trying to reduce water temp ....what do you think of this idea...see pics

hi guys...i have been fighting a losing battle with water temps being too high...

boomer suggested an igloo cooler....i cant afford that right now...so i found this thin bubble wrap insulation (not fiberous) with a reflective surface....i wrapped a few buckets for an experiment...but itll take many hours and tests to see if it will reduce temps..

here is what i am wonderin.....as you can see..i cut some of the insulation and made a ring to put on top of my bucket lid around the stem covering the hydroton....i think that this will stop the heat from absorbing into the black colored net pot lid, and also reflect light upward toward the bottom of the leaves.....is there any reason you can think of that this might be a bad idea???.....im sure i cant be the first one to experiment ith this type of thing...any advice would be appreciated...thanks...leonsroach

when you fill your rez use ice

I think this is actually standard practice. Most people use water heater insulation, which is basically the same stuff you are using. So your idea should work great.

Concrete acts as a heat sink. I have heard of people putting their res on concrete blocks and fanning the blocks. I personally just use frozen water bottles.

freeze bottles of water and throw them in the res daily

been there done that PITA!

I'm looking for the pics of that run. Bubble Insulation wrapped around the rubbermaid,,,,

Sorry, but I've tried the rubbermaids and got tired of the fight,,,,,,,

Now I use em for storing chit. like they were meant to be used..........

I'm not razzing you and it's good you are thinking this stuff out.

Props to you for that!

Trail and error are the building blocks to harvesting consistent, high grade girls.

Keep up the good work

LR, ur set up is clean and plants look healthy
Lots of ppl have success w/ 5gal bucks and looks like u are too

I started my 1st dwc in a 20gal tote and got tired of temps in the high-70's for 4 days
Switched to 12gal Igloos @ $24/ea and been lovin 66F or less ever since

Good vibes being sent ur way.
Lookin forward to watchin ur grows

I used one of those reflectors that you put on your dash to keep your car cooler, cut it to fit. Mine is way sloppier than yours, but has lowered my res temps by a good 8 degrees. Good luck man !

Flo Grow said:

LR, ur set up is clean and plants look healthy
Lots of ppl have success w/ 5gal bucks and looks like u are too

I started my 1st dwc in a 20gal tote and got tired of temps in the high-70's for 4 days
Switched to 12gal Igloos @ $24/ea and been lovin 66F or less ever since

Good vibes being sent ur way.
Lookin forward to watchin ur grows

Click to expand...

Open minded and yearning for learnin, running with what ya learn.
FGrow get's it.

props FG

What's the good word, LR !?
Ur temps drop, cuz I wanna see some more of them purty plants ya got there ! lol

You should probably keep one bucket un-wrapped as a control bucket, so you can test the difference in rez temperatures...

SmokesLikeBob said:

You should probably keep one bucket un-wrapped as a control bucket, so you can test the difference in rez temperatures...

Click to expand...

Nice SLB,

he needs to see it firsthand,,,,,,

BoomerBloomer57 said:

Nice SLB,

he needs to see it firsthand,,,,,,

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly what I was thinking...so how are your igloo's doin man?

SmokesLikeBob said:

Yes, exactly what I was thinking...so how are your igloo's doin man?

Click to expand...

Just picked up two more and getting myself "prepped" for the nights work. Veg room is rocking out with it's girls out, ha ha.
Flower lab is main focus tonight, I've got some old world indica going in and some more of my girls to get under the next screen.

Trying that perpetual grow. Next transfer is one week away so I'm doing 2 plants every two weeks, harvest starting 1st week of
October. Yeah babee! Octoberfest!

I'll have some pics up in the morning, gotta rip some Pandora up and get my sciencyguykindathingygoing. Find my tinfoil hat and tune in to home,,,,


bb57

ftp

BoomerBloomer57 said:

Just picked up two more and getting myself "prepped" for the nights work. Veg room is rocking out with it's girls out, ha ha.
Flower lab is main focus tonight, I've got some old world indica going in and some more of my girls to get under the next screen.

Trying that perpetual grow. Next transfer is one week away so I'm doing 2 plants every two weeks, harvest starting 1st week of
October. Yeah babee! Octoberfest!

I'll have some pics up in the morning, gotta rip some Pandora up and get my sciencyguykindathingygoing. Find my tinfoil hat and tune in to home,,,,


bb57

ftp

Click to expand...

haha...great to hear your expanding some and going perpetual!!! GL!


SLB

z4qqqbs said:

when you fill your rez use ice

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Won't that shock the roots? Water and ice is usually 40-44 degrees I believe
..I may be wrong but..40s seems a tad bit cold for roots

I use the same shit... reflectix from home depot. One layer of it wasn't really cuttin it, so I did two layers which are keeping my buckets frosty enough to not have probs with Aquashield added. I was using a 3 gallon rubbermaid cooler which was fuckin awesome for temps, but it is something like 16" tall which just isn't working in my 38" grow box, so I had to go back to my 9" tall 2g buckets wrapped in reflectix. I did 2 layers on the bottom of the bucket as well, and a 20oz bottle of ice every 12 hours which is a pain in the ass, but has to be done.

Malevolence said:

I use the same shit... reflectix from home depot. One layer of it wasn't really cuttin it, so I did two layers which are keeping my buckets frosty enough to not have probs with Aquashield added. I was using a 3 gallon rubbermaid cooler which was fuckin awesome for temps, but it is something like 16" tall which just isn't working in my 38" grow box, so I had to go back to my 9" tall 2g buckets wrapped in reflectix. I did 2 layers on the bottom of the bucket as well, and a 20oz bottle of ice every 12 hours which is a pain in the ass, but has to be done.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I did. One is not enough the R value on that stuff is only 3 so two layers will give ya a decent 6R value to help keep temps at bay. I have also used duct insulation which has 6R value as well so one layer of that, but defiantly get two layers around that and with some aluminum tape (i use this stuff by the case).

jokerindustries187 said:

Won't that shock the roots? Water and ice is usually 40-44 degrees I believe
..I may be wrong but..40s seems a tad bit cold for roots

Click to expand...

ice water is 32*, but just add a frozen bottle

superstoner1 said:

ice water is 32*, but just add a frozen bottle

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+1 on iced bottles, you can add all the insulation you want, but if the water is warm they won't get magically cooler. Good insulation + iced bottles = temps under control.

napalmm said:

+1 on iced bottles, you can add all the insulation you want, but if the water is warm they won't get magically cooler. Good insulation + iced bottles = temps under control.

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Right on, I hope that was common sense knowledge. I mean just wrapping the buckets in insulation is not going to lower the temps alone, it will keep them close to where they are at but will eventually rise slightly unless cooled again. I guess some growers probably don't realize that, because they are the ones banking on magic, voodoo and other sorcery to grow their crops.