Water chiller for a single GHE Waterfarm

Hi there,

I am currently assembling a new DIY grow cabinet. This is also going to be the first time I am tipping my toes in the words of hydroponics.

Due to living in an old house under the roof with lots of window fronts, the temperatures in my apartment are just out of the comport zone in the cold months. Let’s not talk about summer, gave up growing during those months. AC’s are not a thing in my country - thanks Greta.

I intend to grow a single plant (scrog).
So I planned cramming a single GHE Waterfarm into my 60x56x200cm (2ftx1,84ftx6.56ft?) cabinet and cool it down with a water chiller.

Already ordered this one here because I got a good deal on it:


But since I am completely new to hydroponics I’ve got a few questions:


1. Did I choose a viable hydroponic system considering my confined space? Any other suggestions?

2. Opinions about the chiller I ordered? Will the Waterfarm have enough water for the chiller to work with? Will it be cooling constantly?
I had a look at the bigger Aquafarm as well, but it’s stealing more height

3. What flow rate should the waterpump have? I don’t plan to submerge it into the reservoir, as I like to save more root space. I was having a look at either one of those:


or



4. If I should order the small Waterfarm, is it possible to place the chiller inside the cabinet? According to the manual, the chiller has an active hot air exhaust, wich is not meant to be, but maybe could be let out of the cabinet through a separate hole?

Fighting heat inside a cabinet without AC is going to be a battle no matter how you cut it. For every bit you cool the water you'll have to have someway of dealing with the additional heat produced in the air. Is getting at least a small AC unit (either a window or portable sort you can exhaust out a window) an option as well?

Oh yeah I forgot to mention I have one of those mobile 2 hose ac units for the absolute temperature peaks. Under normal circumstances I would just need to get the nutrient solution cooled down to about 2-3oC under ambient temperature to meet the acceptable side of the spectrum.

no offense but you spent way too much money to cool down 2 gallons in a waterfarm.

i don't chill my WF's but you probably could have gotten by with a tiny Peltier cooler for much, much less money.

rkymtnman said:

no offense but you spent way too much money to cool down 2 gallons in a waterfarm.

i don't chill my WF's but you probably could have gotten by with a tiny Peltier cooler for much, much less money.

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Yeah I tend to agree with you. And if I were going to be throwing money at a temperature problem, I'd look at spending the money first on air conditioning rather than a water chiller.

Still though, all things considered: even overspending a lot to grow your own plant(s) for your own needs can be worth it in the longer term, depending on personal situation. Especially if you account for situations where people might not want to risk buying or have reliable connections to buy from.

ZenWolf said:

Yeah I tend to agree with you. And if I were going to be throwing money at a temperature problem, I'd look at spending the money first on air conditioning rather than a water chiller.

Still though, all things considered: even overspending a lot to grow your own plant(s) for your own needs can be worth it in the longer term, depending on personal situation. Especially if you account for situations where people might not want to risk buying or have reliable connections to buy from.

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i don't think you can pump water that slowly.
and i don't see how a pump won't suck the WF dry before the water gets back from the chiller.

oh well, not my 370 Euros.

Budget is not a problem + I want the tech . Isn’t overcomplicating part of the hobby? It just has to work in the end.

The chillers manufacturer states, that it’s suitable for aquariums ranging from 50 liters up to 300 (13 - 80 gal). So I’m wondering if the minimum amount is a technical necessity, or if they wouldn’t think anyone would use a chiller in an even smaller tank where most people use ice bottles anyways.

I know that getting a regular AC unit would be the way to go, but the house is 200+ years old, im not even allowed to have the mailbox that I like.

Player3 said:

Budget is not a problem + I want the tech . Isn’t overcomplicating part of the hobby? It just has to work in the end.

The chillers manufacturer states, that it’s suitable for aquariums ranging from 50 liters up to 300 (13 - 80 gal). So I’m wondering if the minimum amount is a technical necessity, or if they wouldn’t think anyone would use a chiller in an even smaller tank where most people use ice bottles anyways.

I know that getting a regular AC unit would be the way to go, but the house is 200+ years old, im not even allowed to have the mailbox that I like.

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Yeah I can relate to the hobbyist/tinkerer mentality. That's why I got attracted to hydroponics in the first place.

But yeah, I don't know too much about using a chiller with such low volume. rkymtnman pointed out some potential pitfalls that will probably surround flow rate and a pump... plus I'm wondering if you have to go on the lowest/slowest end of flow rate, if the chiller might work too well and get you suboptimal in water temperature.

