12 gallon Cube + I.C.A = COOLER CUBE

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Hey Reefers,

 

Most of you guys know me, I'm the owner of the Mike Guerrero and Larnie edition tanks.

 

I have been patiently waiting since January 05 to get my paws on two integrated chiller assist units for my tanks. I can say without a doubt Chris has given us another great product.

 

I have and see on a daily basis, a lot of reefers complaining about the overheating of there cubes, primarily because the airtight closer of the hoods.

 

Well, that is a problem of the past if you own an ICA unit. It's simple dynamics will even leave the hard critics without words.

 

This unit works on the idea that if you cool your tank in the night, by early morning you are going to be able to fight off your heat from both lights and ambient temp.

 

I couldn't believe it when i installed my first ICA into my 115 watt monster. I use to suffer great heat waves into the 87+ degrees and was forced to leave my hood open.

 

My friends would come over and tease calling my Condo, Mikes Aquarium garages because both my hoods would be open like a true car garage, how embarassing.... Not to mention all the evaporation I would suffer during the day.

 

I had a lot of reservations about this product because it sounded too good to be true. Chris is a strong advocate that if it doesn't pass his quality control of months, it will never makes it to us.

 

Well, it was all worth the wait becuase when I received them, I actually had fun modding my hood to fit it in. I'm not be any means a DIY'er wizard but I was able to make the cuts to perfection and had the unit on and it started cooling my tank immediately.

 

I was surprised on how quite it operates, no mechanical moving parts and to me that was great. Compare that to the quietest chillers on the market, you will be impressed.

 

Another great concept is how you don't need to purchase a conroller for the temp, just use your existing heater to counteract the chiller and it really keeps it at bay during the night operation.

 

I'm just surprised on how well it keeps my temps at a bay. We are talking 78.7 at the highest point during the full 24 hour period and lowest being 73.3 at night with the heater set to 72 degrees. These are the measurements on my Mikeguerrero series tank.

 

Larnie edition did even better, I haven't had the full specs on the whole day but when I went home for lunch at 1:30pm it read 73.1 degrees as opposed to my mikeguerrero running at 77.3.

 

Remember that larnie is 92 watts and has two pumps in the water, a minijet 606 and a stock jbj pump as a current pusher. My mikeguerrero has 115 watts of juice and has 3 pumps, Rio 50, Rio 90 and a minijet 606. Also my larnie is in my bedroom which is cooler than the living room in which the mikeguerrero sits.

 

If you have reservations about the heat this summer and chancing losing your reef you need this simple unit. You will save tons of money and not be out hundreds on a true chiller that is noisey and god explain how you'll fit it into a cube?

 

If you are serious about your hobby and this particular product email me at work michael_guerrero.heald.edu. I will answer any and all questions regarding the ICA and how it worked for me.

 

Chris, you really hit another run out of the park and this time you did as a returning champ from the award winning hoods you helped me achieve. Thanks....

 

Mike

[Scissorhand]

Hi Mike. I recently bought a larnie edition + ica unit from chris. I'm certain the ica did help a lot (the temp in my 12 OG went up to 85+ in my house before the larnie purchase... that's with only one single 24W bulb). Still, it's running a bit too hot for my comfort (82.5 degrees after long photo period and ambient being ~79-~80 degrees... and with the summer heatwave peaking around the corner, I'm scared.) I'm curious as to how you and chris are able to keep your tank cool with the ica, especially it being COOLER THAN AMBIENT temp, which is something i have never been able to achieve. Which fan are you using? Stock fans? Should I change the fan to achieve better result... how are you pointing the two fans, inward or outward. Etc... I'd love to know the secrets.

 

In my Larnie, along with the ica, i run a maxijet 900 to create current and a minijet 606 that pump through the ica. The pumps stay on 24/7... the ica and the fans go on along with the lights. I currently have the fan blow in on the left and out suck out on the right above the heatsink. Are you using the adapter at 8.4 setting? Or did you purchase an adapter with higher voltage rating, thereby increasing the power of the ica/peltier whichever. I'm trying to think of anything that i may have missed. Thanks for your advice.

[ccjung]

The best way to keep it "below" ambient is to let it cool overnight to a predetermined setpoint that will be countered by the heater (sorry, no controller as of yet).

 

There are 2 modes of the ICA operation.

 

MODE 1 - is to only turn it on when the lights on. This will offset temps by removing energy put into the tank during the day, but will generally heat up a bit above ambient in a high thermal load system.

 

MODE 2 - is to chill the water to 75F or so and let the ambient temps and thermal load heat the tank up. The added "buffering" capability of the water will allow you to offset the heat added to the system.

 

Some things to remember about the ICA are:

 

1. It will pull a steady amount of energy from the tank. If the thermal load exceeds the ICA, it will not "chill" but will retard the ability of the tank to heat up.

 

2. If you have a good temp "buffer", even tho the tank is still "heating" it takes more energy to heat the water up since there is a cushion of cold water, that can take lots of energy.

 

My recommendations:

 

1. If ambients arent too high, run it in Mode 1.

 

2. For the hottest days, i recommend Mode 2.

 

Remember that the cubes are sealed volumes of water. Previously with the top down, it was nearly impossible to be below ambient, especially during hot days and with the lights and pumps on.

 

If the debate is "NONOPTIMUM" vs. "SURVIVAL" i would choose NONOPTIMUM any day. Its almost generally recognized that Hot ambients and the JBJ cube just dont mix... My 04 DX ran 86F in 77 Ambients with the top down.

