O nice info pop i will need to go back and look at your post, i want to see your setup with the DIY chiller, also how you insulated. I used reflextix on my dwc buckets, its effective but not great. For example, if i was to do a bucket change my water temp is 68f. if my grow room was say 80f. In a 24 hour period them temps in the bucket will easly raise to about 78f. So i have to keep my room at 73f
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Currently, I'm not running a chiller, though I plant to build one again. O 'm usung frozen bottles. a s liter drops the res temp to about 64F from 70F and it will stay that way for maybe 30 hours with a ROOM TEMP OF 75.I had a free dehumidifier but it was a dud lol.
Insulation. I used just cheap, foil faced 1" foam fitted to the outside of my tote. A 4'x8' sheet cost about $14.00 I once insulated a bucket by placing it in a box and surrounding it with packing peanuts. You could get a cheap roll of 3 1/2" fiberglass insulation and wrap it with that. Used that in my hotwater heater and it now only comes on if I draw water. it stays hot without drawing more power for many hours.
Nice pop, i to have thought about wrapping my hot water heater, but i need to really replace it first, so thats on my todo list, i should have it replaced in the next 4 months. Then i will wrap it.
SORRY TO OP! i didn't mean to hijacking your thread!
SORRY TO OP! i didn't mean to hijacking your thread!
http://m.ebay.com/itm/DWC-Kit-AquaBuckets-Deep-water-Hydroponic-system-/120673632763
So you want your water in the low 60 deg f range? My res will be sitting on a cool concrete floor and I can put it next to the cement wall away from the led lights as well.
Whats the lowest ideal temp for the overall room for the plants to be successfully. Cause my room is cool, It would be nice not to have to heat to 77 deg f. Like say maybe 73-75 range would run less watts. I have a dehumidifier in the garage tucked away so if need be I wil follow that DIY chiller and save some cash.
Also I have no idea really how to do a res change on my RDWC. The Link above is the one I have, but it's a 4 site system that will either be modified using 1/2 inch pvc plugs for a 2 site system or I will grow some Ghost Peppers in the other 2. Do I just suck the water out with a shop vac? Lol and then replace with RO water phed with nutes. Thats the only way I can think of getting the res changed. Since its gravity fed will sucking the water from the res drain the grow sites as well. Ahh im such a hydro noob.
This thread is going in crazy directions...but what can I say, I got a lot of good questions.
just checked my room its at 64 degrees f with nothing in it.
So you want your water in the low 60 deg f range? My res will be sitting on a cool concrete floor and I can put it next to the cement wall away from the led lights as well.
Whats the lowest ideal temp for the overall room for the plants to be successfully. Cause my room is cool, It would be nice not to have to heat to 77 deg f. Like say maybe 73-75 range would run less watts. I have a dehumidifier in the garage tucked away so if need be I wil follow that DIY chiller and save some cash.
Also I have no idea really how to do a res change on my RDWC. The Link above is the one I have, but it's a 4 site system that will either be modified using 1/2 inch pvc plugs for a 2 site system or I will grow some Ghost Peppers in the other 2. Do I just suck the water out with a shop vac? Lol and then replace with RO water phed with nutes. Thats the only way I can think of getting the res changed. Since its gravity fed will sucking the water from the res drain the grow sites as well. Ahh im such a hydro noob.
This thread is going in crazy directions...but what can I say, I got a lot of good questions.
just checked my room its at 64 degrees f with nothing in it.
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Grey Bear
Confidential Cultivator
Right on target.
I just want to point out the range of optimal temps is pretty big.
I use ice coolers for my rez'
my room temps in the "warm season" avg 84
And "too damned cold for me" in the "cool season".
but your plants can handle swings up into the 90's and dips into the 40's, as long as your avg temps are in the 70's.
No chiller for my rez', frozen 1-2l water bottles to moderate temps in warm season.
submersible aquarium heater for rez in cool season, when needed.
One of the biggest factors for your rez is dissolved oxygen levels. The more DO you have in your solution the less trouble you have. and your plants will show a greater degree of vigor.
You don't want your rez temps much lower than 58 at its lowest nor much higher than 75 at its highest. Ideally, some where in the 60's if you are not using a chiller.
So be sure to have adequate air flow and decent airstones at least 20lpm per rez.
The other factor is air circulation, I lean towards having an almost abusive amount of fan air movement.
My reasons for this are several, but the two most important are that it strengthens branches and discourages mold and insects.
It also tends to moderate the temp a bit more.
My Aqua buckets came with this pump. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Elemental-O...ium-Hydroponics-Aquaponics-Pond-/141120548427 It seems sufficient at 571 GPH, but what do I know. There is another one that is 951 GPH. Which could be something to upgrade to in the future.
My room is at 63 deg F right now O.O but with 2 675w leds Id say the temps maybe push 69 degrees because they do put out some heat, hopefully. Then my intake will be taking in a bit warmer air from outside the room. so that + a big ol oscillating fan should push the temp in the room to just above 70 hopefully. Then my New space heater can take care of the rest of the 5 degrees. It is sealed up tight so whatever heat the space heater produces will be there to stay until it is exhausted. Hopefully having the LEDS wont be a problem and make my space heater work to hard. Or I might have to throw my 400w HPS in the room. I really don't want to do that :X.
Anyone have any advice on res changes and how to go about removing all the water from 5, 5 gallon buckets? O.O
My room is at 63 deg F right now O.O but with 2 675w leds Id say the temps maybe push 69 degrees because they do put out some heat, hopefully. Then my intake will be taking in a bit warmer air from outside the room. so that + a big ol oscillating fan should push the temp in the room to just above 70 hopefully. Then my New space heater can take care of the rest of the 5 degrees. It is sealed up tight so whatever heat the space heater produces will be there to stay until it is exhausted. Hopefully having the LEDS wont be a problem and make my space heater work to hard. Or I might have to throw my 400w HPS in the room. I really don't want to do that :X.
Anyone have any advice on res changes and how to go about removing all the water from 5, 5 gallon buckets? O.O
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Grey Bear
Confidential Cultivator
During the winter My room would get down to as low as 58F with a window fan running ( Kept that 600 watt MH under control...lol ) and often my day temps were often 65-69F. didn't seem to bother much and IF IT did it was ok with me! She hit 43" tall tall plus the res high, I was running out of height!
I use a 200 GPH pump. Adapted a 1/2" PVC to threaded hose adapter to the pump outlet. I drop a 3/4" tubing into the res and connect it to the input of the pump. It would also work of you have a sight level hose on the side of one bucket, you can hook up to that and pump it out. I use a second res for water tempering ( O use tap water ). I fill my bathtub with water, let it sit over night then pump ot into thr tempering res. I pump out my res, then PH and mix the nutes in the tempering res. then pump it into the res. Sounds like a lot but its not , and it beats the hell out of carrying 50+ gallons of water with a bucket! I’ll try to post pics of my stuff, in my Mephisto Test Grow thread later.
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