Best Chiller, anyone?

I have a 35-45 gal, 10 site undercurrent RDWC. Water temps are in the high 70's and low 80's depending on the time of day. Average is 80deg F. Thermostat is at 68 deg, and its the middle of winter, so im thinking when summer rolls around ill need a chiller to keep these water temps down.

Does anyone have any experience with a solid water chiller? like i said, i only have to cool 35-45 gallons..
also, does anyone know if i will have to exhaust hot air from the chiller? does it put off a lot of heat?

did some research, and in case anyone is having the same problem as i am - 1/4 HP EcoPlus or ActiveAqua i think are the best for 30-80 gallons.
1/10 HP is sufficient for 10-30gal. (they are all overrated as far as chilling capacity per gal)
ActiveAqua is more efficient than EcoPlus chillers for 1/4 HP category, but Eco has larger chilling capacity.

You could get away with running a 1/10hp chiller if you insulate your rez and remove it from your tent/room.
I can chill my 40G rez by 15F with an EcoPlus 1/10th by doing that. That should put you in your target range of 66-68F.

right on dude, thanks for the response. i already ordered one! gunna be badass. thats a great idea too, moving you control outside, but i already built my system and not taking it apart lol. such a pain in the ass. i am going to put the chiller outside, bury it, and then run vinyl through the wall, or underground. good to know that the 1/10th HP has some umph to it though, people kept telling me it sucked

I just submitted a DIY chiller for my DWC. IIn a bnutshell you get a dorm refrigerator, place pump high (colder. Drill 1./4 inch hole run air line). let me find my post bro.

Yea I would love a chiller. I had a lot invested, lost a bunch so now I'm running a single DWC off a 400 using aqua flakes, roots xl, and bloombastic. Its all for personal. I lst-d the hell out of her because she was my only shiva left. She has veged for 9 weeks.m m I am 5 weeks into flower. m Does this bud look too yellow in the indide. Im thinking i need to up the flakes. Im at 650-850-ph 6

charlestonchunk said:

Yea I would love a chiller. I had a lot invested, lost a bunch so now I'm running a single DWC off a 400 using aqua flakes, roots xl, and bloombastic. Its all for personal. I lst-d the hell out of her because she was my only shiva left. She has veged for 9 weeks.m m I am 5 weeks into flower. m Does this bud look too yellow in the indide. Im thinking i need to up the flakes. Im at 650-850-ph 6

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Looks good other then bottom nug not getting enough light

I use a fridge . cold beer inside and water pumping through it . those water chillers kill the electric 300 to 700 watts just to keep water cool hell no. that electric could be running another light so I could make some yield

SWEET brother. I am glad. I thought i'd be called a redneck dumbass. I got some ghetto rigged 600's but my temp, humidity etc is killer., Ugly rooms need love too

lol, ugly rooms turn into beautiful ones! in time, with love.

great idea with a mini fridge. i wish i would have read more into that before i ordered my chiller - i just happen to have an abandoned mini fridge laying around i totally agree with KD too, lots of wattage for reasonably cooled water. i wont plug mine in unless i have to. the fact that i have such a high flow rate(big water pump thats puts off a lot of heat) and lots of supplemental HO air pumps (lots of heat), and that its supposed to be the coldest time del ano (but it isnt), and my water temps are already @ 80+(which sucks fuknuts).. i figure ill be using that chiller before too long.
BUT.. dont mini-fridges use a ton of electric too? i seem to remember them adding like $80-100/mo to my electric...
in any case.. never hurts to have back up

how noisy is a chiller generally?

Lush- chillers hardly make any noise, especially compared to an inline fan.
TGH- Yeah mini fridges use quite a bit of power also... Most chillers are more efficient that the standard mini-fridge, but the fridge is dual purpose... so take that as you will.

In the end-
Plumbing a fridge definitely works, but it's a little harder to control the water temp.
With a chiller you can program it and once the water gets to the temp, holding it takes alot less electricity.
With a fridge it always has to be running, and to further cool the temps you have to crank it up (using more elec), and it runs constantly.

Also, remember that in a fridge, you are cooling water with air... cooling water with water is more efficient... thats why you see more liquid cooled rooms popping up.

Congrats on your purchase! Now you have room to upgrade!

Here's a few tips-
Size your pump correctly on your chiller. Go for middle of the road LPH/GPH... too fast/slow it wont cool properly
Dont bury your chiller... that sounds sketchy, dude
Ever heard of Heath Robinson?? look at how he oxygenates his water in his flooded tube... he uses no air pumps. It's basically Flooming.
That'll cut down on temps/KwH etc.