Hey folks need todial in on mysizes so i can go ahead and purchase them. Ill be going with 8-10 gal buckets total of 11 including controlbucket. Was including a rez not sure size probably 25-30 gal, ill be using 2in pvc with a raindrip irigation inline filter. My questions are.
1. Would 1/4 hp chiller suffice in chilling 100-130 gals of water when its alloted at 80gals or would i have to jump to a 1/2hp? Trying to be conservative on cash.
2. What size pump? I was looking at a 550 ecoplus. Also my filter is rated for 40psi will this exceed that?
Based on the amount of water, yes. A 1/4hp chiller is the one you want.
I'm a few steps ahead of you in my research, so let me tell you what I now know:
You can chill your res in one of two ways, as an inline chiller (single pump) or a closed-loop chiller where it would have it's own pump.
With an inline chiller, you need to get a chiller with a
titanium heat exchanger. These are generally "aquarium" chillers. The titanium heat exchanger is durable enough for salt water and nutrients. From all of the research into chillers I did, the
Coralife 1/4hp chiller is the one I'm going with for my 80-100 gallon RDWC-UC. But it also depends on ambient temps as well. I am going with 2" pipes for my manifold and using a
Danner Supreme 12 mag drive pump. I am going to have my tent about 4ft away from my reservoir so I went with the 1200gph Danner instead of the 950gph, which is the next size down. But really, you can't go too big on your water pump from what I gather. Also, the price difference is so little between them, why not. Also, it's better to run your pump inline rather than submerged for heat reasons.
If you want to run a closed-loop system, you can get a cheaper chiller like an Active Aqua, but you will also have to buy a
stainless steel wort coil (25' should be fine for your res), and a lightweight pump at around 250 to 350gph. My alternate setup was going to be closed-loop and the pump I was going to use was a
Danner 250gph mag drive pump.
Hope that all helps.