Dear Readers, I am running a DWC system with a 315 watt CFL light fixture, and am using an airstone with a pretty powerful air pump to oxygenate the water. I had a water pump going, in this reservoir, to keep the General Hydroponics, three-part, FloraSeries nutrients mixed up, but removed it to get the water temperature lower. I also added an ice bottle to the reservoir to lower the temperature as well. I stuck my finger in the water, and it felt ice cold, but my digital thermometer, with it's probe stuck into the water, is reading 73.9 degrees. I was thinking that my thermometer was programmed incorrectly or something. Is 65 degrees the ideal temperature for the water? And does anyone know if it feels very cold? Thanx!
The "ideal" temp is around 60F. I run @ 63 because if I run any lower then that I get condensation on the lines and it drips off making puddles. I know one guy who runs his in the 50's. The colder the soup, the more oxygen it holds. The side benefit being no algae whatsoever. Also, get a pool thermometer (they are cheap).
Dear JollyRancher, How do you get the soup so cold? You must have a reservoir chiller. Regarding the pool thermometer, does it have to be made for pools? Because I saw a regular, non-digital one for sale at the hydro store but thought that a digital one would be more fun. I am definitely going to get the non-digital just so that I know that my digital one is accurate. So far, the coldest that I have been able to get the reservoir water is 70 degrees. Thanx.
65 is fine in your res. and a cooler res should not effect potency unless ur res was just to damn hot in the first place.. Another way to help is to cover the res with a relective product, like the foil tape or an emergency blanket, the light hitting the res really warms them up...gluck man..
"Too damn hot", it may have been. I also changed out the pump from a submersible one to an external. Why heat up the solution un necessarily? Anyway my comparison was: Same strain and same nutes, R/O water. The potency did increase when I dropped the temp from the high 70's to the low 60's.
I am looking at getting a chiller but am afraid that white, clearish slime will grow inside of it, rendering it non-usable/broken/junk. I would have to buy a new one, again, if that happened, and it would really take the fight out of me. I don't know how the slime formed, but, just last night, I was switching out an ice bottle and I noticed the white, clearish slime covering the airstone. Maybe I just didn't notice that the reservoir temperature got high when I was asleep or something. But I removed all of it and am keeping the reservoir temperature at 60 to 65 degrees, using frozen ice bottles, and no new slime growth has occured. It's either... buy the chiller, and keep my DWC system, or, buy a new type of hydroponic system that doesn't rely so much on a low reservoir temperature... if there is any type of system like this. All feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks
dude the chiller is totally worth it this is my first hydro grow and i figured dont do it unless your gonna do it right so i bought a chiller a great one for 170 and if u get white shit in it you can make a solution with 91% alcohol and bottled water to clean it out but if your keepin ur temps low you wont get that shit anyway if u want the link lemme know my plants are more visibly happy with the chiller i keep my res between 65-69 but hey everyone grows different
so.... may i interject and ask the reverse? is there a temp where it would be TOO COLD for the plants? i mean... above 32 obv -solid water wont do anyone any good lol
Method used was comparing new crop with old crop. Only thing changed was the addition of the chiller. Comparison was done by several people. Old temp was 75 deg + New temp is 64 deg.
You pump the water into the chiller with a water pump it is not built in. So Put a filter bag over your water pump to block out the slime. The chiller also has a filter that can be replaced, and chances are if you are running a chiller you will not get any slime in the first place because it will cool the water and create a habitat that will not be hospitable for "slime" development.
O.K. Thanks. By the way, I am almost sure that the white slime was caused by Dutch Master ZONE and/or H202 reacting with the thermometer's metal probe that I had sitting in the nutrient solution. The probe was discolored and the slime just kept coming back. As soon as I removed the probe and ran the system, no more white stuff. So when I buy this water chiller, I learned that the metal parts have to be stainless steel or titanium.
Darthvapor420..........Can you tell me where you found a chiller for 170. All the ones Ive seen were at least 450 and up. Thanks
i use a water cooler ...pump in dwc bucket...outlet to waterjug on cooler ...and have water tap open draining back in dwc bucket....works ok for 1 bucket but really no way to control temp
I use frozen water bottles.. No need to spend money on a chiller at all. Unless you have the extra cash to spend. My froZen water bottles never let the temp get above 65 degrees. I usually let it rise to 65ish then replace the frozen wTer bottles which drops it down to 60 or a little lower and it takes at least 12 hours to rise back to 65. So frozen water bottles do work. And if you don't have the rest of your environment in check then spend the money to fix other things and use practically free frozen water bottles to cool your Rez. I read a study that showed root rot and problems are able to occur at any res temps above 68. Not hard to do at all. And I still wonder why so many people over look this simple necessity in dwc. IT IS WHAT IT IS ! Learn&Grow