RODI Ice Cubes???

ReefMadScientist · Aug 5, 2014

Hello R2R,

So as you may know I am having a water chemistry issue so I am about to do a water change but waiting for my water to cool down. My RODI unit is in the garage and here in AZ it can get pretty hot. I checked salinity and checked pH so we are good to go…just waiting on the temperature to match my tank.

This got me thinking if there were any DIY ways to cool down water. I am currently using a Vornado fan on my kitchen chair (DO NOT ATTEMPT lol) to cool my water.

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Then I had another idea, getting better, of maybe using some lunch cool packs.

Then in the middle of my weird brainstorming, my nephew who is 14 said "Why don't you just throw some ice cubes in there!?" In the middle of my lecture about it needed to be RODI water that is when my mind clicked. What if I made an ice tray with RODI water! When I am waiting JUST on temperature, I can just throw a few RODI cubes in there to cool the water down. I can freeze cups of water and use any size I need depending on the temperature. Of course using a pump to turn the water is needed.

Typically I wait for the next day to do my water change as the nights are much cooler and sets the temps perfect in the morning.

Just a few thoughts.

saltyphish · Aug 5, 2014

icepacks in ziplock baggies is what I use. The bags are just so nothing contaminates my tank from taking the packs in and out of the freezer.

saltyphish · Aug 5, 2014

the frozen ro water will change your salinity as they melt

ReefMadScientist · Aug 5, 2014

saltyphish said:
the frozen ro water will change your salinity as they melt

Lol!!!! I am an idiot. Went with your idea though! Thx

mcarroll · Aug 5, 2014

ReefMadScientist said:
Lol!!!! I am an idiot.

Not really. (Not for this, anyway!)

You are mixing a specific volume of water with salt (5 gallons?) and you can know the specific volume of your RO cubes (2 oz? 1/64 of a gallon)....if they really were to change salinity enough to worry about you could simply mix your normal volume of water minus the volume of your RO cubes, or 4 and 63/64 gallons plus one cube.

I wonder if you'd have ay problem getting them to freeze though?

-Matt

P.S. Out of curiosity, what temp. is your water when you start out?

tyler1503 · Aug 5, 2014

I fill 1.25L water bottles with tank water and freeze them overnight. I unscrew the lid and let them float till it's melted fully, refill it and freeze it again. I found it cools the tank quicker when the lid is off, but the ice melts quicker as a result.
I use tank water as there is no chance of contaminants or a chemistry change

I saw a thread on a different site where a bloke drilled 2 holes in the side of an old freezer, pumped water through flexible hose through one hole, coiled it around inside the freezer and out the other hole back into the tank. He sealed up the holes and supposedly it worked perfectly. He even kept his frozen foods in it.

backpack · Aug 6, 2014

Ro water makes great cocktail ice. But if you can't afford a chiller the best thing is normal old water bottles. Just buy a case of water. Throw a weeks worth in your freezer and you are g2g. The little tiny ones may be better but you may find not having to worry about temps is worth a chiller alone. If you are running LEDs normally this is all unnecessary.

Rob Top1 · Aug 6, 2014

Ice packs in baggies +1

ReefMadScientist · Aug 6, 2014

mcarroll said:
Not really. (Not for this, anyway!)

You are mixing a specific volume of water with salt (5 gallons?) and you can know the specific volume of your RO cubes (2 oz? 1/64 of a gallon)....if they really were to change salinity enough to worry about you could simply mix your normal volume of water minus the volume of your RO cubes, or 4 and 63/64 gallons plus one cube.

I wonder if you'd have ay problem getting them to freeze though?

-Matt

P.S. Out of curiosity, what temp. is your water when you start out?

Thanks for the thoughts. You definitely make me sound better than I did lol. The ice packs in a baggie worked great. I started out at 88 degree water. Took about 3 hours for it to get down to 81 which was where my tank was.

tyler1503 said:
I fill 1.25L water bottles with tank water and freeze them overnight. I unscrew the lid and let them float till it's melted fully, refill it and freeze it again. I found it cools the tank quicker when the lid is off, but the ice melts quicker as a result.
I use tank water as there is no chance of contaminants or a chemistry change
I saw a thread on a different site where a bloke drilled 2 holes in the side of an old freezer, pumped water through flexible hose through one hole, coiled it around inside the freezer and out the other hole back into the tank. He sealed up the holes and supposedly it worked perfectly. He even kept his frozen foods in it.

