Buy a water chiller or change style?

[phattybudz]

Right now I am running a 6 bucket DWC in waterfarm buckets, but my water temp is like 78 after the pump has been running. The way I see it, I have a few options:

1.)toss in bottles of ice (PIA.)
2.)buy a water chiller ($360 + running 280 more watts...) I could afford this but I would be scraping by on bills for a little while...
3.)Change the style of my system (instead of DWC, make it just a drip system.)

What should I do? And if #3... how would I do that?

*edit* I just thought about something else; I'm using an ecoplus 185GPH pump, anyone know if this pump gets really hot/if there's a really cool running pump I could get?

 

[FreezerBoy]

Ice is great as an emergency method. Not something I'd want to do 3 times a day every day for weeks/months. Have you actually experianced problems from heat? Slime/algae? Have you tried sm90 or hydrogaurd? Have you considered growing directly in the rez (eliminating the need for a pump)?

 

[phattybudz]

"Have you actually experianced problems from heat?"

I wasn't 100% sure what the symptoms might be, my roots look healthy. The only problems I'm having right now are droopy leaves on 2/6 of my plants, and some leaves taco-ing on 2/6 plants. No slime or algae as far as I can tell. I just bought hydroguard yesterday and tossed that in because someone recommended it for warmer water.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by growing directly in the rez, you mean like one big bucket/tray I put all my netpots in?

 

[Guest]

Why drip? Just go open spaghetti lines and run 4 15 minute cycles per day lights on.

Multi flow buckets are very forgiving and have seen people run res temps in the high 70's without problems.

 

[phattybudz]

well I just figured I had most if not everything I needed to do the drip style... I dont know about these spaghetti lines, can you explain or do you have a link to a tutorial?

Thanks for the input

 

[Guest]

I dont know about these spaghetti lines, can you explain or do you have a link to a tutorial?

No tutorial needed. For me spaghetti line is simply open 1/4" irrigation 'tubing'. Just like the Rain Bird stuff or the stuff on almost any decent hardware store shelf. No drip regulation fittings. Just run the pump full bore and soak the medium over a 15 minute cycle 4X daily . The pump is only running 1 hour per 12 hour light cycle. This way the res kind of acts as a heat sink and can cool off when lights are dormant.

Something like that...

 

[stke_fingas]

I second the drip system if your having temp issues, 80+F water in the summer NO THANKS. never even thought of going back to buckets full of sitting water (not literally sitting but you get the drift). not to mention how easy it is to flush a recirculating drip. i was never able to get the ppm's down in the 30's with a bucket flush. IMHO i feel it's easier to control my water temps as well when it's all in the res thats outside the warm grow climate. I'd make the switch just because how much easier my flushes are with no water in the medium giving that nice clean smoke every time. it would take me 3-4x the water to get ppm's that low with a bucket. I'm running Co2 in a cab and have had HUGE gains in veg as i let the temps get up in the 90's, hard to do with buckets. just another positive side to switching from buckets.


good luck finding a solution that fits your needs.

stke

 

[raygun]

Can you add a CPU fan to blow over the res and use evaporation for cooling? I have use that method for my Bio-Bucket res and it cools the temps of the res down around 70-75 year round with ambient temps of around 80+.
I run a 300+GPH inline mag drive pump 24/7 as well.
You can see the fan with out the 4" vent duct that runs from the fan to the top of the res so that the air blows over the res.


Check out the link in my signature.

EDIT: With that said I now grow in 100% coco but still use the fan to keep the res cool. allows me to go perpetual and run up to 8 plants in my cab and harvest 2 every 2 weeks aprox depending on flower time. Also allows me more flexability to run multiple strains or if I want a long running sativa and not realy lose out much with having to go to 70+ days for one or two plants.

Hope that helps and safe growing
~Raygun~

 

[phattybudz]

Sounds good... thanks guys, I will consider both these options. There's still a small amount of water in the buckets and rez for the drippers to draw from though right? I'm having a hard time picturing this..

