Aquarium Chiller - Noob Advice

Hi everyone. I posted earlier about struggling to keep our axolotl's tank down within normal ranges during the summer. We're managing to do so with frequent and careful monitoring, but we're going away a couple of times later in the summer, so we're thinking a more robust solution might be required.

Looked into chillers today. Watched a 'how to set up a chiller' video on YouTube which made me realise I had no idea where to start - it actually made me MORE confused than before, as I had assumed a certain level of 'plug in and play' functionality!

I'd really appreciate people's advice on good resources to look at, products to check out, and general requirements for a chiller setup. Our current setup is listed below:

- 1 adult axolotl named Max
- 50 litre tank - all-in-one with no sump
- Dimensions: 60cm*40cm*32cm
- Eheim Pickup 45 internal filter
- We also have a basic air pump, though we retired that because Max used to try to fight the bubbles

Ideally budget is in the £200 - £250 range, which I know is at the low end, but we're really talking about something that can lower the temperature by just a few degrees on a few particularly hot days a year, or when we're away and want the peace of mind that the temperature is being controlled (we can ask a friend to come round and feed him a couple of times, but can't really say "can you also stay during daylight hours and open all the windows and check his temperature every couple of hours and cool it down if it goes above 21" etc). We live in the UK, it doesn't often get hot enough for it to be required, but we wanna make sure the little guy is comfortable.

I understand that we would need both a water pump (which I realise I'm not really sure what it is beyond the obvious) and a chiller, plus various pipes that are usually sold separately...

I know you asked about chillers, but I'd thought I'd pop in and say that I use computer fans to do my cooling, which works wonders. My house temp is normally 77F but with one computer fan on my 20G tank it's 68-70F. So you could rig up a couple of those if you wanted. They are totally silent, just need a bit of wire work and some plugs.

I used this guide:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...iscussion/69628-do-yourself-aquarium-fan.html

You will struggle to find a chiller that a) operates with an internal filter and b) caters for only 50 litres. I had a look on complete aquatics and their lowest model is up to 100 litres (would probably still be good). They generally need a canister filter to push the water through the chiller as they don't usually have their own impellers.

You're probably better off continuing as you are and if you upsize your tank one day then go for the chiller option.

My personal setup on my big groundspace tank is a fluval 206 cannister with a hailea 150a chiller, as the chiller only kicks in when the temp is 1 degree c above the wanted temperature; I also bought an inkbird temp controller that kicks it in at 0.4 degrees above the required temp instead.

Aquarium Chillers

I also have a smaller tank set up similar to yours (60 litre and internal filter) to grow my baby axolotls in before moving them to the big tank. For that one I use a double headed clip on fan similar to the ones found in the link above (can find them cheaper on amazon however). I did find it particularly hard to keep the temp down below 19/20 with that set up and still had to resort to frozen bottles of water/forzen water in old takeaway tubs to maintain temp through the day.

I use a clip on desk fan and it keeps Trent's temp right around 69 F/20 C. Pair that with keeping my blackout curtains closed all day, room fan and AC on and I was able to save a lot of money by not getting a chiller. It gets pretty hot and humid here (typical summer day is 95 F/34 C) but this set up is working great. Also, if you haven't already, I suggest investing in a digital thermometer. More accurate and precise temperature readings. My old thermometer was saying the water temp was 75 F/23 C which turned out to be quite wrong!