I'll spin it this way.Simplicity.
Spin it anyway you want. Complicate it all you like. Mechanical failures happen. The more moving parts, heat sources and gizmos you add to the coolers create problems you will have to deal with that I do not. KISSS. Keep It Simple Silly Stoner.
But the more you fool around with the basic the more trouble you will have.
Cant help with the basil but please post pictures of your construction efforts with the RDWC coolers. Would love to see how you worked it out and how it holds up.It's all good, we worked it out. On a side note, I bought another cooler today and put a basil plant in it. Excited to see how this turns out. I put in some free nutrients I got from my local store, Ionic Grow. Didn't do any research, but I may have to as it is drooping quite a bit and looks possibly over fertilized. Anyone have any tips?
Check out post #298 in this thread. I did a "folded" RDWC with the flowering bucket inside the res. So far it's working out beautifully, I'll post some pics later. I think I've found a style I'll be using from now on, it's fairly simple, the plants LOVE it and it's totally portable and modular. I can clone in 3" pots, veg and grow in the same pot, with no medium and no re-potting. I move the 3" pot from the cloner then into it's cooler for life.Cant help with the basil but please post pictures of your construction efforts with the RDWC coolers. Would love to see how you worked it out and how it holds up.
Thanks! I used a Skil-Saw, I'm a power tool guy. It wasn't too bad, you just have to make sure you find the exact center and work from there, there isn't a lot of extra room for trying over. I'm adding an 8 stake PVC system to hold the plants up, I'll post pics of that later.I like your design Neumann! What did you use to cut that giant hole in the lid of your cooler?
Looks great. Dont know how I missed that.Check out post #298 in this thread. I did a "folded" RDWC with the flowering bucket inside the res. So far it's working out beautifully, I'll post some pics later. I think I've found a style I'll be using from now on, it's fairly simple, the plants LOVE it and it's totally portable and modular. I can clone in 3" pots, veg and grow in the same pot, with no medium and no re-potting. I move the 3" pot from the cloner then into it's cooler for life.
Sometimes connecting them all isn't the best idea , I agree with you about its a pain in the ass even with as few as 6 buckets to change/ph them once the plant gets fairly large, its actually even a pain in the ass when they're small too, but with one res you're limited to one nutrient solution when (depending on your situation) you may require different levels for different plants. I'm just starting a diy aeroflo perpetual grow, it consists of 3 rails with 3 sites per rail. the first rail will go in flower while 3 more are in veg in a different system. so now I've reached a point where I had to decide on how to use additives, since they are called for at certain weeks in flower. I decided to use a bloom enhancer that is used the whole flower cycle, hammerhead. I'll use another bloom additive sparingly just because I like it so much , Big Bud and of course b52 is good most any time . dunno how its gonna go but I'm interested to find out, any info on this subject would be helpful. Now back to the subject ...... Igloo rules!FreeSki what size hole did you drill? It's no big deal bro, just go get yourself a bulkhead fitting. My coolers are RDWC, and now I'm setting up a med grow for a friend with 16 coolers all connected in an undercurrent system.
I cut a hole in each cooler's lid for pot, then a 2 more holes drilled in the lid for feed lines, another 3 holes in the side. 1 DWC for drain, 1 for air, and 1 for rez changing drain. You folks who cut no holes in your coolers, how do you flush your res? Unless you get a cooler with a spigot. You have to take all your shit out and then go dump your cooler upside down somewhere? That's ridiculous.
No offence to anyone who does it super simple, that might work for your little closet grow, but you're not gonna be topping off 20 different coolers and checking PH and nutes in every single one. At some point, you have to link your coolers together and go with RDWC or UC to connect them all. This makes for a way more efficient system with much more DO, your plants will love you for it.
I hate to see people shitting on someone for taking things one step further. RDWC or UC is better than any number of non-connected containers, so get off this guy's back and help him out, he's taking cooler growing to another level.
I'll take some pics of my RDWC cooler closet grow when the lights come on tonight FreeSki. I'll also snap some of my 16 cooler UC setup once it's built.
P.S. Hot-Glue and a glue gun is an amazing adhesive/sealant for us folk. It's a thermoplastic, you just heat it up until liquid, apply, then it hardens. There are no solvents or offgas curing with Hot-Glue, so it's perfectly safe for use with plants.