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ICA chiller in 8g biocube?


bdawg6381

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I ordered an ICA chiller for my biocube which should be here tomorrow... trying to come up with a plan of attack for installation, I don't think there will be enough room in the hood like there is in some 12g cubes. maybe hang off the back and cut small holes in the rear of the hood to run the two tubes? Has anyone installed one in an 8g biocube before? Help appreciated! :)

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now that we have a cold front moving through its a pretty constant 78 but last week when it was 75 outside I had spikes around 84-86. Don't really have anything in my tank yet except for cleaning crew, but want to get the temperature stabilized before I add livestock.

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One Eyed Bunny

Yikes. I would try turning down your heater. That might help out, first. Have you tried all of the other ideas before makin' the plunge?

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Yikes. I would try turning down your heater. That might help out, first. Have you tried all of the other ideas before makin' the plunge?

 

I agree. I have an ICA on my 12g Aquapod, but I got it for when it was hitting 115+ over the summer here in So. Cali. 75 isn't so bad, you should be able to keep the ambient temp inside to under 75 which should keep your tank around 80 or so... But try turning down your heater a little first and see if that helps.

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I agree. I have an ICA on my 12g Aquapod, but I got it for when it was hitting 115+ over the summer here in So. Cali. 75 isn't so bad, you should be able to keep the ambient temp inside to under 75 which should keep your tank around 80 or so... But try turning down your heater a little first and see if that helps.

 

i live in sacramento and it hits similar temps here in the summer. would you say a chiller is a def requirement? household temps hit 85+ with AC blasting.

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i live in sacramento and it hits similar temps here in the summer. would you say a chiller is a def requirement? household temps hit 85+ with AC blasting.

 

Over the summer I set my A/C to 77-78, though the corner of the room the tank is in was always about 3-5 degrees warmer at ALL times. But with 85+ ambient temps, then yes a chiller is a must I'd say since your tank almost never gets lower than the ambient temp without some sort of chilling in place.

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turned down heater before starting this post and no luck with the temp drop. This is all water under the bridge. Here is key ingredient...

 

I now have an ICA (WARNING: DOES NOT COME WITH ALL SCREWS NEEDED TO MOUNT FAN WHEN PURCHASING HANG ON BACK KIT)

 

anyone installed one before on a BC8?

 

Going to dive into it today, will post pics whenI am successful

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Here it goes!

 

Total time for ICA install: 3 Hours... but was winging it the whole time, if you have a developed plan it will probably take only 2 hours or so. Opened to kit up and was dissapointed it did not have screws to connect the fan to the ICA but besides that it was a fairly complete kit. For reference I ordered the "Hang on Back" kit.

 

Here are the kit contents:

Contents_of_ICA_Kit.JPG

 

Here are the 2 6-32 3/4" screws and some sort of mounting plate I found at the hardware store along with some tubing to connect my powerhead:

 

Additional_purchases_for_installing_ICA.JPG

 

First I had to decide where to mount it (not many choices). I took my heater out of bay 1 and moved it into the tank to make room. I then measured out a small slice of tank to remove so that my bracket would not interfere with the tank lid closing. Here is a picture of the slice I took out (note I masked my tank with plastic bags so that no shavings got in it).

Removed_piece_of_tank_for_mounting_bracket.JPG

 

Here's a rear view of the hole and then a view with the bracket installed. Note that to install the bracket you bend a U in the top of it so that it rests on the slice.

 

Mounting_Bracket_installed.JPG

 

Also note that the bracket has 4 prongs sticking out; 2 in the top and 2 in the bottom. You have to bend in the top ones but the bottom ones help you mount the ICA by placing the prongs inbetween the heatsink fins. After this I drilled 2 holes for the tubes and cut them to correct length. They are sliiiightly pinched but I got it to work. I mounted the ICA in this position because it is the furthest away from my heater in the flow of my tank. The last 2 pictures are outside and inside of the final install. Enjoy!... Oh yeah, I used 2 twist ties to help hold the ICA to the bracket also. The slant of it mostly comes from the tubes trying to be straight.

 

ICA_installed.JPG

Interior_of_ICA_install.JPG

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Thanks for the install tips. I've been thinking about installing one in my NC6 to cool the tank on weekends when the office AC is turned off. I didn't really know how I was going to fit the chiller to the tank untill I looked at your post.

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Do you have a controller or are you just going to let it run all the time? Seems like it would constantly be battling the heater?

 

It came with a manual controller to adjust the voltage going to the heat sink. If its cold I'll probably just keep it turned down low but when the spring comes I'll probably kick it up a few notches. Low is 3V max is 8.3V. Fan runs at 12V constant.

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  • 4 months later...

You might want to move the chiller to the pump chamber. This may give some time for the tank to cool down the water that was heated by the heater. If the chiller is next to the heater then they will constantly be battling each other. I am sure that there is a happy medium. I was just assuming that the heater heats the water up more than the thermometer reads so the chiller may come on when it doesn't need to.

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