# Is it worth the money to invest in an ice probe chiller?



## Postal Penguin (Mar 30, 2009)

With just 10 gallons you could try freezing water bottles and just rotating bottles in and out of your tank/freezer.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

These Iceprobes aren't very efficient, but for smaller tanks they should be good. If your current energy bill isn't something you lose sleep over, it should be a good solution.

A bit more convenient than freezing bottles and rotating them on warm days.


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Freezed water bottles would be difficult on a fluval edge. 
In the 10gal tank it would be possible but the problem is would a single frozen water bottle last throughout the day or how many changes of bottles would be made?
Plus my main problem is I would be out for a month and no one can do these rotations for me on a daily basis.

Will the Ice probe on the other hand really rack up on the electric bill?


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

What do you have in your aquariums that you're worried about?

-Andrew


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Andrew,

I'm planning of getting a batch of Crystal red shrimps to put in my 10 gal.
I recently sold all fish stock I had in there, had it planted and will be converting it to a shrimp/ zebra rasbora or galaxy rasbora tank.

I had a batch of 14 CRS for the past month in my fluval edge and learned the hard way of keeping them and not checking that temps will be rising in our area. 
Initially when I got them it was mid to low 70. Then It has been in the mid to high 80s. in the succeeding weeks up to now. The CRS dropped like flies and see a dead one everytime the temp goes over 84F. Now I'm left with one who despite the high temps for the past weeks seem to don't mind it at all and seems to do well.

The fluval edge now has an active colony of about 60+ RCS(which I'm not that much worried about) 1CRS, an oto and several galaxy rasboras. I am just cooling it with a pc fan and keeps temp 4-5deg below ambient temp(usually 84-88F)

I wanted to set both up probably with an ice probe so i can keep both on "auto pilot" mode and just have stuff checked on about once a week (so as not to hassle a friend of ours that much)when I leave for a month in August. but the mixed reviews of the probe is what's holding me back from getting it immediatly. They still would cost $85 a piece and getting 2 will definitely add up. (the $85 offer is only valid if I get 2)

What really bothers me are the sudden spikes in temp this summer that will surely kill a lot of the CRS should i get them soon.
I can just wait for the summer to be over but it really bothers me seeing the 10 gallon with no inhabitats except the 3 otos I didn't sell with the other livestock it had.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

I've been there, done that. Don't buy the CRS till the fall, something will happen if you get them now, I pretty much guarantee it. Patience is very important in this hobby  and in this case it'll save you some cash. 

I would pull the galaxy rasaboras (they're named Celestrial Pearl Danios or CPDs now by the way) and put them in the 10g if it makes you feel better about not putting the shrimp in there, and I think they'll all be fine without chillers, you're keeping some hardy livestock. 

What the chillers will buy you is peace of mind as long as you don't buy the CRS. I know at least one past member used the iceprobe with great success on his aquarium until the aquarium shattered (for other reasons than the chiller) and probably continues to use it to this day. If you want to get the chillers go for it, if you don't really want them don't. There is a chance a crazy spike will bother your fauna you own right now, but I doubt it as long as all parameters are stable in the tank and the temperature never changes drastically. 

Probably not the advice you wanted to hear since I didn't take either side :hihi: 

-Andrew


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## jeffvmd (Apr 16, 2010)

Yep the current livestock are hardy and will probably do fine while I'm away. 
Damn this itch to get CRS.
It really is hard to make decisiions in life specially if it invloves letting go of some cash.:hihi:


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## Lycosa (Oct 16, 2006)

I've had one of those ice probes in the past. They aren't very good in my opinion for cooling down anything but a small tank. They are just peltier coolers and really don't do all that much. If you decide to get one, try and position the flow from your filter to maximize the effect.

Your best option is to look for an aquarium chiller. They are pretty pricey, but you can't beat them. Just set the temp and forget it. I've been in your position and bought an ice probe and it didn't cool down my tank well enough (running MH lighting) so I had to spring for an aquarium chiller anyhow. Lesson learned I guess, but I was still out of the money I had spent for the ice probe.


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## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

I just bought a used one and the controller for 120 to cool my mini S (~3 gallons) for CRS. It works great. For 85 bucks each, you should grab them, at least one. They are great for small tanks, and you can use a timer to run it instead of the controller. Here's a pic of the inline mod I made out of a PVC tee for it.


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## dhavoc (May 4, 2006)

like mentioned before, very inefficient. i have 2 and they sit in the spare crap box. anything above 5 gals and they dont do anything. also bought them when i first started to attempt CRS. i think the cooling fan on it did more cooling via evaporation than the peltier. fluval edge is a hard tank to cool because they have cramped filter areas so you may not have a choice but to use the iceprobe on the internal HOB filter, or rig a small powerhead to move water out the back thru a chiller unit. for the 10g, i would go with the smallest compressor chiller you can find (current 1/15 or jbj 1/20hp or similar). cost more, but losing crs contantly will cost you more in the long run.


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