Finding the perfect chiller, or not?

[AspenCultivator]

Hey all, I've got a two bucket undercurrent RDWC system (control/res bucket outside the tent, and a plant site bucket inside) with an inline water pump bringing the solution from the plant bucket into the res bucket. I've having trouble with res temps, which were steadily at 81 degrees since I started. I've been able to get 2 degrees by wrapping my tent bucket and all piping in reflective insulation. So I'm running at around 79F water temps.

I'm willing to buy one of these two chillers, but I keep reading that for 7 gallons of total liquid, this may be overkill. I bought an Iceprobe last night, but cancelled the sale when I realized I may only get a few degrees with that, and decided to go for a big unit. The problem is, there's literally nothing between the Iceprobe and a 1/10 unit for around $300. I know there's a 1/15 on Amazon, but it's $444, which is too much for me.

I'm also reading that Hydroguard can be used and I don't need to worry too much about water temp. Then I'm reading about dissolved oxygen, and I do need to worry about water temp. Right now, I have a brown sludge forming on the roots that are exposed to air. The inch spacing between my water level and the bottom of the net pot is forming a brown material on it, so I want to act fast, but I don't know which direction to go. I appreciate any help anyone can provide!

Hydrofarm Active Aqua Chiller

Active Aqua AACH10HP Water Chiller

 

[Mr. Krip]

Hey all, I've got a two bucket undercurrent RDWC system (control/res bucket outside the tent, and a plant site bucket inside) with an inline water pump bringing the solution from the plant bucket into the res bucket. I've having trouble with res temps, which were steadily at 81 degrees since I started. I've been able to get 2 degrees by wrapping my tent bucket and all piping in reflective insulation. So I'm running at around 79F water temps.

I'm willing to buy one of these two chillers, but I keep reading that for 7 gallons of total liquid, this may be overkill. I bought an Iceprobe last night, but cancelled the sale when I realized I may only get a few degrees with that, and decided to go for a big unit. The problem is, there's literally nothing between the Iceprobe and a 1/10 unit for around $300. I know there's a 1/15 on Amazon, but it's $444, which is too much for me.

I'm also reading that Hydroguard can be used and I don't need to worry too much about water temp. Then I'm reading about dissolved oxygen, and I do need to worry about water temp. Right now, I have a brown sludge forming on the roots that are exposed to air. The inch spacing between my water level and the bottom of the net pot is forming a brown material on it, so I want to act fast, but I don't know which direction to go. I appreciate any help anyone can provide!

OK, before you buy a chiller, here are some things you may be able to do to get you by without one:

1) What is the room temp and your ventilation setup like? Any chance of lowering the room temps, providing better exhaust, or, since it is winter, can you get some cold air into the room/tent?

2) In addition to Hydroguard (which I never used, personally, but hear good things about!) I HIGHLY recommend Dutch Masters' Zone product. It will help keep the roots healthy and, I believe, has a copper-based fungicide. Additionally, it can be used with H2O2 which will help keep the res free of bacteria.

3) Don't run any organic nutes! Use all salt-based nutrients, which can also be used in conjunction with H2O2. The organics can grow slime in the res.

4) Add airstones to the buckets to increase dissolved Oxygen

5) If it wasn't obvious from #2 and #3, use some H2O2 in the res!

6) During very hot periods, I used to add frozen water bottles to the res. I'd keep a few and swap them out as needed. It's a little bit of a PITA but will get you by if temps get too high.

If you can get your res temps down just a little bit, with those extra steps, you should be fine! My res's (I did hydro for 8 years, now running soil) used to regularly run above 75*F without issues!

Let us know how it works out!

 

[Mr. Krip]

BTW...one more suggestion....

You said you run the pumps inside the plant buckets. Those inline pumps generate a good amount of heat. If there's any way to reconfigure so the pump is in the main res, outside of the tent, it will also help with your temps!

 

[AspenCultivator]

1) What is the room temp and your ventilation setup like? Any chance of lowering the room temps, providing better exhaust, or, since it is winter, can you get some cold air into the room/tent?

It's a 27"x27"x63" Mars Hydro tent. One plant. Lasko 5-speed tower fan and a 4" Inline fan/carbon filter. Average 73F low and 80F high (lights off vs lights on). I haven't measured the res at lights off, so "maybe" the res temp sways towards 73F on lights off? I'll try and measure it just as lights come on. The inline fan is on the light timer, so it's off when the lights are off. There's a speed controller as well, and it's on low.

3) Don't run any organic nutes! Use all salt-based nutrients, which can also be used in conjunction with H2O2. The organics can grow slime in the res.

I tried googling, and I feel like I'm fairly intelligent...but I couldn't really determine if General Hydro's Flora Series nutes were organic or not? I'd assume they aren't, but I'm not sure.

4) Add airstones to the buckets to increase dissolved Oxygen

I have one in the plant site, and can add another if I remove the drip ring. My roots are in the water now, so I don't need the drip ring, right? If that's the case I can add another air line and 4" air stone.

Thank you so much for the reply!! @Pennywise suggested using Z7 Enzyme Cleanser so I just ordered some of that and am going to give that a shot. I took a look at the Zone product, is it similar to the Z7? "Enhances root growth", but I didn't quite see the explanation on 'how' it does that, so I could compare it to Z7.

 

[Pennywise]

Z7 feeds on the microbes in the water. I’m guessing it wouldn’t work well with Organics.

 

[AspenCultivator]

BTW...one more suggestion....

You said you run the pumps inside the plant buckets. Those inline pumps generate a good amount of heat. If there's any way to reconfigure so the pump is in the main res, outside of the tent, it will also help with your temps!

