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I'm pretty sure I need a 1/4hp unit, but the recommended pump varies a great deal between brands. The three I've been looking at are listed below with specs. They're all in a similar price range. My system will be using 22 gallons of nutrient solution in a RDWC setup.
Aqua Euro 1/4hp chiller: Uses .75" inlet and .75" outlet fittings. Ideal for tanks up to 170 gallons. Cools a 170 gallon tank by 10?F or a 100 gallon tank by 30?F. 260 - 650 gph recommended flow rate. Amps/Volts: 3.0A/110v
Ecoplus 1/4hp chiller: Uses .75" inlet/outlet. Ideal for tanks up to 170 gallons. Recommended pump size: 633-1056 GPH. 650 watts.
ActiveAqua 1/4 hp chiller: 1" inlet and .75" outlet. 1000-2500 liters per hour, 250-550 GPH recommended. 280 watts.
The thing I notice is that despite all three being 1/4 HP and around 3000 BTU, the Ecoplus has over twice the wattage of the other two and recommends a pump with about twice the flow rate of the other two.
So any advice on which chiller would be best for a small 3 plant 22 gallon grow would be appreciated.
Have you already ran your system to see what the temps are going to be at? If not do that first. Who know you may not even need one. I didn't when I was doing RDWC. But then I had about 75 gallons of water in my res. alone.
Personally I would go with the Ecoplus. I have had great experience using there equipment. I would do a google search on all three and see what people have rated them and are saying about there reliability.
-------------------- Dude she isn't as young as she use to be.
Thanks for the response. I've ran a DWC before and temps were around 75F which is why I'm buying the chiller. I like the Ecoplus too, but it's recommended pump is kinda scaring me.
If I follow their recommendation and use a 600+ GPH pump, I'll be cycling the system every 2-3 minutes. Seems like a lot of water movement. Regardless of how this would affect the plants (which I'm curious about) the pump would be pulling more electricity and more heat = chiller working harder.
I was planning on around 10 exchanges per hour, which is in line with the pump recommendations for the other two chillers I listed.
However, I've never ran a RDWC so I don't know if 10 exchanges is good, or whether 20 exchanges per hour would be good/better. I want a comfortable margin, but don't want the system to be too overpowered.
I'm also curious what would happen if I ran a chiller using a pump under the recommended minimum, say like a 400 GPH pump on the Ecoplus which calls for 600-1000 GPH.
I don't really know what would happen man. I would contact the company on a question like that.
Get your RDWC up and running. Do a dry run on it, see what the temps are doing.
Since it is only circulating water in and out of the reservoir it isn't going to have any effect on the plants itself. But if I were you I would make my reservoir as big as possible.
-------------------- Dude she isn't as young as she use to be.
Containers will be insulated in reflective R8, and the chiller will be in an adjacent room so I'm not expecting thermal issues from the lights to matter a lot.
I'm definitely going to want the temps at least 7-8 degrees below ambient intake temps, so not using a chiller isn't an option. I'll have to wait to do a test under lights as I've got a grow going on.
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