IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller - Nova Tec DIY
- Thread starter jonny
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TropicalReefCorals
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I have one of these that I used on my first reef tank, a 7.5 gallon bowfront. The setup was way overkill, with a DIY hood with 72-watts of PCs, glass lids, a Prizm skimmer and semi-auto topoff. The glass tops caused it to run a little warm, so I tried building a peltier based chiller using aluminum heat sinks. I quickly realized that aluminum in contact with saltwater was not good, but it allowed me to experiment with the capacity. I seemed to work pretty well, so I finally broke down and bought the Iceprobe.
The Iceprobe was, in fact an aluminum rod with a thick ceramic coating. It used a thick silicone washer on the outside which provided an effective seal. It began to get some pinholes and developed some corrosion after a few years. I once bought some used parts that included a couple of the Iceprobes that apparently were well used, the oxidation was horrible.
Even on the small tank I had it on, I found it did not make a lot of temperature difference. It was capable of a few degrees, but not worth the effort in the long run. It definitely would not handle the claims they advertised on tank size. It would not be difficult to build a unit with multiple peltier elements for more capacity, but it would not be very efficient in my opinion. There may be some applications where it would work well on tanks where a refrigeration unit is overkill. I think that temperature controlled fans and auto topoff is a more practical approach to the situation for the effort.
The Iceprobe was, in fact an aluminum rod with a thick ceramic coating. It used a thick silicone washer on the outside which provided an effective seal. It began to get some pinholes and developed some corrosion after a few years. I once bought some used parts that included a couple of the Iceprobes that apparently were well used, the oxidation was horrible.
Even on the small tank I had it on, I found it did not make a lot of temperature difference. It was capable of a few degrees, but not worth the effort in the long run. It definitely would not handle the claims they advertised on tank size. It would not be difficult to build a unit with multiple peltier elements for more capacity, but it would not be very efficient in my opinion. There may be some applications where it would work well on tanks where a refrigeration unit is overkill. I think that temperature controlled fans and auto topoff is a more practical approach to the situation for the effort.
Velodog2
Well-Known Member
Interesting. According to Wikipedia they are 4 times less efficient than the usual Carnot cycle refrigerators we are used to. One might think a solid state device would be more efficient if only because of its simplicity but apparently not so. Still they are used in some interesting ways according to wiki. They can run in reverse to generate electricity if one side is heated. In this way they are used in space exploration in conjunction with decaying radioisotopes used to provide a heat source to generate electricity for decades with no moving parts. They are very reliable. But yeah apparently not so much good for an aquarium cooling device.
