Active Aqua AACH10HP Water Chiller Cooling System

I must admit that after reading the low level of reviews, I decided to give this unit a chance even though the price tag was out of this world. I could buy a nice A/C unit for less and that's all it really is, a very small A/C unit with just a different function and way less parts. This unit should sell for 1/2 this price. Now, having said all of that, I needed something to cool about 16 gallons of water and keep it that way 24/7 and for the life of me, couldn't find a cheaper one than this. So, here I am reviewing a product I expected the worse from and all I got was GREAT service. I bought this about 5-6 weeks ago and just now turned it off. It never missed a beat. It never leaked and, it maintained my "set" temp the entire time which, btw, is easy to set up. It does put off heat just like an A/C unit or Dehumidifier would so be prepared for that. I used a pump that had a high GPM compared to what was recommended for my water volume. Didn't matter. Worked Great! But, 5-6 weeks of good operation does not a good purchase make, especially at $300, so if I have trouble in the future, "I'll Be Back!" to update this review. As of this writing, I would recommend this unit..... Be sure to place upright for a length of time BEFORE you start up the unit. For me, I waited for hours. Make sure everything is secure also. Imagine what it's been through on the way to your door. PURE HELL!!!!!

i ordered the 1/10 unit and so far it has worked perfectly. i had to purchase the 1/2 hose kit with clamps because the unit only comes with larger barbs by default but the kit was only $10 so thats fine. there are a few things that should be corrected about the description... 1. the description says the unit uses r410a coolant but the manual says the 1/10 model uses r134a coolant. i dont know how that matters because im no expert but it doesnt match what the manual says. 2. the biggest blunder is the power draw. it says it uses 460w of power and i was worried that it would be too much for the area with the lights and pumps and everything else. when i got the unit i immediately hooked it up by following the directions and once i powered it on and it was in the middle of cooling it registered the power draw at a very very reasonable 180w. now i havent used the fast cooling option since my res is small but idk if that would double the power draw. as of right now 180w while its cooling is more than ok for me. some things i would have liked to see (i knew they werent features of the unit but they would be very useful)... 1. a power plug for water pumps. right now the water pump will run 24/7 even when the unit isnt cooling the water down and having a pump that shuts off soon after the unit does would save some power. my pump isnt drawing crazy amounts of power but like ne thing that draws power it is producing heat which heats up the res faster than it would if the pump wasnt running which ultimately makes the unit run more often and longer than it would if the pump would turn off. it also increases the life of the pump not having to run every moment of everyday. 2. have the unit run the fans for a couple of minutes after it finishes cooling. right now when it stops cooling and the compressor turns off the fan turns off too letting the internals heat soak in the heat generated by cooling. if the fan ran for a couple extra mins the heat with be removed increasing the life of the components. 3. include the dang 1/2 barb kit with the unit lol. all in all the device works great and it cooled the res temps all the way down to 65 degrees in less than an hour and it barely runs every hour so im very happy with the way it performs.

I bought 2 of these and 1 of them works great. The other leaks all over the place and dosnt even turn on anymore. I only use for about 2 weeks.

I have only had this for about 2 weeks but it Works great on my 30 gallon tank with axolotls in it. I have mine set at 66 degrees. The unit will allow the water to warm to 68 then kick on and cool back to 66. This range can be adjusted if you want to reprogram it. This is so its not constantly on all the time and therefore is less work for the chiller’s motor. In the summer, the back door is open in my house and it sometimes gets up to 80 in the house and this keeps my tank at a constant temp. I love it! Was always worried about my little weird critters getting too hot while I was away at work. Now I dont have to think about it. I think all the chillers are way too expensive, but so far, this one is worth the money. I will make an update to this review if I run into any trouble

I absolutely love this chiller. Great price point an it appears well built. Its functions are very simple to figure out an use. It's taken all the stress from my mind about my res temps. It holds the temperature I set consistently regardless of room temps I get. I set it to bring my 15gal reservoir to 62° I have it run consistently an the machine itself powers down, I believe every two hours unless it notices the res temps getting high. I use HID lighting as well (UNFORTUNATELY..) so those things kick off tons of heat an my res is unaffected. So far OUTSTANDING 👌👌

