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I was thinking also how about a water cooler? It all ready has the insulation built in we use them for work here and they keep the water cold even in the hot sun.
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I have thought about using them also, even the large ice chests, but not at the prices that I find. If I could get them at a garage sale or something it may a good deal. They keep the temp cool as long as there is ice added. When you
pump it through the system it will warm up. If you are going to just pump it out and not recover/recycle it, you wont have the problem of bring back warm water/solution back to the reservoir. Though depending on how hot it gets there you will probably still need to cool it down somewhat.
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If my math is right should be about 93 cents every fill up so about hmmm
about $5.50 per month.
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$0.93 for 44 gallons is not bad at all, 44 gallons would cost me about $9.25, not including shipping. I need to order
nutrients online because there is no hydro stores in town, the nearest ones are in Las Vegas, about a 3 hour drive (depending on how fast you drive).
Do you have a link to the products/manufactures that you use? What type of results are you getting with them? I'm using the General Hydroponics flora series right now. I started using them because I was sure they would work well, and I wanted to eliminate as many problems as I could. They are working fine, although with all the plants that I have going and have planed, cost of the nutrients is quickly becoming a major factor in what I can do. I just kind of gave up on my broccoli plants because of it. I still have them in the system, but I'm not using the nutrients for them anymore. I just mixed up some Miracle-Gro and added it to the reservoir, and whatever happens happens.
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I do not know the temp but you are right on about the plants looking wilted and very little fruiting.
Hope the shade cover I install well help out with that.
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I would get a submersible thermometer from the Wall-Mart in the pet supply's (in fish department) for about $2. Tie a string on it and leave it in the reservoir to keep an eye on the reservoir temp. It will probably be close to the same as the air temp. The more gallons the longer it takes to warm up, but it also takes more to cool down. If you are not able to keep the reservoir temp under control you wont have much luck with the plants, shade or not. I had strawberry's last summer in direct sunlight most of the time, with temperatures reaching 115 degrees, but it was because I wasn't able to control the
nutrient temp that
led to there demise.
I just finished building a geothermal (underground) reservoir for my tomato's to address this problem myself in this thread
http://www.hydroponicsonline.com/for....html#post4201, that would probably be perfect for you with that system.
The large trash can was $10
The small trash can was $12
The Styrofoam sheet was $6
Digging the hole, Priceless