Reddit reviews Active Aqua AACH10HP Water Chiller Cooling System, 1/10 HP, Rated per hour: 1,020 BTU, User-Friendly,Black

Honestly, even entry-level chillers kinda sting when you see the price tag. My home is an oven and fans/ice/water changes just weren't cutting it so I recently bit the bullet and got what seemed like the most affordable legitimate offering out there (this guy from Active Aqua) but even that was $335, plus a pump.


A set of fans can give you a drop of at least a few degrees and if you can get that to work it will save you a lot of money, but if you want the peace of mind knowing your axolotl will always have a stable and safe temperature it's gonna be a bit of an investment.


If you buy a chiller, things to look out for would be

1. what size fittings it has (for ease of setting up hoses, the less creative plumbing the better)
   
   
2. how many GPH it accepts (should roughly match your filter if possible, otherwise you may need a separate pump)
   
   
3. the performance curves in the manual should show you how much it can cool a given volume of water. The chiller I linked to above can chill 50L from 70 to 60 in about an hour, for example

I looked at the options, I'll list just for the sake of completeness:

1.Brewjacket immersion chiller - ~400$ plus additional for different fermenters

Pros: relatively universal, not in the thousands, portable
Cons: Can't chill more than 20 degrees below, noisy, cleaning with iodophor.

2.Cool Zone Cooling Jacket $70 just jacket, ~$150 for a fuller setup

Pros: works on most fermenters, compact, cheap
Cons: you still need something to chill your water/glycol, but if you have kegerator or icy water in a chest cooler it could work.

3.Chest freezer ~$100-200

Pros: Cheap, can be used for other things, fits most of the fermenters, especially with a collar, no additional cleaning required.
Cons: takes a lot of space.

4.Ss Brewtech FTSs $250 for 7g brewbucket

Pros: Well made, works fine, not hard to clean
Cons: Only works with SS Brebucket, needs separate chilling like a chest freezer or icy water in a chest cooler.

5.Aquarium chiller - there are different ones, I think you need to calculate your BTUs, at least a 1000 BTU is needed to chill 5g tank to 50F from 80F. Example: https://www.amazon.com/Active-Aqua-AACH10HP-Chiller-Cooling/dp/B07BHHQLKR $400

Pros: relatively cheap, no additional work required
Cons: You would need a pump, hoses and a way to chill, this is more like a combo with Cooling jacket or SS Brewtech FTSs. Only setup to work with one fermenter (maybe could be split with two pupmp pumping)


I think if you have space nothing beats chest freezer price-wise or in convenience. Plus you could do other things with it.

Other than that you need to look at pros/cons for yourself.

Not sure how much $$ you have in this but probably for not much more could of got one of these, I have one and it works great if you are looking for other options down the road. https://www.amazon.com/Active-Aqua-AACH10HP-Chiller-Cooling/dp/B07BHHQLKR/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=water+chiller&qid=1568726390&sr=8-3

That was the best solution for me, they also sell Water Chillers, but they are very pricey.

With the fans blowing I have to top of my water every other day, as it evaporates quicker now, so keep that in mind.