Hydrofarm Active Aqua Chiller, 1/10 HP

I bought this chiller to try and keep a 20 gallon long aquarium down around 64 degrees.The tank houses an axolotl, and they like their water to be in the mid-60s. Even in my basement in the winter, the water was sometimes creeping up near 70 due to it's location near a heat return (and more than likely, on the "outside" of the wall that had my furnace directly on the other side). I felt that was getting a bit on the high end for him, and decided to go with this "small" chiller.I put small in quotations because the unit itself isn't very small...it's quite large, and you'll definitely want to take that into account when purchasing it...where are you going to locate it? I ended up just setting it next to my aquarium stand because I had room...but if I didn't have the aquarium set up I probably would have located it elsewhere to make it a bit less conspicuous in the room.It has been working very well. I set it at 64 and within a few hours the temperature had dropped from 70 to 66, and the next morning it was at 64 and it didn't move from there until I changed it's settings to raise the temperature a bit to continue to grow my bio-filter.The unit is quiet, easy to set up, and includes fittings for two different sized hoses. It's easy to adjust the temperature, and I like that it has a digital readout of the temperature of the water...it makes it so I don't have to worry about using my small thermometers inside the tank.The only problem I had with the unit was upon unboxing there was a VERY strong "new plastic" smell. I ended up letting the unit sit for nearly a week before hooking it up to try and eliminate any chances of those fumes entering my aquarium water...and even then, I ended up running about 10 gallons of water through it and OUT of the system during a water change just to make 100% sure that the fumes were circulated out of the system. I asked about this here on Amazon, and it seems that not very many end up with that smell, so if you do get it just let it sit for a few days and you should be good to go, but most likely you won't even get it.I recommend this for cooling water.

This unit works exactly as advertised. Keeps my 45gal of solution at 65F without issues with 80f ambients. Having said that, people should consider the following physics of vapor phase change units. The ambient temperature of where the unit is housed plays a major role in the performance of heat exchangers. Results at 70F ambients will not be the same as with 80F ambients. Also consider your line length and routing between the chiller and your reservoir. Reviews complaining about thermostat temperature differences between their reservoir and the unit should understand that as the chilled liquid runs via your return to the unit it will heat up and do so more if the lines are longer. consider the following specs of the unit and the attached photo in sizing your unit. Consider insulating long return lines to avoid chill loss through the lines.

Only been on for 24 hours but the little 1/10 hp unit is working well. It's 95 outside and this thing is keeping 35 gallons at 68 in a hot uninsulated garage. Time will tell... Took one star off because yes it did leak after hooking it up. Had to take the water connections apart and re-do. Second time worked and it's not leaking.

This chiller was Fairley quite. Its not the most efficient pump on the market. I return it because I found a better brand (JBJ) which is one of the top line chiller I've notice a lot of reviews don't tend to state how these perform in a Hydroponic setup. The 1/10 chiller works but don't go over 70 gallons if you want to chill your water greater then 12 degrees. My grow room was creeping in the high 94F range and my water temp stayed at 82F. If you know hydro then you know not only was my room temp out of control, but my water temp was really unreasonable. I suggest that you not run your grow water through the chiller but integrate it with a ice box and wort coil. This will reduce the temp in your water and the grow at the same time. The 1/10 size really isn't plausible for 70 gallons.

I've been using my 1/10 hp chiller for about 9 weeks in my hydroponics system. I almost bought the 1/4 hp instead but I'm happy that I got this one. I have only about a 24 gallon system for tomatoes and cucumbers but thought in my 100 degree plus heat that this one might be too small. It has been working perfectly and actually runs only 10% (or less) of the time. I did insulate my reservoir, growing units and plumbing to assure efficient operation. Tremendous improvement in fruit quality since I installed the chiller. The roots are now white instead of brown, indicating great root health. I was concerned about the expense but have found that it was well worth it for me.