Last Night Was Chiller, Chiller Night - Chill Solutions

[banasophia]

My Biocube 16 has been running in the 80 - 84 F range since summer hit and I’ve been dealing with what seem to be more diatoms, algae, and unhappy corals, so I decided to get a chiller. Decided on this one from Chill Solutions, which came out to less than $300, including the installation kit, wall mounting bracket, and shipping. 

 

Very happy with the decision so far - great customer service via their chat feature when I ordered it, fairly easy to install with their kit that includes u-bend connectors, it’s compact, and seems to work well so far. Temp went from 81 to approximately 78, which is what I set it to. It’s only been up and running since last night... I hope it proves to work well and gets me through the summer with less tank temp anxiety!!!

 

Here’s a link to their website, if you want to check it out. You can order it from Amazon too, but they didn’t have the install kit on Amazon when I checked. 

https://www.chillsolutions.com/

[specore]

7 minutes ago, banasophia said:

My Biocube 16 has been running in the 80 - 84 F range since summer hit and I’ve been dealing with what seem to be more diatoms, algae, and unhappy corals, so I decided to get a chiller. Decided on this one from Chill Solutions, which came out to less than $300, including the installation kit, wall mounting bracket, and shipping. 

 

Very happy with the decision so far - great customer service via their chat feature when I ordered it, fairly easy to install with their kit that includes u-bend connectors, it’s compact, and seems to work well so far. Temp went from 81 to approximately 78, which is what I set it to. It’s only been up and running since last night... I hope it proves to work well and gets me through the summer with less tank temp anxiety!!!

 

Here’s a link to their website, if you want to check it out. You can order it from Amazon too, but they didn’t have the install kit on Amazon when I checked. 

https://www.chillsolutions.com/

Very cool little unit.  Glad it is working for you. 

[banasophia]

9 minutes ago, specore said:

Very cool little unit.  Glad it is working for you. 

Very cool indeed haha. Chillin. 😎😂👍

[AquaVaj]

Have you tried using fans? I have a clamp on with 5 computer size fans and my 40g tank never goes over 80 even when the house is 88 cause AC if off since no one is home. I'm running a 250w MH for 2 hours as a noon burst too. Downside is the extra evaporation.

 

That's a cool little unit though and should use a lot less electricity than a standard chiller.

[Daniel91]

That’s a nice “nano” chiller - perfect size! Might have to get me one of those for next year!

[banasophia]

4 minutes ago, AquaVaj said:

Have you tried using fans? I have a clamp on with 5 computer size fans and my 40g tank never goes over 80 even when the house is 88 cause AC if off since no one is home. I'm running a 250w MH for 2 hours as a noon burst too. Downside is the extra evaporation.

 

That's a cool little unit though and should use a lot less electricity than a standard chiller.

Fans would be harder to do with a Biocube with the lid on... would definitely do that if I had heat issues in my IM Nuvo 10, but I haven’t had any heat problems with that tank since it’s open and I keep my house temp at 71-75 in the summer. 

[Daniel91]

Well! It's been a few days - give us an update! 😄

[banasophia]

It works! Temp’s running consistently in the 78 range that I set it at. I haven’t seen it go up any higher than 78.6 on my digital thermometer. Definitely gives me peace of mind!

[saxplayer]

Sent you a pm on this topic.  I bought one of these as well as my temp is running 81.5 or so consistently and I would like it lower.  Also a 16g LED Biocube.  Questions about installation. 

 

Thanks!

[banasophia]

7 hours ago, saxplayer said:

Sent you a pm on this topic.  I bought one of these as well as my temp is running 81.5 or so consistently and I would like it lower.  Also a 16g LED Biocube.  Questions about installation. 

 

Thanks!

Thanks for checking in on this. I sent you a pm earlier, but thought it would be good to post here too for anyone else considering one. The chiller is still working great for me. BTW, it says it’s designed for tanks up to 30 gallons, for anyone else considering it with a bigger tank... it appears that the size of the tank determines the amount of cooling it can provide, so see their website for more details. 

 

I ordered the install kit with it... it had the tubing, the u tubes, clamps, and a pump, so it’s on a separate pump that I just tossed in the third chamber on top of my regular pump, but not attached in any way. It pulls the water out of the third chamber, cools it, and dumps it back into the third chamber.

https://www.chillsolutions.com/products/csxc-1-install-kit

 

They do not include the owner manual/instructions with the chiller, you have to find it on their website. Here’s what they say about it. (I wish they would at least include a little card that says that along with the chiller, prompting people to look for it... took me a minute to think of searching their site.)

 

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

In an effort to be more environmentally friendly we do not print or ship an instruction manual with the chiller. A link to download the manual can be found below, and we are always available to answer any questions you may have.

 

 

Heres a video about it that shows the install kit that I used, but mentions you can also install it inline with your filter or sump. 

 

 

I hope this information helps! Let me know if you have any questions. Here’s another pic of it in my tank:

[saxplayer]

So to clarify, the stock pump with the 16g Biocube is at the bottom, and the chiller pump is sitting on top of it?  how long is your return tubing going down into chamber 3?  

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, saxplayer said:

So to clarify, the stock pump with the 16g Biocube is at the bottom, and the chiller pump is sitting on top of it?  how long is your return tubing going down into chamber 3?  

