newb question: keeping water at correct temps

[GpsFrontier]

Originally Posted by GGM

is there a aquarium cooler on the market?

Yes, I was looking into them last summer, but they are way too expensive for me. Something like $300-$600 for one that cools up to a 15 gallon tank if I remember correctly. Not to mention the electricity to run it.

[txice]

They also make these little guys called "IceProbes". Cheaper than a traditional "chiller"....but can cool quite as well as one either.

IceProbe Thermoelectric Aquarium Chiller, Nova Tec Inc

[watercatwn6535nd]

I build my own chillers out of wall shaker units. i cut the condensor off and the evaporator off. then i buy two stainless plate exchangers off ebay and solder then on in there place. i add the high and low pressure fittings if there not already installed. I buy a can of hot shot refridgerant from the parts store and dump it in tell the system is cold.

a store unit is fine for a small system but a wall shaker starts out at 5 , 7 or 10K btu's. i have one in my shop right now i'm building for my 250 gallon hot tub fish tank for summer time. i think its a10k btu's got it off craigs list for $20 and the plates were 25$each and the freon is $8. takes about 4 hours to build.

I wasnt suggesting any one keep tere nute at 45f i was stating that this is a safe place for water to be to keep it drinkable.

Titanium fish tank heaters are the only way to go. But iof you were growing indoors you would realize taht you have to heat the room if its cold. with lights and in the dark cycle with a heater. so since the room is warm the nute will be warmed up. since we all grow about teh same temp indoors its the exact same factor for temp in my state as it would be in the midwest or hawaii. when you take control of your air climate the hydro will also fall into the right place.

All the other creative heating and cooling stuff for the most part is for guys trying to grow sea of green pot plants hidden with non air exchanging rooms to keep teh smell down.

my system runs this way only for the hottest few weeks. the rest fo the time i use out side air to cool the room as its free cool air. i use air filters from a furnace to keep it all clean.

set the room temp at 75 or 85 depending on what your growing drop the night temps to 60 or 65 and use a heater if you have to. your walls and floors will get saturated with a base line of heat and it will all self reguate and your plants will have grow better than any dirt grow has grown.

frontier what issue with the water are you worried about? I think cleaning tanks and containers is awful. in fact if i wee a newbie hearing that i would go grow in the dirt. thats a lots of time and effort and its not the fun part fo a grow at all. How about you run a grow through in a another system with out this cleansing and just do the normal once a week h22o2 doseing and what ever drain and refill program you want and see what or if it makes a difference. keeping stuff alive out doors in natural sunlight for a few months is so much easier i think than in doors. try keeping 60 to 90different varities fruitig and vegging for 2 or more years staright indoors with out cleaning the system once a week.

drop the stress on those plants to. can you imagine changing the dirt out around your garden plants every week just to be sure there clean? also how are you getting any micro growth when your dumping the tank and then washing it all out.? Aslo once a week is way to ofetn to be dumping tanks and to expensive. two weeks is to much unless you ahve bad water and that can be fixed with a dehumidifier to keep the system full. cheap free pure water. or a nice solar still made from a kids pool and some black plastic will get a guy enough pur water from nasty pnd scum water to run a large in or out door system if the sun is out and if its not you probably dont need that much water that day if your grwoing out side.

Lets not scare the new guys into a path of taking there systems donw and cleaning them.lets go with light blockage and cool nute temps and good nutes. hard to get inside my hydrofarm hoses and clean them once a week? I've heard of properly trained gerbals that climb right up in the whole with a litttle lube and do the job? I believe they can be had at richardgear.com

[GpsFrontier]

How about you run a grow through in a another system with out this cleansing and just do the normal once a week h22o2 doseing and what ever drain and refill program you want and see what or if it makes a difference.

