just fired up an ebb and grow yesterday in addition to my bubble bckts. im new to using a separate res, therefore i ddnt know, or think that i would need a chiller because it gets reeeal cold where im at, my res is small and i grow in a basement. but its not cold yet and my water is room temp (78f). my question is how can i combat temps until my basement is cold. I obviously cant afford a chiller yet before all the wise guys suggest it! i was thinkin maybe a res change every 5 days and keepin a couple gallon size frozen h2o bottles in res. i ddnt use 55 gal drum res that came with it, i made a 27 gal. Help me pleeeeeease!
Yup the frozen bottles should work just remember to not use plain ice cubes straight in there... just frozen bottles
To be honest, I think that res temperature is just a bit overrated. Keep in mind that I'm not saying it is not an important factor, just overrated. If your res temperature is in the mid-80s and above, then yes you should be concerned. However, remember that it's the quality of the water you're using that trumps actual temperature over the water. Plenty of growers on here (including Rumpleforeskin, who has numerous hydro pulls under his belt) have had great success while having water temps at a constant 80F. That temp may scare people because it's not in the recommended 68-75F range, but remember that those numbers are just that, recommendations. You can go a bit under, and you can go a bit over. However, if you're that worried about your temps, than frozen water waters is proven method that works. You can also resort to emptying your system every 10-14 days and filling with fresh water and nutes to help prevent bacteria growth. Just my $.02