I am finally getting ready to build a drip system for my coco set-up (drip to waste) and am wondering if I absolutely need a res chiller. I will be using two 44 gallon res's. Temps are about 80 degrees ( i run co2). I am worried about the higher temps leading to funky water and possibly leading to root rot or other problems in the coco. I am guessing I will need to refill the res's with fresh water and nutes every 2-3 days because they are so small. What do you think, any suggestions or experience?
Do you use a res chiller for your drip system?
- Thread starter louie
- Start date
I just used a frozen gallon of water in a jug. Dropped that down in the reservoir and it did the job. Keeping the reservoir temperatures under 68 degrees proved to be important in my own garden.
michmedclones
Member
I can't comment on your exact question, but I can tell you what a hell of a time I had when I didn't realize that my rez temp was SO important. I was using bubble buckets and never really measured the water for temp, I'd mix it with my hand and it always felt cool but what I didn't realize is that shower water is 100+ so 80 deg rez can feel cool to the touch, while its still 12-15 deg too warm, once I got my res back down to 65 my girls were SO much happier. I'd say error on the side of over cautious and if you can find one for a decent deal grab it up, depending on the wattage and size of the room they could get too warm causing all sorts of problems
ninjagaiden
Member
doesnt matter. Look at outdoor potted plants for example. they may get watered with cooler water, but they heat up real quick and do just fine.
I think it depends on if you have an auto top off for your rez and how long it takes to empty the rez.
I've noticed there seems to be a 5-7 day period of where the water stays good, then starts to get funky. Thats with the water straight out of my tap. So it really depends on where you get your water from and whats in it to begin with.
Easiest way to keep it clean for me was to bubble ozone through it every couple of days or put bleach in about that often. I found ozone to be easier since its on a timer and it also puts lots of oxygen in the water.
Using a chiller is going overboard and unnecessary for what your doing, I'd say.
I've noticed there seems to be a 5-7 day period of where the water stays good, then starts to get funky. Thats with the water straight out of my tap. So it really depends on where you get your water from and whats in it to begin with.
Easiest way to keep it clean for me was to bubble ozone through it every couple of days or put bleach in about that often. I found ozone to be easier since its on a timer and it also puts lots of oxygen in the water.
Using a chiller is going overboard and unnecessary for what your doing, I'd say.
Right on thanks for the info guys! Yeah I was thinking about just trying it without a chiller first and see what happens, but I didn't want to start off on a bad "note" with root rot or funky water. I figure if I am refilling with fresh water and nutes at least every three days I will hopefully good to go even with the 80 degree temps in the room? Do you think I should still use an airstone in the rez to keep thing mixed/aerated even though water pump will be coming on twice a day? Just to add to I will be using the modified lucas formula (GH flora micro/bloom).
If you use an airstone it will heat the water up quicker, so I would say nish nish on the airstone.
If you'd like a way to keep the nutes mixed thoroughly, just put a small water pump in the bottom pointing up that cuts on for a couple minutes a few times a day. That shouldn't add any significant amount of heat to the water. Or if you put a hose on it, you could make a waterfall effect in the rez and that would circulate the nutes and add dissolved oxygen to the water, but to get the do levels up it may need to run continuously which may bring the water temps up and in turn lower the do levels.
If you'd like a way to keep the nutes mixed thoroughly, just put a small water pump in the bottom pointing up that cuts on for a couple minutes a few times a day. That shouldn't add any significant amount of heat to the water. Or if you put a hose on it, you could make a waterfall effect in the rez and that would circulate the nutes and add dissolved oxygen to the water, but to get the do levels up it may need to run continuously which may bring the water temps up and in turn lower the do levels.
SirTOKESalot
Member
So true... Rocking some big air pumps in the DWC caused me some problems for this exact reason. I found tossing a pump on a 3x a day timer brought the temps down to decent temps
We'll see.