I have done that, that's why I know that it can be a real problem. I have had issues of things growing in systems that were unwanted. Granted, that is usually found with nutrient temps that were too high. But I just cleaned the reservoir for my peas yesterday because there was something in it. I have no idea what it was or where it came from, or even if it will come back now that it got a start. Today is the hottest day we had in a long tome and it's only 66 degrees. That's well below any temp that I would expect a problem with things growing in it. If you ever made your own beer it looked like the part you strain off before bottling, brown cloudy and murky.

drop the stress on those plants to. can you imagine changing the dirt out around your garden plants every week just to be sure there clean?

Dirt plants are susceptible to root diseases just as easy as in a hydro system, even more so. It would only take me a few minuets to find a many links that list soil born root diseases. It's truly a misconception to think hydro plants are not vulnerable to root diseases simply because there is no soil involved.

also how are you getting any micro growth when your dumping the tank and then washing it all out.?

By that thinking there would never be any algae growth either, yet it is there. It is not the sunlight that gives algae birth. If it did there would be algae all over everything that comes in contact with sunlight. Sure using a good quality water is a great help but that's not foolproof. By keeping proper nutrient temps and regular cleaning, I can hopefully keep bad microbes and pathogens at bay, before they have a chance to multiply out of control. As in the case of my peas I mentioned.

Aslo once a week is way to often to be dumping tanks and to expensive.

This would depend greatly on the size of your reservoir as well as the plants you are growing. Yes commercial operations don't change there reservoirs that much, but they have the equipment to monitor the nutrients. They also grow specific crops in one reservoir and know what these plants require in nutrients. Commercial operations also manufacture there nutrients or have them manufactured for them, this way they can replenish the nutrients the plants take up faster to keep a balanced nutrient solution. Commercial operations also use either ultraviolet light or Ozone Generators for root disease control. Commercial operations also have water purifiers. Home hydroponic gardeners (especially new ones) have a ppm and pH test meters, and a some kind of water purifier at best.

Lets not scare the new guys into a path of taking there systems donw and cleaning them.

I am by no means am wanting to scare off anyone. But at the same time I want to be realistic, I don't take the salespersons approach. Getting them to buy it, then let them figure out it isn't what they thought it was. If they know the possible problems before hand, they will be able to build better systems the first time around. As well as have better success.

lets go with light blockage and cool nute temps and good nutes.

All good advice, although hardly foolproof and would be negligent to suggest so. Again, the more people know about possible problems the better success they will be able to have is my goal.

hard to get inside my hydrofarm hoses and clean them once a week?

True, I don't really clean out the inside of them either. I do however flush hot water through it for a few seconds at the same time I clean the pump and pump filter. I don't get anything I can see coming out, although I still have tubing from last summer that has caked on stuff inside it. The truth is if someone is scared off by doing a couple minuets of work every week to their hydroponic systems, they wont have much success with it in the long run anyway. Hydroponics takes more work than soil grown plants but has many advantages. Keep in mind also that most if not all new people just starting out in hydroponics (just like with all new hobbies) cant, or don't want to shell out much money for all the bells and whistles until they have some success first.

[Amigatec]

The problem may be growing outside. I grow inside and have not had any problem with stuff growing in my system.

[GpsFrontier]

The problem may be growing outside. I grow inside and have not had any problem with stuff growing in my system.

It was nearing two weeks in the same solution, but I changed it a couple days early because something was obviously in it. It may have very well been something airborne that got into it, we get a lot of wind here. We had some rain, but our rain is very clean (we live in the desert, no smog of any kind). Also the broccoli reservoir is only 5 feet away from the one for the peas, and got even more rain water in it than the peas did. But there was nothing wrong at all with the broccoli reservoir (except the solution was diluted). I looked at it today and I fear it's coming back, the solution looks like it is starting to become cloudy again. I added some H202 but will probably need to change the reservoir again in a couple of days. Lets hope not, I cant afford to change it every couple of days. Once something gets into it, it can be extremely difficult to get rid of. You cant sanitize the roots themselves without killing the plants.