Question About reservoir temperature

[daytonajim00]

Any Fish Tank section (even Walmart) would have good drop in thermometers for 3-10$. Finewood, I was interested in temperature control as well and had a spare 1/3 HP Chiller laying around lol. My problem is I have multiple reserviors so I built a heat exchange out of thin-walled plastic irrigation line forming coils and running through each chamber via bulkheads. The jury's still out...

FYI: I would suspect going as far as adding chillers is a less common but preferable thing.

[finewoodstudio]

Or you connect all the reservoirs using large diameter hoses and in the last one you pump the water to the chiller that deposits the water in the first reservoir.

[Bigdaddy216]

Okay 1st that's kool I can use that to monitor temp, winter time be more of issue here for me I was thinking on insulating my black hydroponic buckets summertime here in Cleveland ohio usually don't get hot my main problem is the humidity woke up this morning my humidity was 16%.. see im trying to make sure I have best possible environment before I start my seeds

[daytonajim00]

Originally Posted by finewoodstudio

Or you connect all the reservoirs using large diameter hoses...

I keep my reservoirs at different ppm's. I'll post my set up on here soon.

Bigdaddy, I don't know what you mean with the humidity. I'm beginning too, but as far as I know everybody starts their seeds in some sort of contained plastic tray- with a clear top to let in light (a lot of plants need light to trigger germination)

I even started some Cilantro recently in a zip lock bag in rockwool cubes. Anything that holds in the humidity creates a fog type deal- tuppawear, taco bell salad bowl container, etc. Also I started all mine indoors where it's warm (70's).

[Bigdaddy216]

what I mean is I started hydroponics back in February 2014 and I had a lot of issues improper humidity and lighting and feeding it was so bad I got mold and fungus so right now im gathering information so I wont screw up again

[GpsFrontier]

There isn't a specific type of thermometer used for hydroponics. Digital thermometer can get expensive, though $10 isn't bad at all for a digital one. Though just like with anything electronic it may eventually give false readings. I personally just use a small standard glass fish tank thermometer I got at wal-mart for $1.97. I just tie string around the suction cup and toss it in the reservoir for a couple minutes to check temp.

16% humidity?? Wow, that's extremely low. My weather station won't even register anything below 20%. Like daytonajim00 mentioned most people start seeds in some kind of seed tray with a clear plastic cover. The plastic cover holds in the humidity. As the water evaporates inside, it creates humidity, and the lid holds it in. So regardless of what the outside humidity is, inside the tray stays around 80% to 90% humidity. But you can use just about any covered container. As long as the top lets the light in. Though you should open it up once in a while so the plants can get fresh oxygen from time to time.

[Bigdaddy216]

Thanks For The Reply I Scoot Down To Pet Store Grab Glass Thermometer
This Way I Will Have 2 Ways To Check Reservoir Temps

As For Humidity I Know It Has To Be 70 to 80% in seed Tray One I Have Has Vents Also I Put And PC Fan On One Side and keep other side slightly open ...

but yeah house humidity was 16% .. I Know For Plants It Need To Be 40% to 60% .. my thing is which would be better a cool mist or warm mist humidifier to help keep humidity between 40 & 50% ?

[GpsFrontier]

my thing is which would be better a cool mist or warm mist humidifier

What's the normal air temp in the room? If the air temp is on the high side, than cool. If the air temp is on the low side, than warm. However I'm not sure that they make humidifiers that put out cool mist because cool water (humidity) condenses quickly (dryer air output). 40% to 50% humidity is much better than 16%, but 70% to 80% is much closer to optimum greenhouse conditions.