20 degrees tonight? I need chiller help!!

[tidalsculpin]

Anyone have a handy math equation to determine chiller strength need?

I am thinking the tidepool tank will need a 1/2 hp chiller to get to 58 degrees.

Noise is not an issue (middle schoolers are loud people), but summers without ac is an issue. Classroom gets to 83 or more in the summer.

Display will be 130 gallons w/out substrate or rock work. Sump will be 45 gallons.

When school is in session ambient temp is 68 in my classroom.

I assume I will run approximately 250 watts of electricity for pumps and what not.

Lights will be 2 96 Watt pcs placed far away (3 feet above) the tank. Maybe 10 hour photoperiod.

 

I was thinking more rockwork and less water volume might help me out to an affordable price range.

 

Is 1/2 hp about right or do you all think I could get by with 1/3 or 1/4hp?

[fly guy]

I dont have any experience trying to get a tank THAT cold. If your calssroom is 83 in the summer..im thinking you are going to need a big one. How big....i have no idea

 

Id call whatever company you plan on going with for the chiller and asking them what you need. Id defintely do your homework before buying anything based on what couple people might say

[reefgeek84]

e-mail steveweast on here...he has a cold water tank...and would probably be the best bet to answer your questions.

[tidalsculpin]

Steve has got a pci 1/2 hp on a 180 setup from what I recall. I don't know what his ambient temp is, but I assume it's not 83. I might have to convince the district to cool the room for summers, lol.

Yeah right!

 

I am in the process of contacting several manufacturers. I just wanted to see if anyone had some knowledge they could share. Thanks

[JManrow]

According to the charts at this link http://www.aquatictech.com/chillers.html , a 1/2HP @ 5000 BTU will drop a 185 gallon 20F below ambient. Looks like that would be your best bet, otherwise may end up overworking your unit and shortening its life.

 

Pacific Coast Imports manufactures some excellent units. They have been dealing with coldwater systems for many years now. info@pacificcoastimports.com Someone there should be helpful in answering your questions.

[Lowman]

You could look at grocery stores who are closing. A lot of them sell the lobster tanks that have a big chiller on them. Or look at used cooling equipment and then make your own chiller. If not, you are looking at a big chiller.

[tidalsculpin]

I'm going with a c-0500 pacific chiller 1/2 hp. If I have to haul in a portable ac for a couple of days to the classroom so be it. 6000 btu's should be plenty for most of the year. I can set the temp to 55 and rest easy.

[Nyles]

Ask them about damaged chillers for donation to school, cosmetic damage not a problem. You would be suprised.

[steveweast]

My garage, where my cold tanks are located, can get into the 90's on the hottest summer days....and the 1/2hp chiller still maintains the 55 F tank temp.....although it is a workout. Don't go smaller than 1/2hp. Those PCI 1/2hp units are actually very quiet. Your REAL problem is where you're dumping the waste heat. If you're thinking of dumping the waste heat somewhere other than outside....you might want to re-think that. The waste heat from the system is enormous. If my garage exhaust fan is off, the waste heat from cold tank will make my garage feel like Vegas in summer within a day.....even if it's 20 F outside.....and my garage is 25' x 40' with 15' ceilings.

[reefboy]

be glad the school is paying electric bill lol thats what made me give up my cold water system gets spendy in the summer.

[izzypop]

actually you pay the electric bill on that 1/2hp since you pay taxes hopefully

 

1/2 hp pci chiller should be fine providing you vent it somewhere and not the classroom.

[Nyles]

Ya keep in mind what Steve said, all a chiller does is relocate hot air, just the same as a A/C unit relocates hot air, so if your just dumping the hot air back in the same room, effecting ambient temps will of course have a effect on the tank in a medium and small room. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

[tidalsculpin]

Thanks for the good luck. James (acrylics) said construction of the tank is coming along. Stay tuned. I think he will post a new thread on his section of the forum to show us all. Perhaps I'll create an even newer thread on the tank section of the forum to let you all know how things are progressing.

 

I spoke to PCI today and they have given me a good deal on a like new return unit. Delivery is set for after Winter Break. (Jan. 3rd)

 

As far as ventilation is concerned I have two separate ventilation systems in the classroom. One is a fume hood vent system. The other is the main AC system. I investigated the high end parameters of the AC last month. The engineer of the system said unoccupied status has a high parameter of 85. On unoccupied Spring and Summer days I'll have to come in to manually turn on the vent hood system. PCI recommended that I not vent the system like a dryer or something as that would effect performance. I am going to talk to the engineer to see if I can set the exhaust fan to turn on using timers. That would be cheaper than having him change the ac settings. Also, I am going to buy a lot of weatherization products for this project. A rigid insulation cover will be vital in the warm months.

 

And yeah, thank you tax payers and lottery players for the electricity!!!

Joel L.

[mister crabs]

good idea with the insulation cover....I was also wondering about venting the chiller like a dryer. I have a portable room air conditioner/heater made by frigidaire that vents with a dryer type hose. Had to go this route since old landlords wouldnt allow window style air conditioners.

[reef165]

what kind and whare do you get the fish and inverts for a cold water setup? is it legal to go to the coast and collect your own? if youve got any pics of your setup steve i would love to see them.

[tidalsculpin]

As an educator I can apply for a scientific take permit through the ODFW. In addition, a professional aquarist at Oregon Coast Aquarium has given me permission to have some urchins and some other organisms. Here is my permit. It was approved the 18th of December. I over estimated the tank size a bit before I picked up my sump. I thought I would be using my 60 reef tank. It will actually be 170 gallons in total volume.

 

http://161.55.120.155/pdf/3822.html

[Nyles]

Awesome your going to cape arago, thats where I go. Well talk more when I catch up with you this weekend or shortly after!

[Ronjunior]

I've got a book from the Clackamas County Library you may want to check out. Your local library may have it, but I know some libraries will share and ship; don't about your county.

It's Guide To Marine Invertegrates, Alaska to Baja California by Daniel W. Gotshall, ISBN 0-930118-19-7. Makes me realize we have much more color off our west coasts than I would have thought, and it doesn't cover everything!

A great place that I've found tons of variety of starfish is crabbing off the Newport Bay pier down there, including sun stars with the tons of legs.