Pump is outside of the buckets, it's inline and not submerged. I've added a pic to clarify.

20181225_174519.jpg

• AspenCultivator
• Dec 25, 2018

Pump is on the outside of the tent, and pumps water into the control bucket.

20181210_182514.jpg

• AspenCultivator
• Dec 10, 2018

 

[AspenCultivator]

Found it.

"
Is the Flora Series organic?
Only crops grown from unrefined minerals are recognized as "organic". The trouble is unrefined minerals do not dissolve well for hydroponic use and some of these unrefined minerals contain quantities of impurities, some of which are toxic to plants. For that reason, FloraBloom, FloraGro, and FloraMicro are made from high quality refined minerals. This ensures high quality crop production, but prevents the crop from being considered "organic"."

So, no, I'm not using organic nutrients. I'm using the General Hydroponics Flora Series and Hydroguard.

 

[Mr. Krip]

It's a 27"x27"x63" Mars Hydro tent. One plant. Lasko 5-speed tower fan and a 4" Inline fan/carbon filter. Average 73F low and 80F high (lights off vs lights on). I haven't measured the res at lights off, so "maybe" the res temp sways towards 73F on lights off? I'll try and measure it just as lights come on. The inline fan is on the light timer, so it's off when the lights are off. There's a speed controller as well, and it's on low.



I tried googling, and I feel like I'm fairly intelligent...but I couldn't really determine if General Hydro's Flora Series nutes were organic or not? I'd assume they aren't, but I'm not sure.



I have one in the plant site, and can add another if I remove the drip ring. My roots are in the water now, so I don't need the drip ring, right? If that's the case I can add another air line and 4" air stone.

Thank you so much for the reply!! @Pennywise suggested using Z7 Enzyme Cleanser so I just ordered some of that and am going to give that a shot. I took a look at the Zone product, is it similar to the Z7? "Enhances root growth", but I didn't quite see the explanation on 'how' it does that, so I could compare it to Z7.

Pump is outside of the buckets, it's inline and not submerged. I've added a pic to clarify.

20181225_174519.jpg

• AspenCultivator
• Dec 25, 2018

Pump is on the outside of the tent, and pumps water into the control bucket.

20181210_182514.jpg

• AspenCultivator
• Dec 10, 2018

OK, your fan should be fine for that size tent, although, you may want to turn the controller up from low.

GH Flora is salt-based (not organic), so you're fine there!

If you're using Z7, you likely won't need the DM Zone.

I see what you're doing now...the pic helped!

RDWC plus an airpump feeding a drip ring and airstone in each bucket, right?

You likely don't need all of them and, although the drip ring also adds dissolved oxygen, if you can get more bubbles with your pump, I'd switch it out.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Found it.

"
Is the Flora Series organic?
Only crops grown from unrefined minerals are recognized as "organic". The trouble is unrefined minerals do not dissolve well for hydroponic use and some of these unrefined minerals contain quantities of impurities, some of which are toxic to plants. For that reason, FloraBloom, FloraGro, and FloraMicro are made from high quality refined minerals. This ensures high quality crop production, but prevents the crop from being considered "organic"."

So, no, I'm not using organic nutrients. I'm using the General Hydroponics Flora Series and Hydroguard.

Correct!

 

[AspenCultivator]

OK, your fan should be fine for that size tent, although, you may want to turn the controller up from low.

GH Flora is salt-based (not organic), so you're fine there!

If you're using Z7, you likely won't need the DM Zone.

I see what you're doing now...the pic helped!

RDWC plus an airpump feeding a drip ring and airstone in each bucket, right?

You likely don't need all of them and, although the drip ring also adds dissolved oxygen, if you can get more bubbles with your pump, I'd switch it out.

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for the help!! The Z7 will be here Saturday, which is res change day anyway so perfect timing.

The air pump is adjustable and has two outlets, so one goes to a 4" soda can air stone in the plant bucket, and the other goes to the drip ring. it's dialed pretty low, because any higher and I get nute juice above my hydroton and algae starts forming. If I detach the ring and pull it out, then use that line for another 4" soda can air stone in the same plant bucket, I'd be able to turn the air pump up. I don't have any bubbles in the control bucket, but I do have the pvc running into the bucket wall on the inside, which causes lightly splashing water/agitation from the re-circulation.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Awesome, that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for the help!! The Z7 will be here Saturday, which is res change day anyway so perfect timing.

The air pump is adjustable and has two outlets, so one goes to a 4" soda can air stone in the plant bucket, and the other goes to the drip ring. it's dialed pretty low, because any higher and I get nute juice above my hydroton and algae starts forming. If I detach the ring and pull it out, then use that line for another 4" soda can air stone in the same plant bucket, I'd be able to turn the air pump up. I don't have any bubbles in the control bucket, but I do have the pvc running into the bucket wall on the inside, which causes lightly splashing water/agitation from the re-circulation.

As long as you have airstones in the buckets, with the RDWC, the oxygenated water is being recirculated, so you don't really need more air in the res, assuming you've got enough going into the buckets.

 

[Pennywise]

It should be fine, I wouldn’t replumb the air.

 

[AspenCultivator]

As long as you have airstones in the buckets, with the RDWC, the oxygenated water is being recirculated, so you don't really need more air in the res, assuming you've got enough going into the buckets.

Awesome, thanks.

It should be fine, I wouldn’t replumb the air.

Sounds good. Thank you both for the help!! I need to do more reading on the Z7 and Hydroguard, so I can learn more about what they're actually doing for the res. Thanks again.