Need help with Chillers

[touchingstoves]

Hey guys, I'm waiting on a tank to cycle because I'm getting pot belly pig seahorses. They require a colder climate. So I'm supposed to get a chiller: problem is I've never used a chiller before because unlike their tropical cousins, I never needed one. I run central air in the house so it keeps to 71-72 degrees in the house. They need to be at ideally 65-68 highest 79.

What is the best, decent can, and worst chillers out there? How does it even work?

Tank info:
120 gallon Tall
40 gallon sump
uV,"
Skimmer
Pump rated 1200/hr

It is also by the vent where the colder air comes in.

Anyhow, id love your input , knowledge and advice.

Thanks,
TJ


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

 

[joseserrano]

I'd go with a 1/4hp jbj. Need to oversize for extra cold water

 

[touchingstoves]

Ok... Is it bad to have two ? One for a back up?


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

 

[pirate2876]

I have JBJ and its decent. Air is taken in from the front and hot air is exhausted out the back. Mine is kinda loud on first startup for some reason but, once it gets going its a gentle hum. Read up about how much water you want to have running through the chiller to make it efficient.

If I needed to buy a chiller right now, I would go with a Teco. The air is drawn from the bottom and exhausted out the top. The top cowl is movable so you can have it vent any direction. They also have an heating unit if installed. From what the rep told me, they have the best efficiency of any chiller out there.

 

[pciscott]

Phil won a new Teco Sea Chill TK500 at Macna, know he is looking to sell. This would be a good size for your system. PM me for his number.

 

[MadMax]

TECO is a great chiller. Far outclasses all those Chinese built trash

 

[Paranoiattack91]

You saw my setup and chiller on my tank. It's jbj. I have no complaints.

 

[touchingstoves]

What measurements ir dimensions would I look for that fits my system?


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

 

[MadMax]

I can't comment about JBJ chillers, but I CAN about their customer service:

We use ALOT of water for the MAX show (as you can imagine) and of course that water is not delivered to us at 78 degrees.

Our only recourse is to use LOTS of heaters. Obviously larger, higher wattage heaters are the most useful to us.

I contacted JBJ to see if they would be so kind as to donate one or two of their 1,000 watt Tru-temp heaters for us to use in our Children's Touch Tank.

(This is not a huge request as these heaters are $200 full retail, so about half that at their cost)

They were kind enough to send us a pair of heaters.

FIRST USE, as soon as I plugged these heaters in they electrified the water! (both were either defective or customer returns, or who knows...what are the chances of BOTH being defective, right?)

I called JBJ immediately after our show to let them know what happened. I was expecting at the very least, an apology and replacement of the heaters, but nope. We got nothing but run-around ("Ohhhh, so and so is on vacation this week....why don't you try calling back some other time") can you believe this?!

Obviously I had no recourse since these were donated items, but can you imagine if some kid had gotten electrocuted at our show???

Would YOU (as a customer service rep) just blow this off too???

I've never told this story before (this was about two years ago) thinking it in poor taste to bash another business, but this thread has me thinking twice now, most notably about people's safety.

To be perfectly honest, I purchased alot of JBJ products when I first started the hobby (their PC hoods were top notch at the time - year 2000 or so) but I haven't purchased nor used anything JBJ since this incident. I truly hope this was an isolated incident but unfortunately I can't take that chance when it comes to our customers' safety.

 

[touchingstoves]

I can't comment about JBJ chillers, but I CAN about their customer service:

We use ALOT of water for the MAX show (as you can imagine) and of course that water is not delivered to us at 78 degrees.

Our only recourse is to use LOTS of heaters. Obviously larger, higher wattage heaters are the most useful to us.

I contacted JBJ to see if they would be so kind as to donate one or two of their 1,000 watt Tru-temp heaters for us to use in our Children's Touch Tank.

(This is not a huge request as these heaters are $200 full retail, so about half that at their cost)

They were kind enough to send us a pair of heaters.

FIRST USE, as soon as I plugged these heaters in they electrified the water! (both were either defective or customer returns, or who knows...what are the chances of BOTH being defective, right?)

I called JBJ immediately after our show to let they know what happened. I was expecting at the very least, an apology and replacement of the heaters, but nope. We got nothing but run-around ("Ohhhh, so and so is on vacation this week....why don't you try calling back some other time") can you believe this?!

Obviously I had no recourse since these were donated items, but can you imagine if some kid had gotten electrocuted at our show???

Would YOU (as a customer service rep) just blow this off too???

I've never told this story before (this was about two years ago) thinking it in poor taste to bash another business, but this thread has me thinking twice now, most notably about people's safety.

To be perfectly honest, I purchased alot of JBJ products when I first started the hobby (their PC hoods were top notch at the time - year 2000 or so) but I haven't purchased nor used anything JBJ since this incident. I truly hope this was an isolated incident but unfortunately I can't take that chance when it comes to our customers' safety.

Max,

Thank you for sharing . I truly hope that it is just a one time thing. But, that does make me think twice about their products. I have a few and I can't afford for any of my fish or me to be electrocuted.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Customer service does affect my choice to purchase because the last thing I want to think of is, "My chiller broke down, now I have them to deal with."

I've never heard of Teco, there is a kind of split with Teco vs JBJ. Anyone have a Teco?


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

 

[solitude127]

My dads has a Teco on his 240 and it works great. it's quiet and just keeps working. No experience with the new Tecos though

 

[BeanMachine]

Max,

Thank you for sharing . I truly hope that it is just a one time thing. But, that does make me think twice about their products. I have a few and I can't afford for any of my fish or me to be electrocuted.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Customer service does affect my choice to purchase because the last thing I want to think of is, "My chiller broke down, now I have them to deal with."

I've never heard of Teco, there is a kind of split with Teco vs JBJ. Anyone have a Teco?


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

Tecos are sweet chillers, but you are going to pay a premium.

Thousands of reefers have JBJ chillers, they are more affordable, and you can get them serviced locally if there is a problem.

I've had heaters from several major companies go bad... it happens to the best of them.

 

[MadMax]

TECO is an Italian manufacturer but has a distributor here in the US:

http://tecous.com/

If I am not mistaken, it is the Senkor Group (long time manufacturer of bacteria and other additives, etc.) that is distributing and servicing TECO Chillers.

I own a TECO but be perfectly honest I absolutely no experience with their customer service.

I plugged in my TECO about 6 years ago and haven't touched it since!


This also just reminded me: A good friend of ours' (A Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge) who is also a hobbyist won a TECO chiller in our raffle nearly 8 years ago in MAX 2008 and it is still on his system running like a champ. I believe the only thing he has done is change out the UV sterilizer bulb which is supposed to be replaced every other year

 

[janiners305]

Ive had 3 defective jbj heaters with controllers soo far but they continue to warranty them for me chillers ive never had a issue

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

 

[joseserrano]

Ok... Is it bad to have two ? One for a back up?

It's always a great idea to have back ups, especially for crucial components to your aquariums stability. That being said. Don't get 2 x 1/4 hp chillers in stead of 1x 1/2 hp. The 1/2hp will preform better, staying on less time... eco is a Ferrari brand. If you can get one, do


I like seahorses. I got nothing clever to say. Boo.

t's always a great idea to have back ups, especially for crucial components to your aquariums stability. That being said. Don't get 2 x 1/4 hp chillers in stead of 1x 1/2 hp. The 1/2hp will preform better, staying on less time... eco is a Ferrari brand. If you can get one, do