Cooling Water with Ice Bottles

Ok, I have read many threads on a chiller, etc... I don't have the money for a chiller, etc at the moment. So, I came across this conversion calculator for ice to water for temp reduction.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/cice.html

Lets say my water temp is 90 and I want it at 70. This calculator is telling me, I would need roughly 14-16oz of ice (once fully melted) to make that drop for a gallon of water.

So, making this general observation; my questions are:

(1) Would it be ok, if I sterilize the outside of the plastic bottle before I put it into my rez tank. Maybe with Peroxide solution, etc.

(2) Would anyone know the approximate calculation for how long it would take that gallon of water to completely melt the ice in the bottle and before the temp reverses and starts to incline?

This could be a quick fix until I get the funds for a chiller.

PS. I have spent a boat load on the system I will have in place and waiting for more greenbacks$$$ before I add to my system. I just need serious replies with honorable suggestions. Please don't reply if you are not 100% sure of your suggestions.

Thanks a million,
GreenBack$420

without a chiller your not going to get 20 degree sustainable drops. you would literally be changing out your bottles every half hour MAX! if you can get your temps down to 80ish by adding a fan to exhaust your room pick up some stuff called dutch master ZONE! this stuff prevents root problems at damn near 80 degrees it also help with nutrient uptake due to the higher temps. If you can get your room cooled down to 80ish a 2 liter bottle of ice would need to be changed roughly 1 to 2 times during your lights on period. your temps should lower considerably without you lghts on. hope this helps a little bit. the zone is roughly 25 bucks for a liter and a liter last me a whole cycle on 3 systems. all 3 of my systems have 30 gallon rezs that get changed weekly. its like a 5ml to 5 gallon ratio.

If your water temperature is 90 degrees that means your grow room is this hot or hotter as well. No point going to all the effort of bringing water temp down if the grow room still gonna be stifling. Might be better to be saving towards better ventilation, AC or such.

the area is going to be my clone and veg box (roughly 2'Wx3'Lx5'h)(200w CFL). i went ahead and ordered a 4"x12" Carbon filter today. I am going to pick up one of those $100 ac units at walmart and rig into my room. I have not started my system yet, but I have been monitoring my grow box temps/humid and the room. I live in NE Texas and the heat has been a winch.

I am ordering Papaya-FEM from Nirvana Monday, I am sure it will take a couple weeks to receive. I will be running an aero/Ebb&Flow/Spray system of my own design in which I will post my cycle when I get the nuggets.

My Flowers will be in a different environment (5Wx5Lx7H) running 6 : 5-gal bubbleponic: with two 600w HPS shared amongst the 6 plants.

I will get me some of that Dutch Master Zone. Sounds like a win-win situation anyhow. (http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php?products_id=184)

Wish me luck, thanks for the replies, and I am running in the background until I get my nuggets.

Hey DrtyBngWtr,

Does the DM Zone change the TDS/PPM of ur solution at all? Is there concerns for this and how do you allow for these changes if so?

~GreenBack$420

DrtyBngWtr said:

without a chiller your not going to get 20 degree sustainable drops. you would literally be changing out your bottles every half hour MAX! if you can get your temps down to 80ish by adding a fan to exhaust your room pick up some stuff called dutch master ZONE! this stuff prevents root problems at damn near 80 degrees it also help with nutrient uptake due to the higher temps. If you can get your room cooled down to 80ish a 2 liter bottle of ice would need to be changed roughly 1 to 2 times during your lights on period. your temps should lower considerably without you lghts on. hope this helps a little bit. the zone is roughly 25 bucks for a liter and a liter last me a whole cycle on 3 systems. all 3 of my systems have 30 gallon rezs that get changed weekly. its like a 5ml to 5 gallon ratio.

Click to expand...

tip top toker said:

If your water temperature is 90 degrees that means your grow room is this hot or hotter as well. No point going to all the effort of bringing water temp down if the grow room still gonna be stifling. Might be better to be saving towards better ventilation, AC or such.

Click to expand...

Thats why I said he needed to get an exhaust fan!

GreenBack$420 said:

Hey DrtyBngWtr,

Does the DM Zone change the TDS/PPM of ur solution at all? Is there concerns for this and how do you allow for these changes if so?

~GreenBack$420

Click to expand...

Yes it does, but its very minimal. it actually has an NPK ratio of 0.06 - 0.0 - 0.15

I use it with my Humboldt Premium line. You add it to your water let it condition it for a few minutes. then ph your water down if need be. then you add your nutes. like I said its very minimal and I personally dont factor it in.

Mind you I always have a pump calculating water when I do a rez change. nutrients may settle by the time you get them all in. A pump keeps everything constantly moving and mixing.

In my fight to lower temps I came up with this x8 one gal jugs of water froze them and I swap one every
12 hours and at best it lowers it 5f so i came up with a better way I plumbed a pump on the outside of the
Res to run water to a ice box its sold on the advanced nutes website, it has a 6in in and out you hook a fan
To it and it also has a 1/2 in in and out for water to run through a radiator of sorts works great the fan cools
The water and the pump running outside the res isnt going to heat the water.

I too was running high temps in my res...addressed the environment with exhaust fans and a portable AC and now my res temps stay in the 70 degree range when I test. I know it is an expensive fix, but I highly recommend it. I found a heat pump type of AC, Heater, and dehumidifier...14,000 BTU's for a touch under 500 bucks. I live in an un-air conditioned apartment, but the ladies got what they needed.LOL

DrtyBngWtr said:

Yes it does, but its very minimal. it actually has an NPK ratio of 0.06 - 0.0 - 0.15

I use it with my Humboldt Premium line. You add it to your water let it condition it for a few minutes. then ph your water down if need be. then you add your nutes. like I said its very minimal and I personally dont factor it in.

Mind you I always have a pump calculating water when I do a rez change. nutrients may settle by the time you get them all in. A pump keeps everything constantly moving and mixing.

Click to expand...

Circulating not calculating. Probably just a slip.

I caught that, but i knew what he was saying...... Its what we think, not what we type... lol

MasterS said:

Circulating not calculating. Probably just a slip.

Click to expand...

Hey Flow Grow,

Do you have or can you post pics of your setup?

~GreenBack$420

Flo Grow said:

Here's MY set up :

400w Hortilux HPS
2 - 12gal Igloo Marine Coolers w/ 10gal of water/nutes
Cooler lids made of 2 inch thick INSULATED styrofoam wrapped in Aluminum Foil tape w/ four 5 inch net pots in each.
Four 1/2 gal Ocean Spray juice bottles of frozen water with 1lb of fishing weights ( 2 - 8oz ) in each bottle so they stay in the spot I sit them.
I alternate one bottle in each cooler every 12 hours.
My rez temps stay 62F - 66F with my ambient temps being 79F - 82F ALL inside a HomeBox Small tent that's 32" x 32" x 63"

I average 1/2lb DRY with 1 - 3 plants every harvest, depending on the strain.
Longest Veg has been 5 weeks and avg bloom of 8 weeks.
GH FloraMicro and Bloom w/ PBP Cal/Mag in R/O water

Click to expand...

Im trying my best to drop my temps like that using water bottles.

Water bottles are exactly what I use and they work great. I run DWC 4 gal square buckets with FOIL INSULATION completely around them (<---VERY IMPORTANT) and my water temps stay between 60-65F. I only change out 16oz water bottles 2 times per day. My room temp stays at 78F with a cool tube 400w so that helps also. Hope that helps.