I too have read that write up where the guy makes his own chiller but i thought it was a fridge and not a freezer. I was almost to making my own but didn't really need to. I was going to buy a wine chiller from Lowes which was dented up and a shelf item. The guy was going to cut me a deal from 80 to $40 bucks. If I would had went that route. I would of drilled holes on each side, place a pitcher full of water in the wine chiller, and coil 1/2 hose from the tank > in the pitcher > back to tank. Perfect way to get cold water in your tank

pickupman66 · Aug 6, 2014

Ya know.. I tried something lie that with my freezer. I have a 6 foot chest that was beside my sump. I put a 5 gallon bucket with water in it and ran 1/4 tubing coil in it. 2gpm flow kept the bucket thawed and even some of the food next to it thawed. But not enough cooling effect to matter on my 180.

AZDesertRat · Aug 6, 2014

Ice is not very effective at cooling a large mass of water.
Look at the amount of BTU's it takes to heat or cool even one gallon of water one degree. Its a tremendous amount and not efficient at all.

Dorm fridges are not designed for continous use and the compressors can't take that abuse for long. Then you get into the heat exchange properties of plastic tubing which actually acts as an insulator so not efficient either.

Fans are always my first choice, a simple WalMart 7" or 8" 2 speed $10 clip on fan is amazing, it can easily cool water 3-5 degrees in a very short time when blowing across the longest surface of the tank or sump. 120mm computer fans blowing into an enclosed canopy also work wonders as long as you have a place on top or high up in back for the hot air to escape. Much cheaper than a chiller which I sold 6 or 8 years ago after it not being needed for two years here in Phoenix and my RO/DI is in my garage too.

When I am mixing up new salt water in summer months I use a clip on fan clipped to the rim of my Rubbermaid can to cool as needed. I also use small powerheads for the mixing in summer versus the Mag 9.5 I use in winter months when I actually want to heat the water. I also bring the 5G jugs of water inside the night before so they are the same temp as the room not the garage when i think about it.

ReefMadScientist · Aug 6, 2014

AZDesertRat said:
Ice is not very effective at cooling a large mass of water.
Look at the amount of BTU's it takes to heat or cool even one gallon of water one degree. Its a tremendous amount and not efficient at all.

Dorm fridges are not designed for continous use and the compressors can't take that abuse for long. Then you get into the heat exchange properties of plastic tubing which actually acts as an insulator so not efficient either.

Fans are always my first choice, a simple WalMart 7" or 8" 2 speed $10 clip on fan is amazing, it can easily cool water 3-5 degrees in a very short time when blowing across the longest surface of the tank or sump. 120mm computer fans blowing into an enclosed canopy also work wonders as long as you have a place on top or high up in back for the hot air to escape. Much cheaper than a chiller which I sold 6 or 8 years ago after it not being needed for two years here in Phoenix and my RO/DI is in my garage too.

When I am mixing up new salt water in summer months I use a clip on fan clipped to the rim of my Rubbermaid can to cool as needed. I also use small powerheads for the mixing in summer versus the Mag 9.5 I use in winter months when I actually want to heat the water. I also bring the 5G jugs of water inside the night before so they are the same temp as the room not the garage when i think about it.

Nice info!

Yep I did the same as you regarding waiting a night to have the water cool. I highly recommend using lunch cool packs in a baggy. If you need to do a water change ASAP of course. I used to also fill up my 5 gallon jugs and hall them in. Now I just have one of those Aqueon Water Changers 50ft system which I string from my salt can in the garage to another can in the house. I just turn it on and let the pump do the job.

Makes sense about the fridge/freezer system. I was going to use it for my sons 29g tank when I was going to do seahorses way back when.

AZDesertRat · Aug 6, 2014

Do you attend any of the AZ FRAG or PROP meetings and auctions? You can pick up a lot of ideas and cheap corals or equipment there. I used to go quite regular but have too many hobbies now.

ReefMadScientist · Aug 6, 2014

AZDesertRat said:
Do you attend any of the AZ FRAG or PROP meetings and auctions? You can pick up a lot of ideas and cheap corals or equipment there. I used to go quite regular but have too many hobbies now.

Nah I always wanted too. I too have a lot of hobbies: my 1 year old son, dirt bike riding, visiting parents/in-laws, etc. lol. I will check it out right now and see when the next one is.