New Chiller - Leaking refrigerant???

[endempire]

Hey.

So I just picked up a chiller for our tank! Brand new Haliea HC-100A.

Got a bit worried though cos when I opened up the inlet and outlet points and had a look inside it was wet! Had a bit of a smell too...not sure of what but, sorta "chemically" I guess. Has the refrigerant leaked during postage??

I have zero experience with chillers so before I set it up i wanted to check if anything was wrong and I should send it back. Hopefully someone will know.

Thanks
Max

 

[axokyle]

Did you buy it from an actual shop? Contact them they surly should be able to give aftersales service

 

[endempire]

Got in touch with the supplier - they said everything is cool. they test all the chillers so any liquid would just be leftover water from testing.

Now another problem but! The Chiller is hectic noisy! and the little power head we bought is heaps noisy too! Probably going to take the power head back and exchange for a better one and maybe look to putting the Chiller in the tank cabinet and cut some ventilation holes.

Here's the thing though a decent power head is going to cost closer to $50 or more, so would I be better off paying around $100 (or get a deal on ebay) for an external canister filter and hook it up that way? Are all external canisters pretty quiet?

Max

 

[Zale2101]

I have a Penn Plax Cascade. Not my favorite canister filter to maintain, but it is extremely quiet and pretty powerful. Came with a spray bar, good for gaseous exchange.

I would highly recommend canisters to anyone, they generate and maintain a biological filter better than any power filter or UGF.

If you've got the money, consider a Fluval or an EHEIM Canister. They're fantastic.

 

[lea]

I have a Eheim filter and it is quite and works well. I would recommend them to anyone.
lea

 

[blackdog]

I have a question about chillers & pumps

Can you run the chiller off the canister filter ok? I mean run the water through the chiller after the chiller?

Can the pump handle it?

Bren

 

[endempire]

Well I decided to just swap the noisy aquaone powerhead for a Eheim600 power head. It is super quiet! Plus a little more powerful so I've been able to put the Chiller inside the aquarium cabinet to cut down on the noise and make the whole set up a little neater.

For ventilation I cut the whole back off the cabinet so that should do the trick. Also when we're not home we can just leave the cabinet door open.

So all in all I'm content with the current setup. Chiller has kept the temp at 18-19C, it's all neat and quiet enough. Maybe in the future I'll fork out for a better canister filter to replace our HOB. I'll post some pics in the next few days - just doing some aquascaping so its a little messy at the moment.

Max

 

[endempire]

Check this thread for how the chiller has been installed.

Max