Pizmospete
Member
is that a spring water cooler ? how did uou route the nutrient flow? good idea though..hummm coolers at thrift shops every where.
DWC is the best, fastest and easiest way to go!
- Thread starter Pizmospete
- Start date
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
Hopefully @Pizmospete doesn't mind me hijacking his thread a bit and I'll drop a couple more pics with explanation.
I had an old water cooler gifted to me years ago and it sat around for a few years. Like most DWC growers I was always concerned about nute temps and had seen DIT threads using holes in old fridges with tubing inside to circulate water thru then some kind of heat exchange unit in a rez for cooling. Most didn't do a lot and I kept looking at this old cooler trying to figure out how to make it work.
Finally came up with the following and it works great.
I put a small fountain pump right into the bottom of tub and ran about 20ft of 3/8" tubing I had from there up to the cooling tank in the cooler after taking out the plastic parts inside. Most of the tubing is coiled up inside and the tank is full of antifreeze for better heat exchange and to prevent it from freezing like the water did. To regulate the temp in the tub I first put a timer on the pump but while the timer was off the nutes in the tube froze at the bottom of the tank. So I put the timer on the cooler and found that 15on/45off seemed to work well to keep the tub around 65-68F. 15on/1h45off during their night. A blanket of white wall insulation around the tank and the tub keeps temps more stable. Not pretty but functions well.
Some sort of framework to hold the coil of tubing up and separated would help but it works so fuggit.
To keep roots out of the pump's impeller I glue-gunned some window screen around the intake holes of the pump.
Packed insulation around the tank before putting the top back on.
And after a few days of running it put the same insulation around the tub with some baling wire. Like I said, not pretty. You can barely see the two nute lines, out and back in, on the right. The return line is longer so it discharges on the back end of the tub while the pump is right up front to let the cooler nutes mix in before taking a trip to the tank again. Will be covering those lines with black tape or something as algae started growing in them tho never did no harm.
That's about it. Dead simple eh! I'm sure it could cool a rez big enough to do a decent sized RDWC or a rez for some other hydro style of growing. The dial on the back of the cooler is turned down as far as it will go but because it can freeze the bottom of the tank it may not function as designed. I had the tubing and got the cooler for free so my total cost was $14 for the little fountain pump. And a $3 timer from the bargain store.
Now, how to do DWC ScroG . . .
I had an old water cooler gifted to me years ago and it sat around for a few years. Like most DWC growers I was always concerned about nute temps and had seen DIT threads using holes in old fridges with tubing inside to circulate water thru then some kind of heat exchange unit in a rez for cooling. Most didn't do a lot and I kept looking at this old cooler trying to figure out how to make it work.
Finally came up with the following and it works great.
I put a small fountain pump right into the bottom of tub and ran about 20ft of 3/8" tubing I had from there up to the cooling tank in the cooler after taking out the plastic parts inside. Most of the tubing is coiled up inside and the tank is full of antifreeze for better heat exchange and to prevent it from freezing like the water did. To regulate the temp in the tub I first put a timer on the pump but while the timer was off the nutes in the tube froze at the bottom of the tank. So I put the timer on the cooler and found that 15on/45off seemed to work well to keep the tub around 65-68F. 15on/1h45off during their night. A blanket of white wall insulation around the tank and the tub keeps temps more stable. Not pretty but functions well.
Some sort of framework to hold the coil of tubing up and separated would help but it works so fuggit.
To keep roots out of the pump's impeller I glue-gunned some window screen around the intake holes of the pump.
Packed insulation around the tank before putting the top back on.
And after a few days of running it put the same insulation around the tub with some baling wire. Like I said, not pretty. You can barely see the two nute lines, out and back in, on the right. The return line is longer so it discharges on the back end of the tub while the pump is right up front to let the cooler nutes mix in before taking a trip to the tank again. Will be covering those lines with black tape or something as algae started growing in them tho never did no harm.
That's about it. Dead simple eh! I'm sure it could cool a rez big enough to do a decent sized RDWC or a rez for some other hydro style of growing. The dial on the back of the cooler is turned down as far as it will go but because it can freeze the bottom of the tank it may not function as designed. I had the tubing and got the cooler for free so my total cost was $14 for the little fountain pump. And a $3 timer from the bargain store.
