Hi... I've been using the GH Waterfarm setup for over 7 years and have always had very good results. You can check out some of my grows by doing a member search. One problem that I have always had is with the low volume of the recirculating through the WFs and back into the reservoir. The best I could get would be 1.5 cups per minute. This calculates out to 5.625 GPH. At this rate, the nutrient temps would be to high after traveling through 8 WFs and back to the reservoir. Even with a chiller, the first few WFs would be too cold and the last few WFs would be too hot. Very frustrating! I would have more that a 3c different between the reservoir and what was coming out of the last WF into the reservoir. What I needed to do was to increase the flow rate between the buckets. I could never find a pump that had a low enough GPH that would not drain the WFs and overflow the reservoir and didn't want to have to put a pump between each WF to get an even flow. What I decided to try was adding a second pumping column in the reservoir. I searched GC and could not find where anybody else had done this, so off to the hydro store I went. I wanted to use a Y connector, but unfortunately, the hydro store didn't have any. So I used a T connector and 2 - 90 degree connectors and made a 1 into 2 adapter. I connected the second pumping column and after some fine tuning (of the air pressure), I was able to increase the flow to 2.5 cups per minute! This calculates out to around 9.375 GPH! With this faster recirculation, my nutrients only rise about 1.75C between reservoir and what is coming out of the last bucket. Now I can set the chiller to 18C and the last WF stays below 20C! Anybody (using WFs) who is having problems with root rot (or other problems) due to high nutrient temperatures may want to look into this mod. I happened to already have additional pumping columns (and rings, and buckets, and ....), but most stores sell just the pumping column and drip ring separately. Let me know if you have any questions!!!
Could you post a pic? Would you say a chiller is nessessary then? Sent from my XT1585 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
IMG_0718 by WhobeBoo posted Jan 2, 2017 at 12:17 PM Here is a picture of the inside of my reservoir. As far as needing a chiller or not depends on the temp of the nute solution coming out of the last WF. I try to keep the temps between 18c and 20c (65f - 69f). The more WF buckets you have, the more time the nutes spend in the warm grow room, which I keep between 21c and 26.5c (70f-80f). There are too many environmental variables that can cause the solution to be too warm or too cold. When the shed (where the grow room is at) gets warm it naturally warms the nutes....same with cold. The best way to find out is take the temp of the nute solution in the reservoir and the temp of the solution coming out of the pumping columns. This will show you the low and high. Hope this helps.
thanks very good to know. This will be my hydro system in the near future, tho I will only use 4 at a time. 3 tent maybe too small.
Hi... Welcome to the WF club. There are a number of modifications you can do to the standard WF set up, including drilling more holes into the top bucket and adding air stones to the lower bucket to give you a drip/DWC hybrid. Do a search on Waterfarm modifications in titles and you will get a bunch of info. Good luck! P.S. I have noticed cooler nutrient temps since adding the second pump column. Not sure if it's increased flow or increased air or both, but my chiller doesn't come on as often and the difference between the first WF and last WF is only about 1C. Could probably get by without the chiller and just use frozen bottles.