hey got a 5x5 double walled room (plastic walls/interior panda plastic). I have a 1000w MH 6in cool tube, reduced to 4in that runs to a 190cfm exhaust fan w filter. I have two 4in vents and one 4x6in vent in the walls low to pull in air past my buckets. I have four 5gal buckets running a lil less then 4gal. my temp is about mid to high eighties and I am having constant root and nutrient problems. some of this is contributed to PPM control which im getting figured out. but I have a feeling water/room temp is a big part as well. any helpful advice is appreciated but specifically what can I do to regulate water temp? don't have the money for a chiller, don't want to use ice, and not sure if using a submersible pump in ea. bucket to crate like a waterfall in the buckets would regulate temp enough or just heat up the water more? Help please.
Help! Im at the end of the road. (water cooling and temp problems)
- Thread starter NvrQuit
- Start date
chuck estevez
Well-Known Member
reducing your duct from 6 to 4 is causing a pressure build up in your duct line, with the filter, you aren't getting the best airflow over your light. make it a 6 in complete run as straight as possible.
Red1966
Well-Known Member
A 4 inch fan isn't enough to deal with the heat of 1000w. Get a 6 inch centrifugal. Are these bubble buckets? Use a really long hose from the air pump to allow the air to cool down. A pump in each bucket would add more heat. Placing reflective film on top of the buckets will help.
i had the same problem,get your self a chiiler , you'll try to get them water temp down, and sucseed a bit but it wont be enough, your water temp will be very close to the room temp unless you get a chillie,,frozen bottles are very temporary, and a bit of h2o2 ( hyrdogen peroxide) will fix the slimmy root problem again tempary until you get a chiller,,,there's no other way unless you can get the room temp to 16-17 celcuis , which you don't the water will folow you room temp,,chiller chiller chiller chiller,,,,,,if moneys a problem goggle redneck chillers , or ask on the forum , ok ,, yourfighting a losing battle there mate,,unless some tells me different but i doubt it ok,,good luck
chuck estevez
Well-Known Member
red neck chiller 101 there well done,,,,aquirum and hydroponics often walk side by side,,,
if you were to do it like that id recommend as much hose as you can get in the fridge, don't scimp on the hose,,,i made the same thing for my air bubble tube , coiled l tube in a plastic bottle with frozen water in and it cooled the air to to water but it wasn't good enoght, but it worked,,,,,good luck,,, also if its space you bothered about you can get smaller fridges but remember to pack them full of hose,,,
Question. Would this essentially be the same if instead of hooking to water pump it was hooked to the air pump instead? I guess what I'm saying is I don't get how this could work with a 5 gal bucket setup with no resivior. Unless I could use it to cool the air getting to the buckets.
may be but youd have to use as much air line as possible , and don't get the thick stuff, but yeah i suppose it would work,,,get lots of air tube,put the fridge on lowest setting and maybe pack with ice , or even use a freezer instead of fridge??
Swiller
Well-Known Member
The growth rates on hydro are awesome, the reality of my high temperatures year round taught me to use organic soil. Power cuts and losses can also be a killer to hydro systems.
Wanna keep the hydro? Try and remove the reservoir being used outside the grow room. Replace the lighting system with LED to cut temperature. Go check the charts and see what the oxygen levels are in 80 degree water, it's not good.
Wanna keep the hydro? Try and remove the reservoir being used outside the grow room. Replace the lighting system with LED to cut temperature. Go check the charts and see what the oxygen levels are in 80 degree water, it's not good.
two2brains
Well-Known Member
Go look at my thread "abominable chiller" in the hydroponics/areoponics forum. Its on the first page right now. For $300(everything new) you can build that. Was running 1 hour on 5 off but had to move it back to 45 min on cause water was dropping into the 50's. May actually have to go to 30 min on 5.5 hours off. Shes a beast.
SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
I run dwc and use no chiller. Instead I find it more cost effective and simpler to use a benificial bacteria tea. Good bacteria eating the bad ones works well and plants thrive.
could you tell more about this bacteria,,where do i get it , how much is it , when to use, what my water temps should be, any problems with it i should look for,, in wanting to get more bubblers so this method would be perfect,,thanks
two2brains
Well-Known Member
How much is the cost? Cost me $5.58 a month to run the chiller
SnapsProvolone
Well-Known Member
How did you quantify this usage, kill a watt? Seems low, but I'm not used to smaller ops.
Probably about the same monthly cost, but sans the expense and complication of the chiller.
I've done both, was a chiller guy only for well over 10 years but a round of testing benificial bacteria provided increased growth rates due to higher nutrient temperatures and related metabolic rates.
Note, expense of a real solid chiller for larger operations.
I've been running Orca liquid, a few ml in a 5 gallon bucket of ro with a tablespoon of organic brown sugar, brewed with an airstone for 48 - 72 hours and included in every weekly reservoir change. A bottle of orca becomes thousands of gallons of orca with brewing.
RetiredMatthebrute
Well-Known Member
fan too small, the DIY chiller is a nice idea and would work good but if you arent running a RDWC system may be a pain in the ass, like someone else said some reflective tape on the buckets would work a little bit otherwise you just need to get a better fan and bring cooler air into the room and make sure the buckets are reflecting light not absorbing it as it turns into hear when absorbed, if buckets are black, black absorbs all light thus creates more heat.
two2brains
Well-Known Member
Yes kilowatt. Chiller only runs 2 hours a day.
rob333
Well-Known Member
how hot we talking man last dwc grow i did i thought my chiller was working in fact the temps sat on about 34c rez temps with lights on and about 23c with light off beside tiny little bit of heat stress and some airy buds wich was fixed with budxl it came out awsome