Jac's Adventure

[Alf D]

Very impressive !
Should be spectacular when finished.

[Bangalang]

Love the sound of this Jac! Definately keen to tag along and watch it come together.

[sparker]

Glad to hear it is progressing well! Was worried when there were no updates for a while.

[JacP]

Thanks guys. My dear wife has started to think that everything else related to the extension, is incidental, as I am so involved in the details for the aquarium. :-) Cannot blame her though, 3 times more time and detail has gone into the tank, than the rest of the build.
I am starting to look into the equipment requirements. The Chiller/heater cropped up, as the tank builder needs to know what height clearance to allow for under the stand for the Sump in the basement.
I found the Teco (Italian) chillers, TC 30, recommended by a friend before, which looks like it is able to handle the ca. 3000 ltr water volume, but it is about $ 3K.
Alternately there is the hailea HC-2200bH-B, smaller, but at $ 1200 each, means we could run 2 of them.
Does anyone have any experience on either brand, and would you suggest to use 2 smaller chillers, or the one big one ?

Appreciate your inputs .
Tks
Jac

[colg]

I have used hailea but not Teco. All of the research I did when deciding between the two was that teco over rate the capacity somewhat. People suggested that this overrating was as much as 50%. Going back a few years so this might have changed??
I run a hailea 1000 on my 1000l system in central QLD and am pleased with its operation. Ambient temps are quite high in my house. With the chiller set up outside it deals quite well.

I also think two units would offer a more stable system, if run off a single thermostat control. (Have a look at atc-800, although you might require an additional relay to handle switching of two units. I would suggest a separate temperature control regardless of which brand you choose.

There are also other avenues worth considering. Have a look at what the commercial coral guys are using. I have heard that there are some commercial options that use a heat exchanger/condenser similar to that of a split system Aircon that are as cheap as the hobby chillers but much more powerful (think noise as well!) I will try and find details from the guy I was talking to.

Col

[JacP]

Col,
thanks mate. Sam suggested I may not have to worry about a chiller just yet, being on the Gold Coast. Any unit/s I get, will have the reverse cycle option, so be usable also for heating. This is what i need to check - with winters getting to 12 ~15 degrees C here for a few weeks straight, am i right o assume it will be necessary to heat, especially for the corals, so we maintain the range between 25~27C ?
If so, I will need to look at buying the units now.
I am inclined to share your thoughts on having 2 smaller units, say 2 x the HC 1000, and find out how to link them both to a separate external thermostat.
I would be interested to hear what you can find out about the commercial options you mentioned.
Thanks for the effort.

Jac

[JacP]

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[JacP]

[JacP]

[JacP]

Hi All,
the pace is finally picking up with the Blockwork crew here the last 2 days. Walls going up... and the IBC looking so lonely.
They finish tomorrow, and core fill walls and beams on Friday.