Oh no!

All this time. Spent getting my 1st dwc tweaked in. Wich has been a failure so far. Have one last trick up my sleeve to get my water temps reeled in, outside of getting a chiller. Thought maybe this water cooler could cool it down if I pump the res slowly through the cooling chamber of it? Idk. Maybe worth a shot. Suspect it's too little cooling for the 7 - 8 gallons of solution.
I'll say one thing though I'm not going to spend any more time on this male plant! And The Roots were just starting to shoot out good!

Aapoo said:

All this time. Spent getting my 1st dwc tweaked in. Wich has been a failure so far. Have one last trick up my sleeve to get my water temps reeled in, outside of getting a chiller. Thought maybe this water cooler could cool it down if I pump the res slowly through the cooling chamber of it? Idk. Maybe worth a shot. Suspect it's too little cooling for the 7 - 8 gallons of solution.
I'll say one thing though I'm not going to spend any more time on this male plant! And The Roots were just starting to shoot out good!

Click to expand...

What pump are you using?
I once had a solenoid pump that actually increased water temps when it ran

I run my temps all day at mid 70's with Botanicare Hydroguard and havnt had a problem. Wipe everything down with H202 in between changes. My pump runs as hot as the sun i just have a tiny fan blowing on it and about 25ft of line in between. What temps are you getting to? Is your res and lines and everything sterile?

Aapoo said:

All this time. Spent getting my 1st dwc tweaked in. Wich has been a failure so far. Have one last trick up my sleeve to get my water temps reeled in, outside of getting a chiller. Thought maybe this water cooler could cool it down if I pump the res slowly through the cooling chamber of it? Idk. Maybe worth a shot. Suspect it's too little cooling for the 7 - 8 gallons of solution.
I'll say one thing though I'm not going to spend any more time on this male plant! And The Roots were just starting to shoot out good!

Click to expand...

I made a chiller out of a water cooler. Took the guts out of the tank to put a 15' coil of 3/8" tubing that runs off a small fountain pump in my tub to circulate the nutes up and back. Worked so well that I had to put a timer on the cooler so 15min on 45 off. Need to cover the exposed tubing to block light or algae grows inside it. The cooler tank is filled with auto anti-freeze for better heat transfer and cut evaporation.



Mosquito screening hot-glued over the pump intake to keep roots out. The pump runs 24/7





It could easily chill a larger rez or at least a couple of those tubs that hold 50L each.

OldMedUser said:

I made a chiller out of a water cooler. Took the guts out of the tank to put a 15' coil of 3/8" tubing that runs off a small fountain pump in my tub to circulate the nutes up and back. Worked so well that I had to put a timer on the cooler so 15min on 45 off. Need to cover the exposed tubing to block light or algae grows inside it. The cooler tank is filled with auto anti-freeze for better heat transfer and cut evaporation.

View attachment 4907650

Mosquito screening hot-glued over the pump intake to keep roots out. The pump runs 24/7

View attachment 4907653

View attachment 4907655

It could easily chill a larger rez of at least a couple of those tubs that hold 50L each.

Click to expand...

This is dope, i thought of gutting one of my mini fridges around here and making a chiller, luckily i found a way to cool off my hot ass air pump before i needed too but this is neat as hell

Herb & Suds said:

What pump are you using?
I once had a solenoid pump that actually increased water temps when it ran

Click to expand...

Ecoplus. Submersible. I think it is contributing to a little warmth. Not absolutely positive though

OldMedUser said:

I made a chiller out of a water cooler. Took the guts out of the tank to put a 15' coil of 3/8" tubing that runs off a small fountain pump in my tub to circulate the nutes up and back. Worked so well that I had to put a timer on the cooler so 15min on 45 off. Need to cover the exposed tubing to block light or algae grows inside it. The cooler tank is filled with auto anti-freeze for better heat transfer and cut evaporation.

View attachment 4907650

Mosquito screening hot-glued over the pump intake to keep roots out. The pump runs 24/7

View attachment 4907653

View attachment 4907655

It could easily chill a larger rez or at least a couple of those tubs that hold 50L each.

Click to expand...

That sir is exactly what I wanted to see and hear. I took mine all apart though and instead of having the line run through the basin I just had lines to the basin and from it, had to seal off the pipe to the hot water. Doing that caused me an overflow problem though trying to coordinate the flow. I think I'm going to try your way not real optimistic at this point with my capabilities. Your basin looks a little bigger than mine too, just don't know if it's going to get cold enough. There's a little metal box towards the back of the cooler hooked to a tiny copper pipe with a regulating type screw in it, I want to think that it's a temperature adjustment but not sure. Turned it all the way to the right though.

ntg908 said:

I run my temps all day at mid 70's with Botanicare Hydroguard and havnt had a problem. Wipe everything down with H202 in between changes. My pump runs as hot as the sun i just have a tiny fan blowing on it and about 25ft of line in between. What temps are you getting to? Is your res and lines and everything sterile?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what my temps would get up to the highest so far is 74 but I have been putting ice bottles in the reservoir and the bucket itself before and after work and whenever I'm home so it's been going up and down from 60 to 74. Lately it's been getting up to the 90s around here so I could only imagine what the water temps would be if I wasn't doing that. Living on the second story apartment makes things difficult for this I might just have to go to be and flow. So far my soil pots are two to three times as big as my hydro. That's not a good sign to say the least. Haha

ntg908 said:

I run my temps all day at mid 70's with Botanicare Hydroguard and havnt had a problem. Wipe everything down with H202 in between changes. My pump runs as hot as the sun i just have a tiny fan blowing on it and about 25ft of line in between. What temps are you getting to? Is your res and lines and everything sterile?

