Anyone using 48qt coolers for DWC tanks?

Back years ago I started out using 5 gallon buckets for DWC and while it worked, I wanted something different. I ended up using 48 qt. marine coolers, I'd remove the top and use sheets of 1" compressed foam insulation board with the metal backer film on one side glued together for the new top. I'd stack two together and have one fit inside the cooler lip and the top one extending out to the edge of the cooler. I'd cut a few holes for my net pots to slip into snugly, plus a flap to access the water and holes for the water pump and air bubbler lines.

This insulated tank really helped maintain water temps and even though my water would get close to 80 degrees in the summer sometimes in TX I never once had any problems with root rot, etc.

Kinda wondering if there's a better solution out there these days than using a few coolers.

Is the issue that you are trying to find a better way to keep res temps down? You can use a water chiller, but a lot of the chillers are hit or miss. Maybe put in a window A/C for that room. With just A/C I keep my res temps at 70F in the summer. Texas obviously is hotter so an A/C with a higher BTU would be best. You could run the A/C full blast, but have a controller to shut it off when it reaches the min desired temp and kick on once it reaches the max allowable temp or try to find a sweet spot with the A/C knob, but the position will change as the weather does.

Just add the R part to DWC put the res in a cooler spot.Have twice as much water outside then in.

Drop frozen water bottles in the res.....you will have to do it often but it does work. I never ran coolers on my dwc grows but I rarely ever hit temps higher then 72ish in my res. I used to insulate the outside of my buckets with reflective material in layers.

MrMarshall said:

80 degrees in the summer sometimes in TX

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Well I'm here with ya...the Hot TX Dessert
I'm I'm using just as the man says..AC
I use a Portable AC in my Tent...62-72
and I drop Ice packs every 4 hours in my Reservoir to keep temps at 69-70 degrees
I have a cheap Aquarium chiller that slows cools -2 degrees and helps keep the Ice Packs from defrosting as fast

I'm investing in a 1 HP? from what I have learned that I need to alleviate the need of dropping Ice Packs and it will keep up with the 400 GP Water Pump

Thanks for the replies guys. Not really sure that the main reason was to cool the water but that certainly was part of the plan. I guess I liked the idea of having 12 gallons of chemistry in one tank. I also liked having the coolers raised on a 4x4 so I could drain the tanks when needed.

When I was growing in TX I had a walk in closet and had a grow tent in there. I did vent the tent through the ceiling into the attic and had an inline fan and carbon filter. It didn't stay super cool in there as there was no AC vent in the closet.

Now I live down on the Gulf Coast, kinda the opposite climate north TX was, here, its quite humid and much milder temps. So I'm guessing I'll have to tweak my methods as I get going again. I'm going to set this grow up in a large metal shop I have in the backyard. I'm going to frame in a room in there for a music studio and have a closet in there for the grow tent and I'll be adding a small AC to keep all the damn humidity out of there.

I thought about RDWC in Tx but didn't want all the plumbing headaches and that's really one of the reasons I went to the 48qt coolers, I figured that my nutes would be more stable with the larger capacity and I believe I was right.