Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Hi all, Working with the owner of Chill Solutions Dan was great! He is friendly, knowledgeable and very passionate about his product line. Since venturing to make a larger cold water system, I decided to give Chill Solutions an opportunity to employ their new chiller that boast a temp dial that goes down to 45F degrees! Dan was kind enough to send over one of his newer units and may I say I was super impressed pulling it out of the box, I went with the two tone black casing and black heat sink! Keep in mind that their older version which has a dial set to 65F degrees was designed precisely at tropical systems, not the cold water systems I have. Having said that llet us take a look at pictures! In order to test the efficiency of the unit and accuracy of the temp gauge, I have started in increments of 5 F degrees. The 1st setting started at 75 F degrees. I will report the findings as I progress to seeing if I can get to 55F degrees. Stay cold! I mean tuned! Mike Guerrero Link to comment
NanoTank1 Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Hi Mike. Fascinating. For those of us that aren't as familiar with temperate tanks... what is the usual temperature range applied? Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I was thinking of picking one of those chillers up as a safety net to hook up to my temp controller in case things get too warm. Looking forward to more info. Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 Hi Mike. Fascinating. For those of us that aren't as familiar with temperate tanks... what is the usual temperature range applied? One most understand temperate waters to answer this question. Certain sections of our coastal waters stay pretty constant for example Carmel waters usually range 48F - 55F whereas just a up 5 miles in Monterey Bay you can have 55F - 59F. Then if you travel down to Southern CA and visit say Catalina and do some diving you might expect to see 57F - 65 F. Now, having said that my critters / corals are from Cold Water Marine Aquatics and they collect of the tide pools and here is where it becomes magical. These particular animals through evolution have been conditioned to live in more brutal conditions: salinity swing, temperature swing and turbulant waters. A tide pool can get as warm as 70F degrees in the hot baking Sun and then swing back down to coast water say 55F when the tide rushes in! My research in designing and fabricating temperate tanks have allowed me to find the sweet spot being anywere from 55F - 65F. If you stay within these conditions your animals if tide pool species will live and thrive! I was thinking of picking one of those chillers up as a safety net to hook up to my temp controller in case things get too warm. Looking forward to more info. Being preventitive is smart to secure the safety of your critters. I have one model I am selling on the hardware classified forum, take a look if you are interested. Link to comment
drew11588 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Dang. Wish I would have known about these before I got my ice probe! Link to comment
Micro-Reefs Aquariums Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 Premlimary results have come in and I must conclude that the CSXC-1 is indeed a very powerful thermal chiller that can and will bring down temps as advertised to 10F degrees below ambient on a 10 gallon tank. My particular quest involved the unit working on a 12 x 12 x 12 temperate acrylic system. Using approx 7.2 gallons of FRESH water which yielded impressive results at 15.5 degrees below ambient. Here are the numbers. With a humidity of 49% and ambient temps 75F degrees which is common in our homes on the west coast the CSXC-1 was able to bring down my temperate system to 59.5 degrees! Now, if we are to conduct the same test with displacing about 1/2 - 2 gallon of water by introducing a 1 - 2 inch sand bed and about 7 - 14 lbs of live rock the parameters will drastically change in our favor. On this test the unit must be left on full setting to achieve the results I found which means the unit stays running constant. Not a problem as these units are cost effective, virtually silent and robust! Need to also mention that our 2 gallon system operates by one single ice-probe same ambient temps of 75F degrees and runs at 59.5F degrees, same as which the CSXC-1 achieved. Here is picture of our temperate system operating with a single ice-probe. Picture of the temp recording of our temperate system with single ice-probe Conclusion, the unit will work on this system that was tested with only fresh water and a submersed pump that runs a high wattage thus causing the water to reheat. A more efficient return pump would be in line that offers the same GPH. My ideal setting is to create a tad smaller system say my 4 gallon system 10 x 10 x 10 and run the same test. I would hope to achieve 55F degrees and the ability for this particular chiller to rest. This is something that I would like to offer the nano-reef community when I come back online with newer temperate systems! Micro-Reefs LLC scores this review: Quiet Operation 5 / 5 Stars Easy to assemble 5 / 5 Stars Durability 5 / 5 Stars Chiller performance 4 / 5 stars Remember that this unit is not a compressor system and therefore deserves to be ranked against similar units in its class such as the ice-probes that many here are use to using. Having said this, the unit would be overally fantastic to be used for tropical users here on nano-reef without any hesistation what so ever! Nuff said! Link to comment
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