooked up, turn on the water pump and make sure that the flow of water is moving fine and that you don't have any leaks or other problems. And let it run for a little while to be certain.
9. Now open the lid of your Styrofoam cooler and pour in a little bit of ice. Just enough to cover the bottom of the cooler. Sprinkle some salt over all of the ice so it all gets a light dusting. Now add a little more ice and then more salt. Keep doing this until you have covered the PVC pipe with ice.
10. Secure the lid back on top of the cooler and wait. The ice will melt and the salt will mix with the water (salt water gets colder then regular water) and get nice and cold. The water that is flowing through the tubing will now spend a lot of time going around and around that pipe and the slower the water goes through the tubing the longer it is exposed to this cool down process. Now the water should come back out of the cooler at a lower temperature and once it gets back into your tank it should eventually lower the temp of your tank water.
Note: You will need to keep adding ice over the course of the day and as the cooler gets full of water it will need to be emptied. Don't empty all of the water though because it will help keep things cold while the new batch of ice is melting.
A chiller is really just the simple process of taking water from your tank, cooling it off, and then putting it back... except they want $250 for the cheapest one I've found. So the question is, can we do it cheaper.... maybe.
What you will need:
First you need a water pump and it would be nice if it didn't have to be a submerged pump so it doesn't have to be in the tank. Also it doesn't have to be really powerful, in fact the lower the power the slower the water will move through the pipe (you'll see why that's important in a second). I found one at the good Drs. website for $19.99 and it's the . The next thing you will need is a (have seen them for a few bucks at gas stations). Then the only other things you will need is some plastic tubing to fit the pump, a short piece of PVC pipe with a large diameter that can fit into the cooler easily, some salt, and a bag of ice.
How to assemble:
1. Place your water pump near your tank and hook up some of the tubing to the tank. If you have a hang on back filter then just place the intake tube into the tank and make sure to cover the end with a straining device of some sort so the fish don't get sucked in. If you have a inline filter then you could possibly take the outflow of that and put it into the pump.
2. Place your Styrofoam cooler right next to the pump.
3. Find a screwdriver or something that you can poke a hole with that is as close to the size of the tubing as possible if not a bit smaller.
4. Take the lid off the cooler and poke 2 holes into it on opposite corners of the lid. (See diagram below)
____________________________________
|X |
| |
| |
| |
| X|
5. Get your PVC pipe and spiral wrap your tubing around it as close as possible so the entire pipe is covered. Make sure to leave 2'-3' of tubing lose at one end and several feet of tubing lose at the other end. Also secure the tubing to the PVC pipe so it doesn't unravel (some silicon glue or you can tie it down with fishing line... anything water proof).
6. Place the PVC pipe into the water cooler and feed the 2'-3' line though one of the holes in the lid. Then take the longer end and feed it through the other hole in the lid. Make sure that you have some slack in the line so the lid can be removed but not have to lift the PVC pipe out to do it. Secure the tubing in the holes with some silicon glue.
7. With the PVC pipe in the cooler and the lid attached on top, connect the 2'-3' piece of tubing to the outflow of the water pump. Take the longer end and run it back up to your tank. If you have a hang on back filter then you could place it into the filter tank so that the water goes through filtration before going back into the tank, but if you took the outflow of your inline filter then just run it back like you always have.
8. Now that everything is hooked up, turn on the water pump and make sure that the flow of water is moving fine and that you don't have any leaks or other problems. And let it run for a little while to be certain.
9. Now open the lid of your Styrofoam cooler and pour in a little bit of ice. Just enough to cover the bottom of the cooler. Sprinkle some salt over all of the ice so it all gets a light dusting. Now add a little more ice and then more salt. Keep doing this until you have covered the PVC pipe with ice.
10. Secure the lid back on top of the cooler and wait. The ice will melt and the salt will mix with the water (salt water gets colder then regular water) and get nice and cold. The water that is flowing through the tubing will now spend a lot of time going around and around that pipe and the slower the water goes through the tubing the longer it is exposed to this cool down process. Now the water should come back out of the cooler at a lower temperature and once it gets back into your tank it should eventually lower the temp of your tank water.
Note: You will need to keep adding ice over the course of the day and as the cooler gets full of water it will need to be emptied. Don't empty all of the water though because it will help keep things cold while the new batch of ice is melting.