Before I got the chiller, the pH and temperature in my hydroponics tank were on a roller coaster ride. I was making a gallon of nutrient ice per day simply to keep the water temp from going over 80F. The chiller arrived with the outer shipping box punctured and poorly sealed, but the product packaging inside was intact. The chiller was slightly hard to get out of the inner packaging, but it looked classy. And when I plugged it in and switched it on, it didn't work. 4 outlets in the strip, 2 with working lights plugged in and shining bright, 2 empty. I tried a second outlet in the strip, and it didn't work. I got cranky and wrote a bad review about how it was damaged in shipping. The next day, it occurred to me to try a working light in the same outlet, and, sure enough, the LED work light didn't light iup when plugged into the strip. I plugged the chiller directly into the wall, and it went on beautifully, chilled the 17 gallons in my hydro reservoir from 76F to 67F, faster than I expected, and has been running smoothly for a week with a steady 66.6F reading from the coldest part of the tank. so I can say that, right out of the gate, it has done everything I hoped it would do. May it have a long and quietly chilling life.

Good value. Unit works good, did have some water in it from qc most likely as others have said. No big deal as who would install it without flushing it anyway? Purchased the black/grey unit. Good looking device. Plastic, but what do expect for under 400 bucks? Nice green readout is bright and east to read. No leaks and not excessively loud. Make sure you choose the right size! If you have an ebb/flow system or nft go with whatever your rez size is +20%. For RDWC, figure all your sites + your controller bucket added together +20%. I actually boght the 1/10 hp but my rdwc is about 45 gal. It still managed to take the temps down from 74 to 63 in the controller bucket which gives me about 66-68 degree temp under two 1KW lights without the boost.

Now this chiller works just fine for my 36 gallon axolotl tank. BUT it is VERY loud as well as it did not come with hoses OR a water pump which did not say ANYWHERE in the description that you needed. Yes I am new to having a water chiller, but it is somewhat ridiculous that I have had to spend $340 to get this up and running. For $300 I would at least expect the water pump to be included either in the device or to place in the tank. If it would have been in the description what was included with this item as well as what else you needed to buy, I wouldn't be as upset.

this is my first chiller, I bought the 1/10 Hp for my 25 gallons, it works great so far, stop when it reached the temperature set and start when the température is 2 degrees C higher than the one Set. the noise when the compressor is on it's comparable to an Ac unit. I set my chiller for 17 degrees but it seems to keep my water around 18 degrees (following my thermostat inside my tank but it is not the best thermostat you can find in store.

It's the most expensive part of my hydroponics set up, by far, however, its an important piece and works flawlessly. I have no complaints, super easy to set up and use. Keeps my temps at 18c with no issues. I can't hear it run over the sound of my air pump, so that tells you how quiet it is. If I had to, I would definitely buy again.

When I opened the accessory kit,I noticed that the 3/4in fitting with sealing gasket was wet.is it used?after I installed it,the water temperature was 73F,the setting temperature was set at 60F.after two hours later the temperature sill stayed at 73F.today morning when I checked it the water temperature changed to 75F never drop down.very disappointed at this product.I will return it.

I had a hard time finding info online for the 1/10hp unit for an ice plunge. So I pulled the trigger to test for myself. I am happy to say that the unit can manage to keep my plunge sub 50f(10c) without using the boost function. My basement ambient is 18c and I am using a nurecover tub that is uninsulated. An insulated tub would be even better. I am slowly working my temps down as I am fairly new to plunging, but I am confident the cooler will be able to maintain temps in the low 40f range without issue. If I were to upgrade to one of the larger tubs, I may need to upgrade to the 1/4hp unit. But for my current setup, the 1/10hp is all a guy needs.

Amazing performance and great price!