JBJ Chiller Question

[scolley]

I just hooked up my JBJ Artica 1/10th on my 33g nano, total system volume roughly 45+ gallons with sump. This is my first chiller. I got it for those rare summer days when the AC in my home is not keeping up with the heat for one reason or another. My wife is fond of open windows and turning household AC off. That can be killer on a reef tank in August. Anyway...

Reading the instructions for the Artica it seems the set temperature can only be set on even degrees. No 80.5, but either 80.0 or 81.0. Is that correct?

Also, the instructions seem to indicate that it will turn turn itself off +/- 1 degree of the set temperature. What does that mean? Go on 1 degree over set temp, then turn off 1 degree under set temp - a 2 degree swing?

I hope not. Heck, even a 1 degree range is twice what my tank usually swings.

Thanks.

[troyman]

i set mine on 81 it will come on at 83 and cool back to 81

[scolley]

Really? Wow! That nice piece of equipment won't get us better than a 2 degree swing. That's a real disappointment.

I'm playing with having mine controlled by my Apex for a little tighter range. Don't think that would work in most applications because it would turn the chiller on/off too often - presumably shortening chiller life. But since mine should really only come on in unusual circumstances, I think I'll do that.

Thanks for the reply. I'm bummed. But now I know.

Thank you.

[solitude127]

I ran a JBJ chiller for 3 years with no problems to my livestock with a 2 degree swing.

[scolley]

Originally Posted by solitude127

I ran a JBJ chiller for 3 years with no problems to my livestock with a 2 degree swing.

That's good to know. Was that livestock SPS?

Thanks.

[Buzz1329]

Interesting. Did not know that setting temp on chiller at 81 means it will not turn on until tank temp reaches 83. I agree that 2 degrees would ordinarily not make a diff but still. If you set the 'CHILLER ON' setting at 81 (for a $450+ piece of equipment), I'd expect it to turn on at 81. Thanks for the info.

[Yogre]

If I remember correctly, my JBJ allows a 2 degree swing. When set to 79 (and yes it's whole numbers only for the set point) it will come on at 80, and will run until the tank is cooled to 78. The Apex controller may be a better way to go if you want a tighter temperature range.

[solitude127]

Originally Posted by scolley

That's good to know. Was that livestock SPS?

Thanks.

It was 60% SPS and 40% LPS

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Yogre

If I remember correctly, my JBJ allows a 2 degree swing. When set to 79 (and yes it's whole numbers only for the set point) it will come on at 80, and will run until the tank is cooled to 78.

Thanks for the clarification. That makes a bit more sense.

I've got things set up with my apex that gets it down to a 1/2 degree swing. But it involves turning the chiller on/off - not good. But as stated before this is just an "emergency" chiller for me.

Originally Posted by solitude127

It was 60% SPS and 40% LPS

How fast would that 2 degree swing happen? My nano would be better off with that 1/15th chiller. This 1/10th hp takes my tank down 1/5 degree in four to five minutes (after the 2 minute warm up). If I let the chiller control the temp - with that 2 degree swing - it would drop 2 degrees in less than 20 minutes. That seems like a pretty rapid drop.

Was yours dropping that fast?

[troyman]

idont think 2 degress your coralis gonna be mad at you mine worksfine that way

[scolley]

Thanks. But my question was not whether they will take a 2 degree swing. It would appear that everyone with an Artica chiller has that - if they don't use another controller.

The question is how QUICKLY can they tolerate the swing? In my tank we're talking about the chiller dropping the temp in 20 minutes or less - several times through the day. Is that rapid a drop OK with our SPS?

Thanks.

[Yogre]

I didn't have much in the way of SPS when I ran my chiller. It also wasn't near as quick to drop the temperature as yours, mine's a little smaller system wise so it usually took at least an hour to drop 2 degrees. I'm hoping not to need to run the chiller this summer due to some changes I've made to the system.

Wish I could be more help.

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Yogre

Wish I could be more help.

Actually your clarification of the +/- 1 degree thing was very helpful! Thank you.

[bennr]

I just bought a jbj chiller 1/10th hp for my setup.....

[jporter]

The difference my be with HP ratings but my 1/3 HP JBJ is set to 77 degrees. It turns on at 78 and cools until it reaches 76.8. This takes about 30-45 minutes but my tank is 150 gallons of MH superheated water. Chiller only kicks on a few times a day. My old nano chiller had the 2 degree variance but was 1/15 HP.

[scolley]

I wish I had the nano 1/15 HP nano. But when I was buying JBJ was about to release new products, and none were available. And the few 1/10's out there were on big time sale. I knew it was overkill for a 40g system. But I had no ideas of this 2 degree swing. And a 15-20 minute 2 degree drop just seems fast.

And I've got no excuses because I downloaded the documentation first to check plumbing requirements. And I saw the decimals on the readout and assumed I would be able to control within a few decimal places. Should have checked. Lucky I've got a controller.

This certainly increases my perception of sizing a chiller correctly. Too small is obviously bad. I never realized that too big has its downsides too.