++Hellraizers++ DO AND DONTs and in and outs of the ebb&grow/ebb&flow systems

[phillipchristian]

That reminds me. Hey Hell, how's the Heat Exchanger working out? Did you get the problem fixed? Also, you should add some Propylene Glycol to your chiller reservoir. It's cheap; like $5 a gallon. Just make sure it is only propylene glycol and doesn't have any other coolants in it. Should be pink in color. You can pick it up at most hardwar stores and gas stations sometimes. It's RV/Marine antifreeze. If it's more than $5 a gallon then it's not what you want. 25-30% mix with your water.

 

[hellraizer30]

How much should i add to the res?

 

[cerberus]

yeah they charge a lot because people hate DIY, and the UC is pretty tech but imho if you can't build that system you have no right trying to run it. good call bro.

I was thinking i might be able to skip those chems, and just run chlorine in the summer, and some sort of anti-freeze in the winter (unless 10K worth of heat keeps her open all winter!) lol

That's what I'm working toward for early next year. Might DIY a small 4-6 site system and trial it for a while. I have everything I would need short a few air stones. The Current Culture systems are SOO expensive for some pumps and PVC. You could DIY a system for like a 1/5th of what they charge. I'm thinking 10gal. buckets with a 16gal. control bucket. I wanna do shorter distances than they advertise. No need to waste all that space.

That's gonna be a HUGE reservoir. Hope you don't plan on swimming in it too. You need to add some chemicals to a water cooling reservoir that you might not want to be bathing in.

 

[phillipchristian]

How much should i add to the res?

If your chiller is outside and it get's cold where you are then 50/50 solution. It's warm where I am so I only need a 25% solution. It's really more to extend the life of your coil. It will reduce build ups and stop rust and deposits. Will save your ass to if the pumps ever fail and that water just sits in your chiller. If you have it inside then 25% is fine.

 

[phillipchristian]

yeah they charge a lot because people hate DIY, and the UC is pretty tech but imho if you can't build that system you have no right trying to run it. good call bro.

I was thinking i might be able to skip those chems, and just run chlorine in the summer, and some sort of anti-freeze in the winter (unless 10K worth of heat keeps her open all winter!) lol

The sytem itself seems pretty low tech for the most part. You just need to redesign your nutrient plan and any benes you are running. Those systems make for super fragile plants.

 

[hellraizer30]

Ok phillip il go with 25% plus il use distiled water

 

[phillipchristian]

Ok phillip il go with 25% plus il use distiled water

Good call. I use R/O water but distilled is the same.

 

[cerberus]

fragile plants = tech
lots of fittings = tech
lots of float flaves (at least what i have seen)


still a great system.

p.s.

i have afriend that just froze out all the radiators on his condinsorless chiller because the tmps got to cold and no glyc.. :/

 

[cues]

Back to the subject, my biggest tip is to take the pumps out every 4 weeks and flush them through with white vinegar, whilst running for an hour, then flush with clean water and replace. Stops calcium build-up blocking them.

 

[phillipchristian]

fragile plants = tech
lots of fittings = tech
lots of float flaves (at least what i have seen)


still a great system.

p.s.

i have afriend that just froze out all the radiators on his condinsorless chiller because the tmps got to cold and no glyc.. :/

I'm a real estate developer so I know a lot about plumbing and electrical. I guess to me it doesn't really seem that complicated. Buckets, Grommets, PVC, T-Ball Valves, Mag Drive Pump, Air Pump, Air Stones, Wort Coil, 1 Float Valve. No more work than a DWC or Ebb & Flow would be.

As for the plants being fragile, I think all hydro plants are fragile. Maybe UC more than other but I don't know cause I haven't tried it yet.

That sucks about your buddy. I blew a 5hp chiller like that a while back when the pump when out. Got a HVAC guy to repair it though. Wasn't too bad on the wallet. Had to throw portable a/c units in the room and some DIY fixes for other things on the fly. Plants never really recoved fully though. They were getting fried for like 5 hours before I knew what was going on.

 

[phillipchristian]

Back to the subject, my biggest tip is to take the pumps out every 4 weeks and flush them through with white vinegar, whilst running for an hour, then flush with clean water and replace. Stops calcium build-up blocking them.

Which pumps are you talking about? Chiller or Hydro?

 

[cerberus]

I think we agree on this 100%, in my life tech doesn't mean hard just means being on top of it. The uc seems to be more fragil than other water, lower ppms, much higher wattage, yada yada.. that being said, i'll have a UC grow at some point.


yeah it sucks for him, but he's going to give me the unit to get it out of his garage, "i don't know if you can fix radiators or not, i don't care. get your truck and get it outta here" his loss my gaine.. i don't think i'll need it w/ the 25,000 gal rez but hey, overkill? lol

so, you see any issue with running reg pool supplies during the summer and being able to swim in it?

I'm a real estate developer so I know a lot about plumbing and electrical. I guess to me it doesn't really seem that complicated. Buckets, Grommets, PVC, T-Ball Valves, Mag Drive Pump, Air Pump, Air Stones, Wort Coil, 1 Float Valve. No more work than a DWC or Ebb & Flow would be.

As for the plants being fragile, I think all hydro plants are fragile. Maybe UC more than other but I don't know cause I haven't tried it yet.

