water cooling

[co-d]

not sure where this post belongs.

was wondering if anyone had any product info on water coolers. small op so only need <50 gallons cooled.

any other clever methods?

[midwestbluntman]

I assume you are talking about res water cooling.
I picked up a dorm room sized refridgerator and had planed to modify it by running a coil of copper line threw the back wrapped around the lil icetray thingy and back out to the res with a small coil in the res,then pump water threw the copper lines.in therory the water would flow threw the lines and chill as it went threw the coil in the fridge then transfer the chilled water threw the coil in the res.does that make any sense?

[co-d]

i know exactly what you are talking about. too bad my old dorm fridge is 400 miles away.

i think that would work very well on a small scale. since college just got out around these parts, i think i am going to hit up the dorms and look for some throw away fridges. ill keep you posted.

[Naturalhi]

Another way would be to use evaperative cooling, but only if you live in an area that is humid already this wouldn't work.

1. A pond fountain; would work up to about 30% humidity @80F.

2. Get a tomato trellis (or equivelent) wrap it with a water cooler pad, then pump water to the top and allow to run down through the pad and cool by evap. one prob I foresee is losing nutes to the cooling pad and water to evap.

Where we live we have the opposite problem, remember "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San francisco=>) been trying to use aquarium heaters but the first broke when changing the water (guess it got too hot) the next might have been too small, 'cause it quit working also:>\

[wakka]

we've used twenty ounce diet coke bottle before. take off the label, filled them about two thirds of the way up with water, throw them in the freezer. when they be froze, give them a quick dunk in water bleach mix. cold water rinse, toss them in and wham, lower temps. and it wont take long to figure out how many bottles you need, really easy to fine tune.

if you are going for a bigger res, you could use like one or two two liter bottle of diet coke. ice melts slowly, and you can trade them out really easy. air at the top of the bottle makes them stay at the top. wanna guess how we learned that the hard way dude?

but, and this is critical, it has to be diet coke.

please, tell me you understand that it has to be diet coke.....

[wakka]

Another way would be to use evaperative cooling, but only if you live in an area that is humid already this wouldn't work.

1. A pond fountain; would work up to about 30% humidity @80F.

2. Get a tomato trellis (or equivelent) wrap it with a water cooler pad, then pump water to the top and allow to run down through the pad and cool by evap. one prob I foresee is losing nutes to the cooling pad and water to evap.

Where we live we have the opposite problem, remember "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San francisco=>) been trying to use aquarium heaters but the first broke when changing the water (guess it got too hot) the next might have been too small, 'cause it quit working also:>\try putting a heating pad next to your res. way adjustable temps, and you can move it when you are changing water. wouldn't put it underneath the res.

[co-d]

why diet coke, i dont get it.

good idea to freeze those small bottles. i have been using a few ice trays full of ice to lower.

do i really need diet coke bottles? diet soda is bad for you and i dont drink that shit

[Fing_57]

my res is out in the sun along with the buckets
70* water temps on 100* day (checked yesterday:D ) ...... air stone and a drip sys mister

35gl water and tea tanks are the same


res was VERY HOT befor I added the airstone & mister ..... 90* on a mild day

so it should work indoors on 50gl

[wakka]

heh, no worries about the diet coke part dude. what ever screw on bottle works.

adding ice cubes adds water directly to the chow water. it dilutes it. and it's probably not too accurate of a method.

frozen bottle don't add anything but cold to the mix dude. and a nice chunk of ice in a bottle probably lasts longer too. I sure wouldn't want to be making ice cubes forever.

drink six bottles of water and you have more than enough to keep a nice rotation going in the freezer.

[wakka]

heh, no worries about the diet coke part dude. what ever screw on bottle works.

adding ice cubes adds water directly to the chow water. it dilutes it. and it's probably not too accurate of a method.

frozen bottle don't add anything but cold to the mix dude. and a nice chunk of ice in a bottle probably lasts longer too. I sure wouldn't want to be making ice cubes forever.

drink six bottles of water and you have more than enough to keep a nice rotation going in the freezer.

[Naturalhi]

try putting a heating pad next to your res. way adjustable temps, and you can move it when you are changing water. wouldn't put it underneath the res.

Hey Wakka, tried the heating pad, but the one I own is one of those that only raises the temp a few degrees over ambient, but been looking at reptile stones as an alternative:>)

[Fing_57]

fish tank heater

[co-d]

hey i was kidding about the ice trays, but yea, the ice bottle method is working good. 1litre bottles is the key

[Naturalhi]

fish tank heater

Tried that! Burned out 2 of them!>\. The first one blew up literally, when it overheated while the water was in the tray instead of tank,>( the other just stopped heating=>O-well! I'll figger it out before it warms up next winter:>)