I'm planning on possibly upgrading my DWC system to recirculating when my current grow is finished and have a few questions.
Congrats. Having the additional volume will take a little more work but I believe it's worth it. I grow in a DWC sytem but it's a large res that holds 26 gallons of nutes so it's got the additional volume of nutes that you'll have.
I'd like to reuse anything I have now if possible. I have a cooler I want to use as the reservoir. Are there any pros or cons to having an insulated reservoir?
Per the picture above, my res is just a fiberglass tub and it's not insulated. I've thought about adding insulation and chosen not to because having a "big bucket" of cold water helps keep temps down and, in my environment (a garage in Southern California) it's better to have a cooler temp in the tent that allowing heat to build up.
The big driver for that is to keep the tops of the flowers <=78°F. According to Mitch Westmoreland, PhD student under Bruce Bugbee, that's the highest you want to have your flower tops after week 2 of flower. He mentioned that in a YTY video about three years ago and released two videos this year in which he shared the results of his research (I highly recommend them).
But that's what works in my setup because it tends to be warm/hot. If you're in a cool environment, you might want to add insulation.
I'll be buying a chiller and my next question involves changing the nutes. The fresh solution will be warm so does it go into the res and then pumped through the chiller and then into the buckets? Will the chiller be able to bring the temp down the from say 74 to 67 to not shock the roots?
Not an issue. Roots are very hardy - "shock" isn't something that I'd think you could do to a root. It's designed to anchor a plant so, even though they're porous, they're also fibrous and very strong.
My nutes go in the res at, say, 75° or maybe a little higher and res temp is down to 68° in 4 or 5 hours. The manual for your chiller should have a graph that illustrates the cooling values of the chiller.
Since there's a lot of water involved, I use two 25' flex style hoses and a 330 GPH Trupow sump pump. It takes about 5 minutes to empty the 16 gallon res. I mix nutes in a plastic 32 gallon "Brute" trash can, using a canoe paddle to stir the nutes. I use Jacks 3-2-1 which is a dry fert.
I want and can afford to buy a good quality chiller. Any recommendations for brands and size for a 30 gal two bucket system?
I appreciate any advice and comments.
My res holds 26 gallons and I have a 1/10 hp Active Aqua chiller. I bought it in 2017, used if for one grow and archived everything, and then have used it for at least half a dozen grows since early 2021. I've had no issues and would buy the same model it this one failed.
I'd be interested learning about your setup. I'm toying with the idea of getting a system from PA Hydro, two 13 gallon buckets plus an external 13 gallon bucket.
