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Reservoir Temp
- Thread starter stevenics
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- hydroreservoirpeople
alltatup
New member
I am hydro, and I could not keep water temp correct w/out chillers. Root problems were chronic, although I managed decent harvests in spite of them. It was just too much additional stress, and it put a real damper on the joys of growing. Now I keep the two reservoirs at 68-70 degrees, andme and the plants are just CHILLIN!!!
stevenics
Banned
No Title
So after using nutrient solution ice cubes for a few weeks, and being as creative as possible with ways to keep my water cool, it is just to much work to keep it at the 66f that im looking for. I folded and went ahead and purchased a chiller, the active aqua 1/10 hp chiller. I also purchased the active aqua 250 gal submersible water pump. I already have like fifteen pumps, but none of them are exactly 250gph, which is what the manufacturer recommends , so for 20 extra dollars i got the pump also. came to a total of a little over 300$ but after talking to my GWE family I decided it was the most worth it way to chill the water. Thanks for all your input. does anyone have this chiller?
chiller link at amazon ----- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
pump link at amazon -----> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
check out my other posts https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...eds-from-a-m-s
this one will make you SMILE!!!! https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...1-saber-rescue
So after using nutrient solution ice cubes for a few weeks, and being as creative as possible with ways to keep my water cool, it is just to much work to keep it at the 66f that im looking for. I folded and went ahead and purchased a chiller, the active aqua 1/10 hp chiller. I also purchased the active aqua 250 gal submersible water pump. I already have like fifteen pumps, but none of them are exactly 250gph, which is what the manufacturer recommends , so for 20 extra dollars i got the pump also. came to a total of a little over 300$ but after talking to my GWE family I decided it was the most worth it way to chill the water. Thanks for all your input. does anyone have this chiller?
chiller link at amazon ----- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
pump link at amazon -----> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
check out my other posts https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...eds-from-a-m-s
this one will make you SMILE!!!! https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum...1-saber-rescue
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Clampit Rivers
New member
alltatup, how many gallons of water are you cooling?
Cannabliss
New member
No Title
Thought I’d share my own little technique on here since this topic is becoming pretty informative concerning ways of lowering ones reservoir temps. I provided a pic to help with my explanation.
Anyway, it’s basically a shallow reservoir with just water and a couple of those blue ice blocks. Then you place your growing buckets into the water reservoir (bottom left pic). For some reason those last much, much longer than just frozen water bottles. I use two to three of those ice blocks and it keeps my temps down in the low to mid 60’s for a good 12 hours (at least for me). I change them as needed. So whatever temps are in the water reservoir, those same temps will be in the nutrient reservoir. This way I don’t have to be adding ice blocks directly into the nutrient reservoir and disturbing the root system, etc. Afterward you can cover the water reservoir with black/white poly material so light won’t enter and keep the temps cooler, longer. The top left pic is when I was growing pepper plants a while back. It has three 2-gal buckets underneath the poly material, but can fit four. Top right pic shows a Carolina Reaper pepper plant I grew in a 5-gal bucket using same technique. Bottom right pic shows the root system of the Reaper plant. No issues, no root rot, just happy, white roots. Water chillers did cross my mind, but my budget doesn’t allow and I just want to use less electrical devices as possible. It has been working for me for years without any issues. Water reservoir can be any size, but I recommend the short shallow ones. Even a smaller, shallow one that can just barely handle a 5-gallon bucket and a couple of ice blocks will work fine too. Hope this helps give someone some ideas for a cheaper way of lowering their reservoir temps.
Thought I’d share my own little technique on here since this topic is becoming pretty informative concerning ways of lowering ones reservoir temps. I provided a pic to help with my explanation.
Anyway, it’s basically a shallow reservoir with just water and a couple of those blue ice blocks. Then you place your growing buckets into the water reservoir (bottom left pic). For some reason those last much, much longer than just frozen water bottles. I use two to three of those ice blocks and it keeps my temps down in the low to mid 60’s for a good 12 hours (at least for me). I change them as needed. So whatever temps are in the water reservoir, those same temps will be in the nutrient reservoir. This way I don’t have to be adding ice blocks directly into the nutrient reservoir and disturbing the root system, etc. Afterward you can cover the water reservoir with black/white poly material so light won’t enter and keep the temps cooler, longer. The top left pic is when I was growing pepper plants a while back. It has three 2-gal buckets underneath the poly material, but can fit four. Top right pic shows a Carolina Reaper pepper plant I grew in a 5-gal bucket using same technique. Bottom right pic shows the root system of the Reaper plant. No issues, no root rot, just happy, white roots. Water chillers did cross my mind, but my budget doesn’t allow and I just want to use less electrical devices as possible. It has been working for me for years without any issues. Water reservoir can be any size, but I recommend the short shallow ones. Even a smaller, shallow one that can just barely handle a 5-gallon bucket and a couple of ice blocks will work fine too. Hope this helps give someone some ideas for a cheaper way of lowering their reservoir temps.
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stevenics
Banned
Cannabliss that is a great idea i like it, my probem is i have a 20 gal resevoir with 16 gals of water in it. One thing i was gonna do was buy some copper tubing a quarter inch thick by 10 feet long, and coil it around the inside of the resevoir, attach one end of the coil to a water pump in a separate ice resevoir, and the other end of the coil just sitting in the ice resevoir, so the ice water gets pumped through the copper tubing which is sitting inside the reservoir and then back into the ice water container, this way the ice water and reservoir water dont mix. If i used separate containers for each plant i would utilize your method. thanks for the post Cannabliss
Clampit Rivers
New member
Alltatup, I have a 10 gallon tote with 5 gal of water. I totally think chillers are the way to fly on DWC. But like you said, on my setup a chiller was overkill. Plus everything electrical brings some degree of heat.
alltatup
New member
It works quite well, but it needs space and to be in a cooler environment in order to bring cooler water back into the reservoir. You may need to get some longer tubing: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XJXN9IU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
and run them into the tent, keeping the chiller in a cooler place. It needs room to breathe. Mine are in a 74 degree room, not close to the walls, and a decent distance from the grow boxes.
I also put the water pump into a filter bag, cuz on the last grow (first time i had the chiller), the interior of the chiller was a bitch to clean all the gunk build up out of. I had to keep putting in strong H2O2 and water, which I alternated with vinegar and water, and all this gunk kept pouring out when I tipped out the liquid.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E63TASO/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A83LZ4XZH4503
and run them into the tent, keeping the chiller in a cooler place. It needs room to breathe. Mine are in a 74 degree room, not close to the walls, and a decent distance from the grow boxes.
I also put the water pump into a filter bag, cuz on the last grow (first time i had the chiller), the interior of the chiller was a bitch to clean all the gunk build up out of. I had to keep putting in strong H2O2 and water, which I alternated with vinegar and water, and all this gunk kept pouring out when I tipped out the liquid.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E63TASO/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A83LZ4XZH4503
Cannabliss
New member
Cannabliss
New member
stevenics No problem and thanks. Your idea sounds interesting, but I'm not too familiar with copper tubing sitting in nutrient solution. Is that safe? Perhaps the idea GanjaGed brought up might be best. I heard of attaching the other end of the copper tubing to a fan for a nice cool breeze, but not sitting in nutrients. Isn't that how chillers work too more or less?