Now, how to do DWC ScroG . . .
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
RDWC will fix your issues putting in a separate res. That's what I do at leastHopefully @Pizmospete doesn't mind me hijacking his thread a bit and I'll drop a couple more pics with explanation.
I had an old water cooler gifted to me years ago and it sat around for a few years. Like most DWC growers I was always concerned about nute temps and had seen DIT threads using holes in old fridges with tubing inside to circulate water thru then some kind of heat exchange unit in a rez for cooling. Most didn't do a lot and I kept looking at this old cooler trying to figure out how to make it work.
Finally came up with the following and it works great.
I put a small fountain pump right into the bottom of tub and ran about 20ft of 3/8" tubing I had from there up to the cooling tank in the cooler after taking out the plastic parts inside. Most of the tubing is coiled up inside and the tank is full of antifreeze for better heat exchange and to prevent it from freezing like the water did. To regulate the temp in the tub I first put a timer on the pump but while the timer was off the nutes in the tube froze at the bottom of the tank. So I put the timer on the cooler and found that 15on/45off seemed to work well to keep the tub around 65-68F. 15on/1h45off during their night. A blanket of white wall insulation around the tank and the tub keeps temps more stable. Not pretty but functions well.
Some sort of framework to hold the coil of tubing up and separated would help but it works so fuggit.
View attachment 4043021
To keep roots out of the pump's impeller I glue-gunned some window screen around the intake holes of the pump.
View attachment 4043022
Packed insulation around the tank before putting the top back on.
View attachment 4043024
And after a few days of running it put the same insulation around the tub with some baling wire. Like I said, not pretty. You can barely see the two nute lines, out and back in, on the right. The return line is longer so it discharges on the back end of the tub while the pump is right up front to let the cooler nutes mix in before taking a trip to the tank again. Will be covering those lines with black tape or something as algae started growing in them tho never did no harm.
View attachment 4043025
That's about it. Dead simple eh! I'm sure it could cool a rez big enough to do a decent sized RDWC or a rez for some other hydro style of growing. The dial on the back of the cooler is turned down as far as it will go but because it can freeze the bottom of the tank it may not function as designed. I had the tubing and got the cooler for free so my total cost was $14 for the little fountain pump. And a $3 timer from the bargain store.
Now, how to do DWC ScroG . . .
View attachment 4043033
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
There is method to my madness.
Once everything is up and running I'll have 4 tubs going in an 8x4 space but each will be different strains and in different stages of flowering so I want each tub to have it's own nutes tailored to it.
Takes 5min/tub to top up and adjust ppm every three days and I never have to worry about leaks, cleaning out 50' of piping, nute pumps etc. One air pump is the only weak link in the chain and I bought a nice new industrial one that will handle all 4 tubs with 2 stones in each.
The tricky part will be timing new tubs to be ready to replace the ones getting harvested. I'll be growing strains that can take 7 - 14 weeks to finish flowering which won't help. Good thing with ScroG is you can veg for a couple weeks extra or longer if you have to or toss them in the ring early if needed and still get good yields.
Should be fun.
ANC
Well-Known Member
Dirt has a different timeline. In the initial stages, it lags behind hydro mediums, but given a full season, it has no problem growing trees that shadow its hydro companions.
Pizmospete
Member
I believe hydro gives you more control over the plants , "environment ". I can respond faster to "problems " and not having insects is great! I grew larger, and probably beat my dirt time for vegetative growth by a month. I use a 600 watt hps light , 1000 watt and 600 watt led. 24/7
so cutting the lights to flower sooner saves lots of money!
You need clean R.O. water. I found big improvement in growth and uptake of nutrients. I believe it's all about "control ".
You run it or do the plants control you?
OldMedUser
Well-Known Member
That's a bit of hyperbole. I had my power down for 4 days and used a propane heater to keep the plants from freezing and stirred in a little peroxide every day. They didn't skip a beat.
Hydro doesn't work for some just like dirt doesn't work all that well for myself and others. We all have our strengths and do best when we use them.