[GpsFrontier]

So it would seem I need to accelerate my plans to build additional systems.

It looks like you have about 28 plants to grow. I am not sure what your plans are for a permanent home for them is, but I have an idea on that if you needed some ideas. I grew peppers last summer and they did well in that system, but I have some improvements to it. I plan to grow 20-30 Bell and Hatch (big Jim) peppers also in the near future and will be designing the same system I have in mind for them.

I would indeed be very interested in hearing your plans for a chiller.

Well I haven't tried it yet or even built it yet, but it's quite simple. I came up with the idea last summer when I was having problems with the heat with my peppers and strawberry's. It probably would have helped for the peppers (10 gallon reservoir) but I don't think it would have helped the strawberry's (32 gallon reservoir). My plants were outside and the nutrient temp was getting upwards to 90-95 degrees. But I don't think yours is getting anywhere near that because it's inside, so I think it should work fine for you.

The idea is using a ice chest, you should be able to get an inexpensive Styrofoam one at Walmart (thicker is better), Target etc., The last time I was at Walmart they had them for about $3.98 in the camping department. Then get the same tubing that goes from the water pump to misters, except get a long piece like 20 feet. Place the Styrofoam ice chest next to the growing chamber and connect the long piece of tubing between the pump and misters. Then coil up the excess and place it in the Styrofoam ice chest. Cut a notch for the tube in the Styrofoam so you can place the lid on it. Then fill the ice chest with ice water. As the nutrients pump through the coils in the ice water, it cools them down. If you want you can use metal coils like copper for better heat transfer, but it's more expensive and I don't think you will need it.

I am not sure the tubing that you are using but my pumps use 1/2 inch inside diameter tubing. I use black tubing because it's light proof. Home Depot does not sell this tubing by the foot just 20 foot pieces for about $9. But Lowe's does sell it by the foot, just not in black. That's OK, because it will be dark inside the ice chest and you don't need black tubing there, so you can use the clear tubing. The Lowe's here sells the clear 1/2 in tubing for about $.25 a foot so 20 feet should only cost about $5 or $6.

I don't know how often you will need to add ice to the ice water, because I have not tested this design yet. A lot will depend on how hot the nutrient temp actually is and how much heat transfer. But if you have ever been camping for the weekend with an ice chest usually there is still ice in it when you get home, but you are not running warmer water through it either. Though as the nutrients cool down and stay that way there will be less heat transfer and probably need less ice.

But anyway, that's one idea I have for cooling nutrients down. The other one wont work for you as you are growing inside. It also requires much more work, a bit more expense, and is really for a much larger system. You would also need to be the homeowner (I don't know if that aplys), because it requires some lite construction and digging. Basically using Geothermal energy to cool them down.

I also need to make a decision on the lighting.

I am sorry I don't have any experience with using fluorescent and artificial lighting. All my plants are grown in the free sunlight here in AZ. We get over 300 days of it a year. I don't know if it helps you or is even up to date and accurate, but someone left a link The Fluorescent Lighting Energy Savings and Product Comparisons in another thread that might be of some help to you.

I also have some ideas on bringing natural lighting inside. It requires some permanent construction and initial expense, but cost's nothing to run. The costs depend on what room you are wanting to light, how far away it is from the best source of sunlight, and how big an area you want to light.

I was actually expecting this at some point. His leaves were getting awfully big, but his stem was still pretty leggy and skinny. I knew he was going to become top heavy at some point. I got a toothpick and stuck it in the plug next to him to try and help prop him up a bit. I'm thinking this is primarily due to too little light? Isn't that what usually makes plants "leggy"?

Yes, this certainly does sound like a lighting problem. It's stretching because the light source is inattiquite.

I actually started to notice some stuff with a few of them that has me a bit concerned. I've again posted a couple of pics to try and illustrate what I'm trying to explain.

I don't have any experience with these verities of peppers but one thing you may want to look at is the color of the roots. Are they white or turning brown. If there is a problem with your plants it could be a number of things like pH, nutrients, nutrient temp, lighting, air temp and or humidity. Again I am not familiar with those verities of peppers but peppers usually like well ventilated dry warm claimants and lots of good lighting. Also as you mentioned it could be that the roots were suffocating with too much water. Also there might not be enough oxygen in the nutrient solution, especially if the nutrient temp is too warm. The water looses more oxygen molecules the warmer it gets.