dwc not passive

[spacecasejay]

I am trying to put my air pump right next to my intake fan on the ground, also trying to keep a majority of my intake stream on the bins themself.
seems to by me a couple extradays of not having to change the nute water in the warming weather
i would love to hear some hot weather tips in keeping your dwc cool, i was n thinking of a lot of sheets of foam laying across the bins to insulate from heat, it would be nice to deck the entire grow bins in thick foam.

 

[FreezerBoy]

Not what you asked but, intake fans are the fastest, and only way, to achieve positive pressure. We want negative pressure. Positive pressure means we have no control over smell. Unless you really know your stuff, intake fans can be a bad idea.

Oh yeah, frozen bottles of water are a quick, common temperature fix.

 

[thinkin]

Sounds like you made the decent easy improvements.

order of what i'd do:
using froozen ice packs in rez
reflective material on top of rezs
Coolers for cantainers. (HUGE gains. but finding right size maybe tough.)
go extra effort and DIY rez cooler. small refrig, water pump, hose

Extra credit:
Try to create cool air for airpumps. maybe inside a (vented) cooler with ice packs. too cold and plants may react badly.

 

[cracka magik]

What are the temps in the room? Can you bring those down? If the grows in a basement keep your buckets straight on the concrete.

If its recirculating and you have more cash than time save yourself the effort and buy a chiller. I find that I end up spending a quite a bit of money beating around the bush attempting wack new ways of doing something so simple when I would have saved money just doing it right the first time, I have fun with it though. You can also look into diying a chiller with a cheap window ac off of craigslist, there are some diy threads out there for it and better journals showing people doing this. I was lucky and actually able to pick up some chillers for real cheap off of craigslist.

Before I picked one up I looked into insulating all of the buckets after I saw a lot of people using reflectix and its up to "R-14.3" value. Unfortunately this is only in specific applications with at least a 8" air gap between the material and a wall, the reflectix itself only has a r value of maybe 1. I can't imagine that you'll be able to really insulate them enough without it being a hassle and adding considerable bulk, with that said some IR blocking material isn't a bad idea though.

 

[spacecasejay]

i hear ya dudes, thanks for the feedback
i hate alot of bulk around my storagebins(15-20g)
i spent some extra cash and blacked them out with thick foil tape..
my temps peak around the 80degrees they cool back down at night70 degree give or take 5, im pulling in fresh outside air from the room next to the flower room and exhausting into the attic.
hey fb by negitive pressure in the grow room you mean the exhaust should be slighlty stronger than the intake??

 

[Shafto]

Use camping coolers for grow containers. No temp issues at all, frozen water bottles last for days if you need them.

Check out my grow:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=213173

 

[spacecasejay]

sweet,
thanks

 

[FreezerBoy]

hey fb by negitive pressure in the grow room you mean the exhaust should be slighlty stronger than the intake??

While you cannot exhaust more air than you input, you CAN input more air than you exhaust. That's positive pressure and intake fans are the only way to get there. The easiest way to achieve negative pressure and prevent positive pressure is through passive (unpowered) intake and a powered exhaust.

Unless you're a ventilation expert, intake fans can be a major security threat. Negative Pressure for Dummies

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

Depending on the scale of your grow, a 5 gallon insulated water jug may work.

 

[spacecasejay]

well the grow is alreadu growing and looking nire green and stocky,
i got 6 plants of a sweet tooth cut(dont know whicch one) i got them in storage bins(15 g or so)
blacked out with foil tape. With the summer coming on through i change the nute solution 6 days ago ans im about to rez change today... roots are white and healthly,
fb- i have 2 6" inline fans one on the floor pulling air from my bedroom the other mounted on the closet ceiling sucking out to the attick..
thanks for the feed back i plan on getting a camera real soon if i can stop spending my money at the weed clubs lol

 

[smokestack23]

A few tidbits...some already said..
coolers/insulated buckets/tubs
Keep the res in a cooler room
if you have concrete floors, use a low profile res with a bigger footprint
use pipe insulation on your pipes/lines
and finally,

Always try to keep a larger proportion of the volume of your solution in the res. So..use drains and feedlines that are not TOO large, use tubs that are large enough for roots but not so large that most of your solution is in the warm room at any one time.

PEACE

 

[spacecasejay]

cool..
so its all good if i drop a 2 liter bottle full of frozen water in the rez? or do you go with a smaller bottle?

 

[spacecasejay]

for non passive dwc, whats best to use when it comes time to flush
plain water
phd water
light feed
sweet
????/

 

[smokestack23]

I use pHed water. there are flushing aids you can buy.

A frozen 4 litre milk jug will stay cooler longer than a 2 litre.

 

[spacecasejay]

cool
right on