Here’s a picture... yellow is the stock pump, blue is the chiller pump, green is the end of the return hose from the chiller, red arrows are warmer water, white arrows are chilled water:

 

[Christopher Marks]

Great review @banasophia, very informative! I've been curious to see one of these in action, thanks for sharing!

 

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, Christopher Marks said:

Great review @banasophia, very informative! I've been curious to see one of these in action, thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks, I’ve been really happy with it so far... seems to be a good investment for a nano with a lid that can’t take advantage of evaporative cooling like a lidless tank can. Hopefully it will continue to work well.

 

A couple of additional observations I wanted to add:

• I did blow a ton of dust out of the fan when I was just moving my tank out to get the pics I just posted; it would probably be a good idea to blow the dust out periodically.
• It seems like it could be a hazard to get long hair stuck in the fan when leaning over the tank, so exercise caution (I always have to remind my daughter) and consider using the optional wall mount bracket and mounting it so hair won’t hang down into it. 
• It’s also an issue that the current location next to my tank is at risk for water spills during water changes. I currently just prop something over it (the box it came in) during water changes to protect it, but mounting it on the wall should take care of that issue as well.  

I do have the wall mounting bracket, I just haven’t gotten around to installing it yet. I was thinking I was going to take the chiller out after the summer, but decided to keep it going since my tank is fairly close to my fireplace. Made it through the summer, now I can’t wait for the winter and being able to enjoy both my tank and fireplace! I’ll never want to leave my cozy family room! I’ll post pics if/when I install it on the bracket on the wall. 

[Krish87]

Great post, lots of good information. Thanks for sharing 🙂 

[Tamberav]

Nice to see someone else trying one of these out. I have one and used it in my cold water tank and it kept that tank 60 degrees. Tiny powerhouse! 

[banasophia]

55 minutes ago, Tamberav said:

Nice to see someone else trying one of these out. I have one and used it in my cold water tank and it kept that tank 60 degrees. Tiny powerhouse! 

Ah I’m so glad you commented on this... a friend of mine wants to do a cold water tank and asked me about it... I wasn’t sure whether it would have enough cooling capacity since it just says “10+” degrees F for a 10g tank on the website. 

[kharbom@gmail.com]

following. just got a biocube 16 and having same issue with temperature. I think I'm going to go ahead and add this chiller.

[Tamberav]

On 9/27/2018 at 12:47 AM, banasophia said:

Ah I’m so glad you commented on this... a friend of mine wants to do a cold water tank and asked me about it... I wasn’t sure whether it would have enough cooling capacity since it just says “10+” degrees F for a 10g tank on the website. 

 

It should work for a insulated small CWT (mine is 7 gallons) with 1/2 inch acrylic and I insulated the hose to the chiller with pipe insulation. However if it is in a hot room in summer then I would get something stronger. It has to flip on almost constantly in hot weather but I did use it for a year. I think it would be best suited to say a 3-5g insulated CWT at reasonable ambient temps. 

[malady]

I use the ice prob which uses the same concept but it does not need a pump to run water instead it uses a probe.

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/CoolWorks_Ice_Probe_with_Power_Supply_Micro_Nano_Aquarium_Chillers-CoolWorks-CW1111-FICHMC-vi.html

 

 

good option for someone who has an AIO you can run it on top of one of the chambers.

 

 

only downside is you need a temp controller.

 

 

these type of chiller are perfect for nanos up to 30g.

[banasophia]

59 minutes ago, malady said:

I use the ice prob which uses the same concept but it does not need a pump to run water instead it uses a probe.

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/CoolWorks_Ice_Probe_with_Power_Supply_Micro_Nano_Aquarium_Chillers-CoolWorks-CW1111-FICHMC-vi.html

 

 

good option for someone who has an AIO you can run it on top of one of the chambers.

 

 

only downside is you need a temp controller.

 

 

these type of chiller are perfect for nanos up to 30g.

Oh yes I saw those and they are less expensive, but I thought you had to drill the tank for it. Can you tell us more about how it works? And it would be great if you have pics you can post. 

[malady]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Oh yes I saw those and they are less expensive, but I thought you had to drill the tank for it. Can you tell us more about how it works? And it would be great if you have pics you can post. 

Yeah the intended purpose is to drill the tank but I found that running it inverted above the overflow chamber works just as well.

 

Ill try to take pics and edit my post later tonight.

 

I can only say for certain that this will work for IM AIO's  otherwise you need to measure your back chambers.

 

I honestly was going to go with the chill solutions as well but had no room to add another pump in my tank.

[patback]

I didn't know they came this small. Makes me want one, but im on the opposite side of the spectrum that I worry more about my heat not getting high enough. Sleek little unit. 

[Cpl_Wiggles]

I plan on picking one of these up for my Biocube as well. I'm 3 hrs to the South of @banasophia so I will be looking at triple digit temps for 3-4 months. I usually let my house heat up in the summer when I'm at work (85F or so and have the A/C at 80F when I was home (ceiling fans FTW) but have accepted I'll have to keep the A/C on full time to help keep the tank cool and actually utilize this device.

 

Great review! Very helpful. 

 

[RebeccaAnnBaselice]

Ok just ordered this! 😅