 

[phattybudz]

Thanks man, so you just have 1 90cfm fan blowing of the surface of the rez water? I'm looking at your pic but I can't tell what you're using to power it, and where it's actually mounted...

 

[stke_fingas]

some people leave a small amount of water in the bottom of the container for a safety buffer in case of pump failure. i would rather have the ability to flush with ease over the "safety" water in the container. I'm never away from my grow long enough to need to leave that water sitting. as always just my opinion.

stke

 

[FreezerBoy]

"Have you actually experianced problems from heat?"

I wasn't 100% sure what the symptoms might be, my roots look healthy. The only problems I'm having right now are droopy leaves on 2/6 of my plants, and some leaves taco-ing on 2/6 plants. No slime or algae as far as I can tell. I just bought hydroguard yesterday and tossed that in because someone recommended it for warmer water.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by growing directly in the rez, you mean like one big bucket/tray I put all my netpots in?

By problems I was referring to root rot or Algae. By growing in the rez I meant ...



It's an 18 gal tub with 12 gal of Nutes (had to leave space for 5" pot and gap) Cab temps top out around 76-80. Water temps 60-68. Note I'm growing in a garage and night temps, and thus air intake, drop into the 50s. Note also, I've heard it's a bad idea to mix plants in a single res due to differing requirements.

You mentioned the Ice Probe in another thread so this might interest you

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=77685&highlight=ice+probe

Break a leg.

 

[ogenko]

"2.)buy a water chiller ($360 + running 280 more watts...) I could afford this but I would be scraping by on bills for a little while..."

i thought this would be too much more juice also, but a friend told me its like a refrigerator and only runs a for a little bit when it needs to cool down your res and doesn't add too much to your electrical bill. i can't tell you with certainty, but i'm gonna try it cause my temps are high to, but i wanna stick with the dwc =)

 

[phattybudz]

Cool, thanks for all the input guys... For now I have a 6 inch fan blowing right into my rez and it's keeping my water at 71.5 with 75 degree air temp... but I'll have to toss in more water and ph down to counter the evaporation. I think it's better than shelling out for a chiller for now at least. Thanks again!

 

[raygun]

~

~

Thanks man, so you just have 1 90cfm fan blowing of the surface of the rez water? I'm looking at your pic but I can't tell what you're using to power it, and where it's actually mounted...

Yup, in the pic I have the flexable dryer vent tubing removed. I took a rubber 6"-4" reducer like the ones you can get at a home improvement store in the plumbing section, then cut off teh corners of the fan housing to fit inside the 6" side and then you can run your 4" vent tube right to the top of your res. You can use an old power supply from almost anything, phone, printer, old CD player to power the fan. For power I have an old PC power supply that I use to power all my pc fans (3-4 of them) and can hook up many more with that one power supply.

I use an auto topper and have not had much of an issue with pH fluxuations so hope it won't be to much of an issue for you.
Going from 78 to 71 is a great decrease all from adding a fan to the res. you got to love it

Safe growing
~raygun~

 

[phattybudz]

Well... I appreciate all the input guys. I decided to be poor for a little while and shelled out for the 1/10hp water chiller. Problem solved.

 

[upgradeshafted]

i use waterfarms because i dont need a chiller with them...i can only assume your recerc pump is heating up the water...why not run them independantly like i do

 

[Huggie bear]

Did you ever look in to a different pump? you may have been able to solve you problem with a better pump like a maxi-jet or rio pump. less wattage better pumping volume. I had a fish tank that doing that in dropped the over all temp of the water by 5 degrees at least.
that would have been way cheaper

 

[phattybudz]

Nope, but I'm pretty sure it would have hit 80+ in the summer, so it might be 75 with a cooler pump then, still not optimal. This way I can upgrade to more buckets in the future without having to worry about the temp also.