# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories >  My experience with AL-60 chiller

## FreemanAng

I have not used any chiller before, and looking around the internet, there are not many reviews for the AL-60 chiller, which I have wanted to purchase to lower my tanks’ temperature for my CRS to breed. This has made me unsure of the product’s ability. My tanks are placed in a room with no air-conditioning, and on hot days, the tank’s temperature can go up to 28-29 degree Celsius.

Since I see there are very few people selling it on Carousel, and those who sold it at $160 has found their buyer fast, I decided to go forward with purchasing it to try, and if the performance is not satisfactory, I would just sell it, and treat it as an experience. I have also hoped that my experience with AL-60 chiller would help to add to the reviews, since I can hardly find a few (besides the one by one vendor).


I bought the AL-60 chiller at $220, and in the packaging were these components:
P_20160723_154103.jpg



























Abit sad it said maximum cooling is 26 degrees Celsius, which is what my ANS fan can achieve.

P_20160723_154112.jpg P_20160723_154216.jpg

P_20160723_154346.jpg



A closer look into the chiller shows a heat sink with cooling fan on it:
P_20160723_154639.jpg



Before I try on the chiller, I thought it would be best to provide some information on my current CRS tank.

My CRS tank is placed in a room with no air-conditioning at all. It is positioned near the window and I have been using an ANS fan ($20-30) to cool the water to 26-28 degrees. This month (July 2016) has been a rainy month and the best results so far for the fan is down to 26 degrees. Throughout my 6 months of keeping CRS, I have only seen 1 berried, but no CRS babies.
Hence, I decided to try seeing how much a chiller would help. My expectation is that the chiller must be able to help achieve a temperature of 25 degrees (no higher). When I see that the AL-60 chiller uses cooling fans and heatsink, I was a bit skeptical of the results it could achieve.


Here’s my tank:

 
(temp at 26 degrees)




For this trial, *the ANS cooling fan is turned on with the chiller*, and the target temp is set to 24.5 degrees. After cleaning up my filter (I use the Boyu EF-05) to ensure good flow, I turned on the chiller. The hot air came out of the front which was not my expectation (I thought it will come out of the back), and so I have to rotate it away to face the window.



The starting temperature of my tank was 26.6 degrees (At 5.01pm):






5.52pm:



==Did a water change around 6.30pm and temperature goes back to 28 degrees.


7.15pm:



8.14pm:



8:46pm:
 

[Condensation on my tank]




10:12 pm:

(Will monitor and update this post).

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## FreemanAng

At 10:30pm, chiller reached 24.5(amazing!) and stopped , now set temp to 23 degree celsuis to see if it can reach.

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## Joe Ong

I have been using AL60 for a month now.. It's for my 30 litres crs tank. Set temp at 24c and cut off at 25c.. Achieved the required temp pretty quickly and extremely quiet. Very satisfied with it.

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## FreemanAng

> I have been using AL60 for a month now.. It's for my 30 litres crs tank. Set temp at 24c and cut off at 25c.. Achieved the required temp pretty quickly and extremely quiet. Very satisfied with it.
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


Hi Joe, I have no doubts about it now, it certainly can achieve better results than a cooling fan. For mine, its stuck at 24.6 - 24.7, but its a breakthrough for my tank's temperature for now. 
Previously, those whom I have asked for feedback mentioned they on and off their air-conditioning daily, or they have balcony. As I have no air-conditioning or balcony, I thought this may be a obstacle for using it to achieve the temp.
Cheers  :Smile:

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## Joe Ong

Maybe i have a small tank so it easier to achieved the required temp.. Anyway mine cut off at 24 and i set cut in at 1degree which is 25. At night once i on aircon it doesn't cut in for the whole night. I didnt use any cooling fan.

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## FreemanAng

> Maybe i have a small tank so it easier to achieved the required temp.. Anyway mine cut off at 24 and i set cut in at 1degree which is 25. At night once i on aircon it doesn't cut in for the whole night. I didnt use any cooling fan.
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


Thanks Joe! The part about air-con is that it affects the environment temperature, and hence the tank's temperature. I have a friend who's keeping shrimp in a room that he turn on aircon at night, and his tank maintains at 24-26 degrees without even any need for any fan or chillers (You can literatly feel cold when you walk into his room when aircon is not on). Hence I think air-conditioning affects the environment temperature and is part of the variable needed to take in consideration for the chiller's ability.

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## Joe Ong

Before i bought this chiller my tank temp during the day was 28 to 29.. 27 when i used a fan.. Night with aircon was 24 to 25.. The temp swing too much between 24 to 29.. Now with this chiller managed to keep it constant at 24 to 25..

