Hey Boom,
Thought I'd post my Work In Progress. My water temps have been steady at 74-75 so I needed to get moving on a plan because the roots are starting to brown up. Here's the results.
I have exactly 18" of depth in my cabinet and my reservoir is 16". I went to Lowe's and purchased 1" rigid foam insulation. I cut the foam to fit around my reservoir and built a custom lid. What is nice about the lid is that it is now completely flat to let the net pots come closer to the edges spreading them out more. The reservoir on the bottom is what is inside the new cooler on the top so you get some perspective.
The night I built this got too late and I needed to get my ladies put to bed and get to sleep myself. Today, I plan on building another one, taping them both up with Aluminum tape and then spray paint the inside black.
The result? The first night in, I dropped in an 8 oz. frozen water bottle. Then next morning, temps were at 65.9 and the bottle was thawed. I pulled it out and haven't had to add another bottle in 4 days...temps are at 67.8. And that's with no tape yet and lots of leaks.
Structure is provided by toothpicks acting as dowels so the sides and bottom won't slip at the joints. I used skinny pieces for the underside of the lid to form a rim so the lid fits tightly. Again using toothpicks to hold it in place and the Aluminum tape keeping it together.
Comments welcome. I'll try and remember to post the finished deal.
peace