Edit to add though - might be worth checking out some computer modding forums though since overclockers use chillers of the same size to cool GPU/CPUs... and that's relatively low volume compared to what you'd have in even a single site hydro system.

ZenWolf said:

Yeah I can relate to the hobbyist/tinkerer mentality. That's why I got attracted to hydroponics in the first place.

But yeah, I don't know too much about using a chiller with such low volume. rkymtnman pointed out some potential pitfalls that will probably surround flow rate and a pump... plus I'm wondering if you have to go on the lowest/slowest end of flow rate, if the chiller might work too well and get you suboptimal in water temperature.

Edit to add though - might be worth checking out some computer modding forums though since overclockers use chillers of the same size to cool GPU/CPUs... and that's relatively low volume compared to what you'd have in even a single site hydro system.

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That’s some good advice. I think I’m gonna dig a little in those overclocking forums.

Although I just saw the same model I ordered on a webshop which caters to the overclocking community and the article description said something along the lines of: don’t forget to order plenty of distilled water as well.

So the water farm holds 15 liters of water, let’s just say the chiller drinks 3 just to function. Why wouldn’t I add additional 3 liters to the reservoir. From my understanding the water gets recirculated through the chiller 24/7 if the compressor is cooling or not. I think so, because you need to buy a pump separately and I can’t find any in- or outlets on the body of the chiller which suggests that it is gonna turn the pump in and off via a thermostat.

Im not an aquarium guy, but when you use the chiller for that purpose I would think most would use it in line with the regular aquarium filter/pump to avoid a cable and tubing mess. That would mean if the temperature of the tank is optimal the pump would turn off and the filter would be put out of use. Not good.

So does that mean I effectively expanded my reservoir volume to 18 liters?

Im completely talking out off my ass right know. Never seen a water chiller live in action.


Recommender flow rate of the chiller is 200 to 1.000 L/h. The pumps I selected deliver 270 or 300 l/h.

I have never used one but you could try one of these......

.

Player3 said:

So does that mean I effectively expanded my reservoir volume to 18 liters?

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Well yeah - whatever volume is in the lines/piping to and from and the chiller itself would become part of the total system volume.

Player3 said:

Im completely talking out off my ass right know. Never seen a water chiller live in action.


Recommender flow rate of the chiller is 200 to 1.000 L/h. The pumps I selected deliver 270 or 300 l/h.

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I'm wondering if that flow rate is low enough you could modify use of the top feed ring for WaterFarms by putting it in upside down and feeding it with the outflow from the chiller through the top of the WaterFarm?

Im gonna look into that! I think at this point I just need all this stuff to arrive so I can have a real world look at it to better grasp how everything is working.

I was thinking to put some pvc connectors on a 35l (9,25gal) insulated picnic cooler to keep temperatures more stable. I could even simulate the water flow cambers of an professional reservoir by gluing acrylic glass squares to the cooler like this:

Does this sound like an option? Where would you place the pump in this cycle of DWC-Pot, chiller and nutrient reservoir?

Read this to get an idea of what a stand alone waterfarm can do.. Pineapple Express G13 Lab's Seed to Harvest | Rollitup Complicating something so simple as a WF the first time you use it is not the road to success. Kinda like packing your own parachute for your first jump..

mytwhyt said:

Read this to get an idea of what a stand alone waterfarm can do.. Pineapple Express G13 Lab's Seed to Harvest | Rollitup Complicating something so simple as a WF the first time you use it is not the road to success. Kinda like packing your own parachute for your first jump..

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To be fair, this is just a harmless hobby for a lot of us. Unlike skydiving where not getting something right or optimal will turn you into a dirt dart.

Don't worry, you made a good investment into that water cooler. I've got the same one and its over 12 years old, second hand and still works perfectly! I paired it with an Eheim Universal Pump (the smallest one, think its about 300L/min) and just leave it running 24/7 to cool my res of about 30L. This adds the added benefit or flowing the nutrients water over the roots reducing stagnation and encouraging growth. I think the actual compartment in the chiller which stores water is only around a liter so I wouldn't worry too much about using a small res as long as its not tiny.

A couple of things to consider:

If the ambient temperature of the room where the chiller is located gets lower than what you want the res temperature to be: You may want to invest in either a temperature switch to turn off the water pump, or an aquarium heater so the res temperature doesn't drop too low and slow growth.

The water chiller is quite loud and produces a bit of heat when its' compressor is on. You probably want to keep it outside of your cupboard if possible.