 

Hope this helps

 

Chris

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Hi Pochie,

 

Glad to hear you jumped on the ICA unit and the purchase of a Larnie Edition which in my opinion is awesome.

 

My larnie edition runs 92 watts of juice and two pumps. The first pump is the minijet 606 pumping water through the ICA unit. The second pump is the stock JBJ that was placed in the return chamber for added current.

 

I have the upgraded fans that chris designed for this hood, they are the thin set of fans. I have both fans pulling air out of the hood and recommend that you follow my lead.

 

Do not have air blowing into the hood, because you don't have a perfectly sealed hood that would force air out the other. Pull heat out with both, is my idea.

 

My larnie runs cooler than my mikeguerrero tank because it's thermal load is less than the other. Also ambient are different from living room to the bedroom.

 

I actually had to lower the ac adapter to 3 volts in the larnie edition to keep it from getting too cold. I still have to play around with the setting because I'm yet to have really hot days in the bedroom.

 

Last night was the first night in many that I had the door and window shut and when I entered I was like man it feels like a sauna and was in shock when I walked over to larnie and saw him running at 75.6 degrees.

 

I really believe if you invert your fans outward you'll see a difference. Also try mode 2 that chris talked about, because thats what I do.

 

My ICA units run 24/7 with the fans. I'm going to do some calculations to have the ICA turn off during the night and kick into gear 3 hours before the lights fire on, to give them a rest and not have to hear the fans all night.

 

Good Luck,

 

Mike

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

I've been monitoring my tanks for updates on the temps now that the I.C.A units have been installed. Today marks a great test date as my ambient temps soared all the way to 83 degrees at 3pm. I know that had I been home between 1pm and 2pm I would've seen them higher.

 

So I walk over and check out Mikeguerrero tank and I see a reading of 80.3 degrees and holding. This is with the ac voltage set at 8.4 which is the highest setting.

 

Then I go down the hall and into my bedroom and check out larnie. He was clocking in at 80.7 degrees and holding. Now remember that last night I set this voltage all the way to it's lowest setting 3 volts.

 

Before I came back to work I cranked it up to 8.4 it's highest setting and will check it when I get home from work.

 

What I have noticed is that if you give your tank a chance to cool all night the tank has a better chance of keeping temps down as it fithts to climb.

 

I know this because this morning before I left to work at about 9:30am the tanks read around 76 for mikeguerrero and 75 for Larnie. This was due in part that I kept all doors and windows closed during the night.

 

Overall, I'm very impressed with this little unit because it kept my tank at bay at 80 degrees. Let me make a comparison so you can realize the power of this unit. Had I not had this unit on and attempted to keep my hood closed during normal operating hours I'd have a reading of 87 to 88 degrees.

 

How do I know? Well, I've found myself rushing to the freezer and pulling out freezer bags full of ice to bring down my hot spring cube. I've even had my wife come home from work before me and do the same when she saw the high temps.

 

I hope you guys realize that this is an alternative to a much more expensive chiller that would be too hard to fit in the cube and you don't lose all the evaporation from leaving your hood exposed to blowing air.

 

I give this unit thumbs up on versatility and uniqueness not to mention how quiet it operates.

 

Mike

[larnie]

Hey Mike!

 

Nanocustom's I.C.A. sounds like a great product. If my tank wasn't in the basement of my home (where it stays relatively cool during a Colorado Summer) I'd be looking at getting one of these too. Even during our hottest days so far (mid 90's outside) my tank hasn't crested 80 degrees. Its great to hear that your heat issues have been effectively overcome.

 

It is getting a little hot outside for me though. I'm taking my family to England and Scotland for three weeks during July. I'm asking my buddy Doug (another cube owner) to take care of my cube while I'm gone.

 

Larnie

[oogie]

BTW, Chris, what kind peltier are you using for the ICA?

 

Thanks!

[Web Guy]

Thinking I need a new modded hood for my tank huh!! Chris, you guys staying busy?. Looks like things are moving along.

[AndreM]

Hey Mike, Thanks for clearing up our questions on the ICA unit. I'm thinking of getting one for my Larnie 92w. At night my tank runs at ambient @ 80 degrees, but during the day it increases by 2 degrees. The problem i'm having is although I have A/C, my tank increases my room temperature by 2-3 degrees.

 

My question is: Will the ICA reduce the overall heat emitted from the lights (and thus lower my room temperature)? Or is it mainly effective for lowering water temperature?

 

I'm concerned with lowering the heat because I have chinchilla pets in the same room as my nano, and they require a room temp below 79 degrees.

 

Thank you,

 

Andre'

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Andre,

 

The ICA unit is completely independant of anything outside your tank. That means, you would not increase air temperature (ambient) by keeping the larnie cool with an ICA unit.

 

So your little chincillas would be fine.

 

Mike

[Grymatta]

Does the ICA use up alot of juice? how loud is it?

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Because the ICA unit is designed as a by pass system, it has no moving parts, nor is it connected to a compressor like that of a true chiller. It's primary job is to assist in cooling.

 

So with this said, I would like to say that the ICA is virtually quiet. The only sound that it makes is from your hood fans. They have to rotate 24/7.

 

If you are okay with the sound of your fans, then you will be alright with this product.

 

Regarding the juice is It comes with an AC adapter that is variable, 8.4 volts to 3 volts, that's it...

 

 

Mike