That sucks about your buddy. I blew a 5hp chiller like that a while back when the pump when out. Got a HVAC guy to repair it though. Wasn't too bad on the wallet. Had to throw portable a/c units in the room and some DIY fixes for other things on the fly. Plants never really recoved fully though. They were getting fried for like 5 hours before I knew what was going on.

@cues, i also like using bioclean in a 5 gal w/ hot water and run for a half hour or so, then rince. clean pumps run better.. i'm assuming your talking for nutes and not chillers.

 

[phillipchristian]

I think we agree on this 100%, in my life tech doesn't mean hard just means being on top of it. The uc seems to be more fragil than other water, lower ppms, much higher wattage, yada yada.. that being said, i'll have a UC grow at some point.


yeah it sucks for him, but he's going to give me the unit to get it out of his garage, "i don't know if you can fix radiators or not, i don't care. get your truck and get it outta here" his loss my gaine.. i don't think i'll need it w/ the 25,000 gal rez but hey, overkill? lol

so, you see any issue with running reg pool supplies during the summer and being able to swim in it?



@cues, i also like using bioclean in a 5 gal w/ hot water and run for a half hour or so, then rince. clean pumps run better.. i'm assuming your talking for nutes and not chillers.

Yea, you do need to be on top of that system it seems. I have flood tables now that are filled with hydroton and my plants sit in mesh pots fille with hydroton. I've been talking about doing something else for so long but out of all of the hydro systems I have tried this is just SOOO easy. I don't have to really worry about anything. The UC doesn't look so complicated from a engineering standpoint, but it sure does seem like you have little margin for error with the plants themselves. Fantastic results though. That's why I wanna try it.

How big is the chiller? I really don't think it's even worth it to put it on the pool. I asked Pat over at Chillking about putting my 5hp chiller on my pool after I got it fixed and he said it wouldn't even make a dent in the temps. The ambient air and sunlight will heat the pool but then the hot water return from my room would just be too much in that large of a reservoir. That's why chiller reservoirs are so small. The reservoir on my 12hp chiller is 30 gallons. I have a 65,000 gallon pool and it needs a 10h AquaCal Heat Pump (Chiller) just to keep it cool and I'm not pumping any hot water into it. I think you'd need a big chiller to do what you plan on doing. You could probably keep the pool relatively cool just by evaporation and sprinklers but you really need the water to be like 60 degrees to use it as a heat exchanger in your room.

I don't see any issue with you being able to swim in it during the summer but I would think that the chemicals used to maintain pools can't be that good for a chiller.

 

[cerberus]

Yea, you do need to be on top of that system it seems. I have flood tables now that are filled with hydroton and my plants sit in mesh pots fille with hydroton. I've been talking about doing something else for so long but out of all of the hydro systems I have tried this is just SOOO easy. I don't have to really worry about anything. The UC doesn't look so complicated from a engineering standpoint, but it sure does seem like you have little margin for error with the plants themselves. Fantastic results though. That's why I wanna try it.

How big is the chiller? I really don't think it's even worth it to put it on the pool. I asked Pat over at Chillking about putting my 5hp chiller on my pool after I got it fixed and he said it wouldn't even make a dent in the temps. The ambient air and sunlight will heat the pool but then the hot water return from my room would just be too much in that large of a reservoir. That's why chiller reservoirs are so small. The reservoir on my 12hp chiller is 30 gallons. I have a 65,000 gallon pool and it needs a 10h AquaCal Heat Pump (Chiller) just to keep it cool and I'm not pumping any hot water into it. I think you'd need a big chiller to do what you plan on doing. You could probably keep the pool relatively cool just by evaporation and sprinklers but you really need the water to be like 60 degrees to use it as a heat exchanger in your room.

I don't see any issue with you being able to swim in it during the summer but I would think that the chemicals used to maintain pools can't be that good for a chiller.

this last line is a concern.

as for the pool temps, i used to have a 10'x20' solar panel attached to it, constantly feeding it hot water and the thing never never heats up; always shaded, north facing, i live in cold-ville BUT that being said over heating the pool and killing my cooling system is a mistake i can not afford..

I was thinking about grabbing his compressorless (its chillkings/hydroinovations compresslerss) and having it as a back up.. with it's own 55gal drum.

thanks for all the heads up, much appriciated

 

[cues]

I was talking about nutes.

 

[hellraizer30]

Sup fellas hows everybody morning going going to be slaving again on the water system lol got lots of parts to collect

 

[phillipchristian]

this last line is a concern.

as for the pool temps, i used to have a 10'x20' solar panel attached to it, constantly feeding it hot water and the thing never never heats up; always shaded, north facing, i live in cold-ville BUT that being said over heating the pool and killing my cooling system is a mistake i can not afford..

I was thinking about grabbing his compressorless (its chillkings/hydroinovations compresslerss) and having it as a back up.. with it's own 55gal drum.

thanks for all the heads up, much appriciated

Send me a PM if you decide to go with a Chillking unit. I know the owner and I could probably get you a 15-20% discount.

 

[hellraizer30]

So i picked up a pair of method seven glasses today! And all i got to say is everybody should have these, just google it
There strait up uber!!

 

[Warlock1369]

The cost is the only thing holding me back. Till then I get mine at my welding store. Shade 4 UVA/UVB protected. And feel like sun glasses. $25 a pair. But don't get me wrong I'm still trying to justify buying a set sence I'm under my lights about 4 hours a day. It's just hard spending it up front.

 

[hornedfrog2000]

Yeah, $200 is pretty out there.