Idea for keeping reservoir temps cool

Yeah whoops forgot to specify I guess. I agree, a chiller is probably overkill for something smaller, ~400w or less. Depends how you look at it, oz of prevention is worth a lb of cure. I personally think the $100 for a DIY chiller is worth the saved risks that come with high temps, and cost of those issues when they inevitably arise. But I also think watercooled rooms are excessive for something less than probably 4-5000w, and definitely a world apart from just cooling the res. Its not such a big deal when you're looking at a $10k+ setup to add another couple grand for a more efficient cooling system thatll pay itself back over time, but a $500 setup cant really justify at least triple that for JUST temp control, when you can easily get a fan to pull that amount of heat away.

Just wanted to get some advise please check out the video using floragro, florablend, floramicro, flora bloom, bloombastic, hygrozyme, rapid start. Been flowering for 3 weeks also let me no if any more nutrient needed. Using 600 wat hps. In a grow tent.
Thank you, http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NKN-mrMfBkc

It looking good but its not a good idea to hijack a thread. Start your own. It might take a little for us to get to it but we will

Perfect Rez temp is about 66F. If your rez is any warmer you are not seeing the potential of your roots. Chillers are not that expensive IMO.

Is copper a bad thing to use as a heat exchager? I shut my stuff down in the warm weather but if I do come across a cheap used water cooler I may try and see if it can be used for a small res. and does a small chiller not just add more heat to room unless remotely piped?

I personally think the $100 for a DIY chiller is worth the saved risks that come with high temps, and cost of those issues when they inevitably arise.

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Am I missing somthing here? How do you build a chiller for under a $100? Also has anyone tried a damp wool blanket wrap around the res.? Just asking....lol!!!

do not use any metal other than stainless steel if it will be in contact with nutrients.

waterdawg said:

Is copper a bad thing to use as a heat exchager? I shut my stuff down in the warm weather but if I do come across a cheap used water cooler I may try and see if it can be used for a small res. and does a small chiller not just add more heat to room unless remotely piped?

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Cooper is a great conductor. Run your antifreeze thur it and cool a tank with just water. From there use a pump with stainless steel tube. To cool res. Copper should never come in contact with nutes or res tank.

waterdawg said:

Am I missing somthing here? How do you build a chiller for under a $100? Also has anyone tried a damp wool blanket wrap around the res.? Just asking....lol!!!

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Buy a used dehumidifier (got mine almost new for $50), $8 water pump, and a $40-50 ss wort chiller. Pull the evaporative cooling coils/radiator out of the dehu unit, place it into a plain water reservoir. Pump nutrient solution through the wort chiller in the cooled res and back. Put the dehu on a timer or thermostat.

facestabber said:

Perfect Rez temp is about 66F. If your rez is any warmer you are not seeing the potential of your roots. Chillers are not that expensive IMO.

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I think you meant 86 . If your res is any cooler, you're getting less than optimal growth. With the benefit of not having bacteria outbreaks every other day of course, but still not optimal growth.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/73/1/46.abstract

Guess we are at a different res temp discussion now. I do best when res is 75-78. 86 is way to high and 68 is way to low. But that's me.

strongly disagree. and seen the difference with my eyes to tell you, that is wrong.

To each is his own. I did say that is what works best for me. I want me room at 85 and water at 75 or lower. No way would I let water be hotter then abiant temp of the room. This is hydro after all. High water temps means bacteria. Even 75-80 I'm risking it

mike91sr said:

I think you meant 86 . If your res is any cooler, you're getting less than optimal growth. With the benefit of not having bacteria outbreaks every other day of course, but still not optimal growth.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/content/73/1/46.abstract

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Rez temp Mike, and that link is for tomato seedlings. Cool info though.

Root zone temp IS res temp. Unless you keep your roots somewhere else lol. And if you can find me some peer-reviewed studies on cannabis, I'd be glad to check em out. But tomatoes are one of the closest species to it, and they are widely studied, so any findings for a tomato plant generally also applies to cannabis.

For the record, I'm not telling anyone to go run their res at 86 degrees. I keep mine 70-72, anything above that and it starts to smell kinda funky after a few days, and I assume I'm just waiting for a problem to arise if I keep it like that. So I maintain what is IME a 'safe' temperature. It should just be understood that growth rate is better in higher temperature zones.

warlock, my post was meant to be above yours, wasnt going out to you. sorry.

mike91sr said:

Root zone temp IS res temp. Unless you keep your roots somewhere else lol. And if you can find me some peer-reviewed studies on cannabis, I'd be glad to check em out. But tomatoes are one of the closest species to it, and they are widely studied, so any findings for a tomato plant generally also applies to cannabis.

For the record, I'm not telling anyone to go run their res at 86 degrees. I keep mine 70-72, anything above that and it starts to smell kinda funky after a few days, and I assume I'm just waiting for a problem to arise if I keep it like that. So I maintain what is IME a 'safe' temperature. It should just be understood that growth rate is better in higher temperature zones.

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Nope, don't keep my roots in my rez......lol. At 86F there is almost ZERO dissolved oxygen in water. Cannabis roots would most certainly die if submerged in 86F water for long.
BTW, NO ONE makes roots thrive better than me, it's my "thing".

superstoner1 said:

warlock, my post was meant to be above yours, wasnt going out to you. sorry.

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Well it fit both post. Lol. And no need to apologize even if it was to me. Opinions are great.

facestabber, thats my thing, also. we need some root porn.

superstoner1 said:

facestabber, thats my thing, also. we need some root porn.

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Yeah boyeeee!!!! I love pics

I have a chiller and have experimented with a range of rez. temps from 74F to 64F and had successful harvests every time. However, the best results were at lower temps. Roots love oxygen above all else and cool water is full of it. Keep in mind that I run flood and drain so my average ROOT ZONE temp is different than my REZ temp. When I ran a DWC system I had my best results at about 70F. Would literally have 6ft long roots on 2ft tall plants.