Aquarium Ice Probe Chiller How many for a 14 gal tote????
- Thread starter oojuanky
- Start date
It would depend on your starting temp although my personal though would be buy 1 and you can always get a second if needed and if you dont need the second you save some cash . I linked the manufacturers website with product info and there approximate temperature drops .
http://www.novatecproducts.com/more_about_ipac1.htm
neverdullboy
Active Member
Insulation is the key with these, but one should be plenty! Head off to Home Depot, or Blowes, and pick up a small roll of insulation, and a roll of reflectix (The chrome looking bubble wrap.) Get a roll of METAL duct tape. That stuff sticks to everything, for better or worse. Wrap with insulation, then a layer of reflectix. Secure with tape. Make a removable piece of double layer reflectix for the lid (Or much better, 1" foam board) with cutouts for your netpot (s). Get a cheapo digital thermometer for the water ($12 at Petco). No light leaks. Period. You should be more than set then. I kept my 4 bucket waterfarm setup, with res, at 70 or less with one iceprobe, and poor insulation, in a room that got to 80F, lights on, under 1200w. Do not expect instant results. These are very small units, and will take hours to draw down warm water. At res change time, cool your water before swapping it out, with ice bottles, if you can. Makes the Iceprobes life easier. Be careful not to let it get too cold!!! A cheap alternative to the thermostat they sell, is a $5 mechanical timer, from Blowes. Play with off/on times, until you stay 63-68F. These units work great, within their limits. I think most people fail to insulate, and give these units a bad rep. A small fan blowing on the pwer supply will help make it live longer. If it fails, you can modify a pc power supply to run these, for about $5. Happy trails, hope that helps!
Thank you! But what lights are you using also what size space are you growing in?
I'm growing in a closet cabinet that measures 5'6H x3'Lx 19"W the temp with lights out stays @ 74-78 with lights on 89-94 using a 400w mh light.
I was thinking of growing with cfls or t5 what do you think???
I'm growing in a closet cabinet that measures 5'6H x3'Lx 19"W the temp with lights out stays @ 74-78 with lights on 89-94 using a 400w mh light.
I was thinking of growing with cfls or t5 what do you think???
neverdullboy
Active Member
89-94? Ugh. That's not good. Sounds like you need airflow, bigtime. Is your reflector enclosed, and vented out of the closet? Can you set up a small A/C unit? Extraction fan, with or without carbon scrubber? CFL's are no magic bullet, as they are self-ballasted, and they do get hot!! Pile up enough to do the job, and you'd be better off with HID, in my view. My best advice, if you are on a budget, is to skip the hydro, saving the money on the iceprobe for an air cooled reflector, and cheapo walmart window a/c unit. Stick 'em in dirt, or Coco, and get the temps <80. Cool water or not, not much is gonna grow in there except Catus, in the 90's...
neverdullboy
Active Member
OK, disregard part of my last post. I just checked out your other thread, and looked at the pics of your cab. You can run DWC in that, if you insulate your res, get enough airflow, and an air cooled hood. It's the same as my old veg cab, where I ran a 400MH, and DWC. As long as the room I drew intake air from stayed below 75, my cab never broke 80. Airflow, airflow, airflow. Both through the light, and cab. I'd look up Stanley blower mod. (google it, and you can read for hours) Those suckers are powerful, and $40-50. You would likely be dissapointed in the inline duct fan you were looking at. They just don't move much air when you put a load on them.
well i have no reflector hood i just mounted the bulb on a bracket with reflective mylar. For intake i'm using 4 120mm computer fans, 6" inline duct fan 160cfm free air flow 250cfm booster flow and for exhaust i'm using one of those bathroom fans placed right next to the light where the heats @. i could try switching the 6" inline for exhaust and the other one for intake.. or add another. But i dont wanna grow in soil anymore plus i already bought everything i need so the only way to stop is to keep on goin lol . I was just thinking of throwing two 200w cfls 6400k /2700k i know that the temps should drop to at least 79-82.. and as for getting a window a/c wont work for me cuz of the space. What else can i try???
