URDWC Water Chiller Question

divinekoncepz

divinekoncepz

New Member
Hello I'm building an undercurrent system and I was wondering how to employ the water chiller. Is it possible to use the pump that recirculates the nute solution to also run as the pump for the water chiller? For instance... line from buckets-->pump-->water chiller-->controller rez. The pump will be inline obviously. Also, if anyone has experience with this system I was just wondering what the most reliable fittings would be for the plumbing. The only ones I've found locally are the ebb and flow ones but I thought maybe there was something better out there.

-dk
 
Just use a separate small pump in your res for the chiller. Look up uniseals on google for the plumbing fittings you seek. bulkreefsupply carries them.
 
Could you explain the most effective way to do this? Would water travel back to the control res from the chiller to then pass through the system or should the chiller go inline before it hits the plumbing to the buckets. Also... what type of line would I have to use then with the uniseals... PVC?
 
Here is some things I wrote on a friends journal that might help you.
Some tips I learned about setting up my under current.
1. Pay the extra money for square heavy duty black buckets.
a. black you dont have to worry about covering every nick and cranny from the light.
b. square, easier to mount uniseals
c. heavy duty, at least 3/16 to a 1/4 inch thick, buckets wont split when uniseals expand. Found many splits when I pulled my buckets apart because the buckets were super thin.
d. Hinged lids on buckets so you can see whats going on without pulling plant out.
e. use 2 inch pvc pipe, Danner Manufacturing mag 5 pump (which has a 1/2" thread,,,instead of the mag 7 with a 3/4" thread (its to much pump)

f. in my thread is the name of my air pump, great fairly quiet 25liter pump with 8 outlets that are controlled. In your electrical terms its controlled like this. 8 pole single throw, lol
g. spend the dough on good air stones, I used cheap 4 for $2 ones and they werent heavy enough to keep the hose and stone down and produced huge bubbles that didnt fill the buckets.

2. 2 inch pipe to uniseals
a. Cut ends of pipe @ 45's, soap up ends with hand wash dishwashing soap.
it will make it much easier to push pipe through having the 45's. Some soaps get sticky to fast and make things harder not easier.

3. Reservoir

a. Make sure its piped to a drain for water changes and has a float in it to keep water topped off. Changing water is no fun by hand if you dont have res pumped right to drain.

b. If you dont pipe res right to drain, use a res that is just enough to keep bucket water height correct...Like I said changing out water is a pain. I did it 3 or 4 times because of leaks,,,,,that was enough to tell me I didnt want to do it any more. To pipe in a drain, I would of had to cut through 3 rooms and lay approx 30ft of hose to get to where it needed to be. I wasnt willing to do this being I just got done remodeling these rooms.

4. Net pots
a. Use 3 inch net pots and 3 inch neoprene inserts. 2 inch is to small if you want big plants
b. set your cloner up with the same 3 inch net pots and neo inserts, no screwing around once clones have roots you just pull out the net pot and set them right into your under current
Click to expand...
 
I am planning to use the square buckets and 3" seems perfect. I've done 2 grows in bubblers so far using clay pebbles as the medium... these neoprene inserts you speak of are the medium then? Also, will the mag 5 be sufficient for future upgrade to maybe 12 sites... I plan to do 6 now just to get a feel for the setup.
 
Well there's kind of a typo in there as far as the pump goes. I always thought I was using a mag 7 when in reality it was a mag 9.5. If your plan is to go up to 12 sites I would just go with the mag 9.5, you can always dial the pump output down with a ball valve or if you want better control use a gate valve. Dont ever limit pump input.

The neo inserts arent any kind of medium, they just hold the plant. You dont need any medium in this setup and it will stay much cleaner if you dont use one.
 
Last ?... do you know anywhere to get those square pails? i found white ones but i can't find any already black ones....suppose i could paint them but if you knew where they had black ones that would be sweet.
 

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