Click to expand...

I don't know if they're sterile at one point I was using botanicare hydroguard also but with my temps fluctuating I scratched it and went with drug store H2O2. At One rez change I had some algae but no root rot. Plant just not living up to the hydro expectations.

Aapoo said:

All this time. Spent getting my 1st dwc tweaked in. Wich has been a failure so far. Have one last trick up my sleeve to get my water temps reeled in, outside of getting a chiller. Thought maybe this water cooler could cool it down if I pump the res slowly through the cooling chamber of it? Idk. Maybe worth a shot. Suspect it's too little cooling for the 7 - 8 gallons of solution.
I'll say one thing though I'm not going to spend any more time on this male plant! And The Roots were just starting to shoot out good!

Click to expand...

2 things i see in pic 2:

white bucket is no good. paint it black so no light gets in at all (even ambient light)

i'd switch up to a normal net pot. that green bucket that is solid on the sides isn't the best option either.

rkymtnman said:

2 things i see in pic 2:

white bucket is no good. paint it black so no light gets in at all (even ambient light)

i'd switch up to a normal net pot. that green bucket that is solid on the sides isn't the best option either.

Click to expand...

Ok. I got ya. That is a net pot I didn't notice if it was solid all the way down.

rkymtnman said:

2 things i see in pic 2:

white bucket is no good. paint it black so no light gets in at all (even ambient light)

i'd switch up to a normal net pot. that green bucket that is solid on the sides isn't the best option either.

Click to expand...

Your right though, that net pot is solid on the sides, guess I didn't know any better when I bought it.

I don't know what is contributing to my lack of growth the most, the temperature variance and subsequent pH variants or....

I didn't think that those values were even that wild but if my soil is outgrowing my hydro I'm obviously doing something drastically wrong

I wouldn’t even mess with a chiller. I purchased a brand new eco plus water chiller and hooked it up but then took it out and started using pool shock way cheaper for pool shock than a chiller and easier. Just search how to make clear Rez for pennies on the dollar

Treesomewanted77 said:

I wouldn’t even mess with a chiller. I purchased a brand new eco plus water chiller and hooked it up but then took it out and started using pool shock way cheaper for pool shock than a chiller and easier. Just search how to make clear Rez for pennies on the dollar

Click to expand...

Do you think this is what's limiting my growth so much? I just went out and bought a top hat type net pot for starters hoping that will help but I don't see that limiting my growth THAT much... As someone kindly pointed out that the one I was using had solid sides something I didn't put any thought into when I bought it being that this is my first try at hydro

Aapoo said:

Do you think this is what's limiting my growth so much? I just went out and bought a top hat type net pot for starters hoping that will help but I don't see that limiting my growth THAT much... As someone kindly pointed out that the one I was using had solid sides something I didn't put any thought into when I bought it being that this is my first try at hydro

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plants actually like a warmer root zone temp. the problem is so does root rot.

before i would invest in a chiller, i'd try pool shock. i'd also try southern ag garden friendly fungicide (same stuff as hydroguard but a million x more concentrated and cheaper). Dutchmaster Zone also works and is supposed to available again.

If everything is in check with your environment then I guess the water temps could be slowing growth but normally with warmer water temps the growth picks up but too long at those temps and root rot seems to take hold because the DO goes down as the temps go up. Try the shock treatment. I have played with it and even doubled the amount they say to use and never affected the plants just made super white roots. If you search on here for how to run sterile Rez you should be able to find the formula. I use 24Grams of the pool shock to a liter of water then I use that stock solution at 1ml to a gallon of water and so far works great. I have 2 cuttings going now that are in a 1gal bucket with net pot and water but no air stones just 4 holes drilled around the bucket at the height of the bottom or the net pot so it lets air in and I use the shock solution on those as well and no root trouble so far and they have been going for well over a month but I do notice slower growth without the air stones.

rkymtnman said:

plants actually like a warmer root zone temp. the problem is so does root rot.

before i would invest in a chiller, i'd try pool shock. i'd also try southern ag garden friendly fungicide (same stuff as hydroguard but a million x more concentrated and cheaper). Dutchmaster Zone also works and is supposed to available again.

Click to expand...

I agree with what rkymtnman said. I bought zone and still use the pool shock because it’s so much cheaper

Treesomewanted77 said:

I agree with what rkymtnman said. I bought zone and still use the pool shock because it’s so much cheaper

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when did you try the zone? that was the 1st product i ever tried like a decade ago. i thought it worked great but i don't remember how expensive it was to use.