The Official Dwc Cooler Club - Any Kind of Cooler Res

i cant wait to join...Soon ill be back..

Hey guys,

I have been gathering up all the items I need for my first grow. I have come to respect the users of this site, and especially this forum. I apologize if this question has been previously answered, but so far I have not found anything. I have 2 48qt igloo marine coolers, and some 6 inch pots. I am thinking 2 pots per cooler for a scrog grow in a 2x4 tent. My only problem is that I live in an apartment, and dont have a jigsaw etc.

I am wondering what people are using to cut the holes in the cooler lids for the net pots? I figure I will try to just run the tubing through the back side of the cooler where it closes, but if that wont work I will be drilling 45 degree holes to run 2 air lines per cooler in through the top. My only obstacle is the net pot holes. My thought as of now is to try a keyhole saw started with a large diameter drill bit, but I feel it may leave to jagged a cut, possibly to be sandpapered after

If anyone has any thoughts or hints it would be greatly appreciated.

Stay Green!

brotoplasm said:

Hey guys,

I have been gathering up all the items I need for my first grow. I have come to respect the users of this site, and especially this forum. I apologize if this question has been previously answered, but so far I have not found anything. I have 2 48qt igloo marine coolers, and some 6 inch pots. I am thinking 2 pots per cooler for a scrog grow in a 2x4 tent. My only problem is that I live in an apartment, and dont have a jigsaw etc.

I am wondering what people are using to cut the holes in the cooler lids for the net pots? I figure I will try to just run the tubing through the back side of the cooler where it closes, but if that wont work I will be drilling 45 degree holes to run 2 air lines per cooler in through the top. My only obstacle is the net pot holes. My thought as of now is to try a keyhole saw started with a large diameter drill bit, but I feel it may leave to jagged a cut, possibly to be sandpapered after

If anyone has any thoughts or hints it would be greatly appreciated.

Stay Green!

Click to expand...

I use a 6" hole saw bought @ blow's for >40$, it leaves a nice clean cut, I found I need to use heavy duty net pots with it, they have a 1/4" lip around the top

I've read some ones experience with a 5" hole saw kit from harbor freight worked with just a little bit of the net pot remaining above the lid

Happy growing~

I opted for the ten dollar hole saw kit from harbor freight. It only goes up to 5 inch though. I have 6 inch netpots in 5 inch holes. Works pretty good but for mysmaller coolers I cut 3 inch holes.

Thank you DbKick and UnderthecurrentDWC. I will have to weigh out the options and figure it out. But good to know a 6 inch can be had for >40. And a 5" at Harbor Freight. Thanks both for the help.

UnderCurrentDWC said:

I use a 6" hole saw bought @ blow's for >40$, it leaves a nice clean cut, I found I need to use heavy duty net pots with it, they have a 1/4" lip around the top

I've read some ones experience with a 5" hole saw kit from harbor freight worked with just a little bit of the net pot remaining above the lid

Happy growing~

Click to expand...

like this, 5 inch hole 6 inch netpot........

I like to keep things neat and I was figuring on putting a cover over the top of the pot, so having seen the picture I'm going to shop around for a cheap 6". Thanks for taking the time to respond.

neat huh? pop a neoprene insert in there and its sealed as well as if it were a 6 inch hole. Personally I prefer 3 inch sites.

Hey all,

I am back with (yet) another question. Hoping some of you will be able to help out, and if it has been asked, I apologize. I have been flipping through pages looking for how you all run your air line into the cooler. I drilled holes in the lid, next to those for the net pots. But my worry is that if I fun the lines through with air stones on the ends, I will have no way to remove the cooler from the tent to change the water out.

I'm sure there is a simple fix to this, but I could use a pointer or two. If the lid has my girls and is locked down with air stones I couldnt even move the lid over to a new cooler while the water was changed. If I drill through the wall of the cooler near the top (trying to avoid this as the cooler looks flimsiest there) I cannot remove the body of the cooler itself from my tent. Any input appreciated and of course...

