Summer beverage cooler - DWC (RECOMMENDED)

Hello all,
I have recently been experimenting with a beer/beach cooler DWC. And in my experience i have had wonderful results!
1. by using a cooler you dramatically reduce your input heat from you system. I run FLORO's (FML) and they make a good amount of heat with about 210 watt give or take. and sometimes in summer it forces my res temp up to 78 ish. Which is bullshit! with tubs and buckets. So i got a Cooler from walmart, made a bit of a cover for it with a cardboard box, drilled a couple holes for air stones and a net pot ( not more net pots make it not so thermaly efficient ). And in the end i can keep my res temperature real steady. ( note that my air intake is outside of my room ( so not to warm the water with air) )

2. coolers are already designed to deal with water and light! so no need block light! but i still like to make a little hat on top so that the light gets reflected back to the plants, and just cause... sometimes stuff is built shitty these days.

3. If my temps go over, i simply put a single ice cube in and my temps are good for 30-50 hours of similar outside weather.

4. This is a great way to grow outdoor hydroponic as the sun is not such an issue ( but keep and eye on temps! )

happy growing!

i grow strawberries hydroponicaly!

lots of people are growing in coolers. growing outside where i live would require a chiller, no amount of ice cubes in a cooler would last long enough. i would have to constantly add lots of ice.

i would like to see your strawberries set up though.....Loola

loolagigi said:

i would like to see your strawberries set up though.....Loola

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bet he is just paranoic after that last hit =D

Also one thing you can do is use styrafoam board instead of cardboard, to help with temps more. I got a couple pieces of 3/4 inch ( small selection) and put 3 together for the pots to sit in and it works pretty good, just cut to size and tape together.