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## FreemanAng

> Before i bought this chiller my tank temp during the day was 28 to 29.. 27 when i used a fan.. Night with aircon was 24 to 25.. The temp swing too much between 24 to 29.. Now with this chiller managed to keep it constant at 24 to 25..
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


@Joe Ong Yep can understand, huge temp swing not good for shrimps. 
I see that my AL60 chiller now is still fighting between 24.6 and 24.7 and never go down. Do you think if it tries too long will spoil? Or should I just give up and set to 24.6 - 25.6?

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## Joe Ong

Actually i think AL 60 ideal temp setting is 25 and cut in at 26.. Best for economical reasons. I started with this setting and my crs still doing fine. I tried 24 to 25 just to see how it goes.

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## Joe Ong

uploadfromtaptalk1469290656272.jpg

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## FreemanAng

> uploadfromtaptalk1469290656272.jpg
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


Wow congrats on getting it berried!! That has been my dream since I started shrimp-ing. Hopefully I can achieve it soon (previously berried so far but no babies).

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## Joe Ong

Thanks, i hoped to see shrimplets soon.. Still under trial and error stage.

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## Wang

Do you if I can run this in my 60 x 30 x 36 tank ? Not really ask a chiller but as a fan replacement. It's really tiring to TOP up water daily very slowly

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## Joe Ong

AL60 chill up to 50 litres of water.. Dont think it will be effective on your tank.

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## Wang

> AL60 chill up to 50 litres of water.. Dont think it will be effective on your tank.
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


I thought so how about i use it to run at 27 degree, too bad I only have space for a chiller that is less than 35cm in length

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## Joe Ong

Your tank is about 65 litres. Usually you will top up not to the brim and it is about 60 litres. If set at 27 degree and cut in at 28 i think it's workable. 

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## Wang

> Your tank is about 65 litres. Usually you will top up not to the brim and it is about 60 litres. If set at 27 degree and cut in at 28 i think it's workable. 
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


You think it work ?, I am topping up 1x 1.5 litre of water Everyday, I think it should be better than fan at least I have stable water temperature

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## FreemanAng

Hi Wang, I have 2 more tanks same as your situation, every day need refill 1 bottle of 1.5L life distilled water, I understand your pain. 
For my 60L tank with the AL-60 chiller that I wrote this review on, no refills are needed for almost 3-4 weeks, and yes..AL-60 can chill a 60L tank to around 24.7 (lowest record so far,but it will be working v hard) or 25.5 (my setting). No aircon in my room btw

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## Wang

> Hi Wang, I have 2 more tanks same as your situation, every day need refill 1 bottle of 1.5L life distilled water, I understand your pain. 
> For my 60L tank with the AL-60 chiller that I wrote this review on, no refills are needed for almost 3-4 weeks, and yes..AL-60 can chill a 60L tank to around 24.7 (lowest record so far,but it will be working v hard) or 25.5 (my setting). No aircon in my room btw


ok good I guess i'll have to give it a try maybe I go for 26. 2nd option would be hailea hc 100.

my canister filter have a flow rate of 770 would it be ok if I use with it ?

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## FreemanAng

> ok good I guess i'll have to give it a try maybe I go for 26. 2nd option would be hailea hc 100.
> 
> my canister filter have a flow rate of 770 would it be ok if I use with it ?


Yep no issue, my canister filter flow rate is only 150L/h (Boyu EF05), so yours should be ok.

But if you can afford it, HC 100 would be better.

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## FreemanAng

And my first ever CRS baby shrimp!!! After 2 years of keeping shrimps.

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## Joe Ong

Congrats! Many more to come.

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## Joe Ong

My shrimplets with starlight pleco.

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## skyrex

I just got this chiller for less than a week. But now it's faulty. It is unable to cut-off. The work less turns off but the chiller fan and chiller is still running. Anybody knows how the cut off works? Is there a physical servo switch inside that somehow got stuck?

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## Joe Ong

> I just got this chiller for less than a week. But now it's faulty. It is unable to cut-off. The work less turns off but the chiller fan and chiller is still running. Anybody knows how the cut off works? Is there a physical servo switch inside that somehow got stuck?


Does it go below the temp without cutting off? My friend had the same problem and he get it changed at the LFS as it's under warranty.

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## skyrex

> Does it go below the temp without cutting off? My friend had the same problem and he get it changed at the LFS as it's under warranty.
> 
> Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk


Yeah. It just runs non stop. I got it on ezbuy so that is an issue with claiming warranty.

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## Joe Ong

You can check with east ocean for the AL agent contact.. iirc the agent is at Yishun.

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## dunhaf

Got my AL60 this evening for my first Shrimp tank (30 litre) 
Set it up with my Sunsun 603b canister filter. 
Tank --> Canister filter in --> Canister filter out (used 12cm to 9cm adaptor) --> AL60 --> (Using 9cm to 12cm adaptor) Sunsun 603b outlet pipe.
It's been only 1.5hrs since my set up. 
Able to cool approx 1.5 deg C per 1.5hrs. 
My initial temp was 28 deg C. It is near 26 deg C now. I set the AL60 to 24 deg C.

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