Bong cooler for a 90 gal

[CHOMPERS]

I'm not recommending that one and I don't have experience with them. It is an option when the cost of electricity is an issue and the temperature differential is not too great.

I have heard that these small units are dissappointing if you put warm drinks in them and want them to be cold soon. Keep in mind that when they are plugged it is also the time that warm drinks are also put in them. This is often considered the "start time" and the beginning of impatients. Without really thinking about it, it is easy to wrongly compare and erroneously expect these small units to work as fast as a kitchen refrigerator. The only failure in this thinking is that the kitchen fridge is already cold and has a huge thermal mass in it that is also cold. If you plug in a kitchen refrigerator that is warm and the thermal mass is also warm, you are going to be very dissappointed with its results at cooling too.

The speed of cooling a tank is not important. What is important is the ability to keep the tank at a required or desired temperature. When the system reaches its equilibrium temperature, the refrigerator will only have to counter the warming of the tank.

I don't know the power of these small refrigerators and I don't know what size tank if any would be realistic to cool with one. If I were doing a build, I would use a dorm refrigerator in the range of 1-2 cubic feet. If you want to keep some brews cold for tank maintenance time then you can certainly use a larger one.

 

[Dan F]

I would use a cooling thermostat if I was going to use a coil of tubing in a fridge, it's the only efficient way to use that method.

Rather than building a separate evaporative cooler I would just blow a fan across the top of the tank.

By the way, knowdafish is right about those little 12-volt coolers. I bought one a few years ago, it barely cools at all! These type of coolers don't use a compressor/condenser like a regular fridge, they use "semiconductor cooling"...

 

[CHOMPERS]

Rather than building a separate evaporative cooler I would just blow a fan across the top of the tank.

That would save a lot of time Unfortunately it still won't work for crazyforcrabs.

 

[Dan F]

That would save a lot of time Unfortunately it still won't work for crazyforcrabs.

Yeah, evaporative cooling probably won't have too much effect in steamy Calcutta!

If your room is fairly insulated you could look into a small room air-conditioner, they're relatively inexpensive, at least compared to an aquarium chiller.

 

[basslover34]

I'm so surprised not one Person has said "HA BONG!!!"

Anyway... I have actually been looking into this as well and have come up with getting a cheap small fridge and running copper tubing though the inside with a sperate line running through the freezer as a (extra helping unit on the really hot days) Since I am trying to put a Tank in my solarium which gets really hot in the summer it seems to be the most econimical way of doing this project as the fridge won't use much energy since the door won't ever open and the water coming in should be a decent temp from the tank there really shouldn't be to much loss and you can pick up a small fridge on Craigslist for like 20-40 Bucks

 

[Dan F]

I'm so surprised not one Person has said "HA BONG!!!"

Anyway... I have actually been looking into this as well and have come up with getting a cheap small fridge and running copper tubing though the inside with a sperate line running through the freezer as a (extra helping unit on the really hot days) Since I am trying to put a Tank in my solarium which gets really hot in the summer it seems to be the most econimical way of doing this project as the fridge won't use much energy since the door won't ever open and the water coming in should be a decent temp from the tank there really shouldn't be to much loss and you can pick up a small fridge on Craigslist for like 20-40 Bucks

Sounds reasonable, but I would use poly tubing instead of copper, less reactive.

I would also leave out any line going through the freezer. If you run water all the time it won't freeze, but you also will have very little control over the temperature of your tank. A better option is to hook up a controller on the pump so it only pumps water through the fridge when the temperature reaches a certain point. Also, a fridge/freezer combo uses one compressor for both. That compressor will only move a given amount of btu's/hour, running the line through the freezer section won't give you any more cooling overall.

 

[basslover34]

Sounds reasonable, but I would use poly tubing instead of copper, less reactive.

I would also leave out any line going through the freezer. If you run water all the time it won't freeze, but you also will have very little control over the temperature of your tank. A better option is to hook up a controller on the pump so it only pumps water through the fridge when the temperature reaches a certain point. Also, a fridge/freezer combo uses one compressor for both. That compressor will only move a given amount of btu's/hour, running the line through the freezer section won't give you any more cooling overall.

Seperate line which will flush out empty when not in use, the reason for running through there would be to make the use of the smaller colder space not because it uses more BTU's
The plan is to use regulator on the tubing to slow the flow which will give more time for cooling the water. Copper would allow for a better heat transfer rate than using poly tubing and this really is the point of doing it that way is to make it as efficent as possible (finacially effienct )

 

[crazyforcrabs]

Alrighty now, i wouldn't go in for one of those itty bitty coolers then. I plan to run 2-3 tanks on it, all 50 Gal plus.
I can get basically anything in this city, cheap, ( Including the fish ) so i'll get a good sized fridge, not the 1-2 sq feet ones, something larger. That way i can route a tube through the ice box and freezer and use the rest of it to store fish food and other misc stuff. Maybe a couple of beers too.

I've got a little space in the fishroom for it, the main issue would be electricity, but i guess with the thermostat in the fridge, after the initial cooling of the tank, it'll be no problem. Right?

Can anyone suggest a good fridge size for this? As well as how to go about drilling and sealing it up?
I'm planning on making sumps for all the tanks with sub-tropical channa's, so i can pump water from them into the fridge directly, and not disturb the tank itself. The main thing is, how do i route two or three tubes from the different sumps into the fridge? Drill three different inlets?

 

[daleros]

A refrigerator is for keeping things cold. This is done through insulation and a small compressor.

A chiller is for cooling things off. This is done through a larger compressor.

I have know people who have tried to cool computers with large refrigerator compressors without much luck. An aquarium doesn't need to be cooled as much but there is a larger volume to cool as well.

You might want to compare compressor sizes of a large refrigerator to a small chiller and the small chiller will have a better compressor.

 

[greengiant]

be careful when drilling through the fridge if you can run your lines throuh the door as there are no coolant lines there ( I have done this and nicked a line making the fridge garbage) as long as you use flexible tubing this will not be an issue. for more efficient cooling put a pail in the fridge and run your lines through it using the water in the pail as a heat transfer medium this will also stabalize the temp and help the fridge to run less. I hope this helps and I'm sure someone out there has a different opinion