Happy Growing!

jesus I have no concept of time but that seemed to take for fucking ever. too many words and not enough pics!

I fail to see the question mark btw

to answer (even though there is no question mark) , I drill mine through the back, just below the lid of course.

right then, I read that again and have determined I'm pretty fucked up and should probably run get that cider! BRB!

yo I understand now, don't move the cooler to change the water out, simply get a submersible pump with a length of hose crack the lid just enough to drop the pump in and empty the res, reverse that with a 5 gallon bucket of water or two taken back to the tent.

I wish I would have started off using coolers... I had nothing but root problems in buckets. Recently started changing out buckets for 5 gallon water coolers... The difference is night and day... They are easily 5 degree cooler and of course make the most ice bottles last way longer! Finally in the cooler club!!

I just typically lurk on here my original post is over on grasscity. I have become interested in using a cooler to keep temps down as well. My typical nutrient solution temp was around 80 degrees typically. I never experienced any kind of root rot or anything like that though no slime or anything either. I figured that it would just be more beneficial though as far as dissolved oxygen is concerned for the plants.

I came across this thread and I have read it from start to finish and it was quite interesting to read. I understand that a lot of people like to keep it simple and others like to make things more elaborate. I am a person that likes function. I see a lot of people trying to hook there coolers up to a rez or in series with other coolers so that they don't have to check each individual container for nutes and topping off etc. I never really saw a reply that rocked a very good answer. I saw some bashing and name calling, also some people willing to listen as well but no definitive "how to or diy" on the subject.

I went looking and found that the home brewers kind of like the diy stuff as well. Its funny how hobbies and interests can intertwine. I am not the one who did or came up with these methods but I am sure they can be used or changed to fit the needs of the cooler people on this thread. Take a look, I think alot of the metal could be changed out for plastic rubber or pvc parts.


Here is a link to this persons diy.
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/cheap-easy-10-gallon-rubbermaid-mlt-conversion-23008/

Here is one from instructables

Here is the link to the instructable as well.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-wort-chiller-for-homebrewing/step1/Installing-the-ball-valve-on-a-cooler/

Hope this helps some one out. I have not moved over from my 5 gallon buckets yet but will be doing so in the near future. I have a thread of my own going on grasscity if anyone would like to check out my grow room. Its definitely tiny compared to alot of these other ones.
http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-grow-journals/1055157-lowds-foray-into-grow-world-first-indoor-rdwc-grow.html

Thanks for some inspiration.

I have a submersible pump that I've placed into my tote-sized, 3-basket DWC hybrid system that I am testing.The idea is to use the pump for a continuous top-feed drip through my baskets while still providing a water medium to grow into underneath. It's sort of the best of both worlds I guess.

This approach worked wonderfully when I combined a HydroFarms bucket kit (air-powered top-drip) with an airstone in a 5-gal bucket. I was shocked, honestly, at how fast and lush my little girls grew. I was so impressed, I wanted to do 3 plants in one large res rather than muck with multiple buckets. But that required more top-flow than my small air pump could provide... so I figured I'd try a submersible pump + airstones this time around.

The problem, however, is that the pump heats up my nutrient rather quickly. The container I use holds 12 gallons, but I probably have about 5-gals filled. You can feel the heat on the container. I'd rather avoid using frozen water bottles to cool this thing just for the sake of using a pump.

I suspect that using a cooler as many of you do in this thread will only exacerbate the pump heat problem by trapping it in.

Does anyone have any suggestions for either isolating the pump heat or keeping the nute cool? If my tests continue to run this warm I'm going to have to scrap the pump idea altogether.

Maybe the answer is that I should just get a larger air pump and go back to pushing the liquid up with air pressure?

Thoughts or suggestions are welcome. Thank you!

Hi. Try to get a water pump outside the rez. For example, this is one system that I build two days ago, you can see the pump being out in the open. This way it doesn't heat up the water as much as when it's inside the tank.





Hope that'll give you an idea.

Thanks! I didn't even realize my pump had a threaded intake. I'm going to give that a shot.