Garage system in Tucson, AZ

[bashierr]

I am looking to setup a large system in my garage. It would be 1000g plus of water mainly as a macroalgae growout system with some frags and fish.

The summer Temps are my major issue in planning this out. It will be a large amount of water to cool. Does anyone have any experience in this. Is there a cooler large enough for this?

 

[T-J]

Yes, there are, but I don't know any chiller that can run in 110+ degree heat. 1,000 gallon chillers run about $4k, but most are rated to run in a typical room environment. Even if it were to work, and not freeze up, let's consider the amount of electricity it would be consuming.
Maybe a better option would be to spray foam insulate your garage and add an A/C unit to it? In the grand scheme of things, that may actually end up being a cheaper and more efficient route!

Hey, with enough $$$$ thrown at something, I suppose anything is possible.

Here's an example of a large sized chiller: https://myaquaticsolutions.com/teco...for-large-size-aquariums-up-to-1-850-gallons/

 

[mav3rick478]

Totally agree with above post, spray foam insulate the garage and either have a separate AC system for it or include it with the one for the house. If you did a chiller setup you'd probably end up with more evaporation because of the hotter ambient temperature in the garage.

 

[Kershaw]

Yep insulate garage, get a mini split for it. Then you can heat or cool the garage and operating cost on mini splits will be lower then a large chiller

 

[snorklr]

30x30 garage with 12 ft ceiling...put 24000 btu unit thru the wall....much cheaper than mini split and within my diy capabilities...had it in the window for the first year but made the front of the house look like crap...also blew 12'' of cellulose into the ceiling....walls were already insulated and sheetrocked...you'd still have to duct a chiller large enough for that tank outside cause dumping the exhaust heat from it back in the room you're just fighting yourself...and you' ll need dehumidification also....a tank that size may evaporate 10 or 20 gallons a day(just a guess based on my little one)....initially just used a chiller...took 1/4 hp jbj (rated 230 gallons) to keep up with a 40 breeder in a garage that was well over 90 degrees....it worked but the garage was too miserable to work in anyway

 

[Udest]

yep gonna have to insulate that the best you can , perhaps lowering the ceiling above its area too will help with cooling it as well.