WILL THIS WORK? Recirculating Deep Water Culture with NO reservoir only water chiller

Hey everybody!
I am a very new to this site and also new grower(very excited)
so i am currently running 3 5gallon DWC buckets (non-recirculating) on a raised shelf in a 2'x4'x7' grow tent.
i also have a 600w cooltube, 6" inline fan with carbon filter, full climate control (air temp and RH) plus everything else for a decent grow-op.
the buckets on the shelf gives me an under (floor) compartment for things like "air pump, space heater, nutes, tools, etc."

but putting my buckets on the raised shelf has made my water temps raise to about 74 degrees from them no longer sitting on the cool floor.
i know 68 degrees is the ideal water temp for DWC and RDWC and 74 is just a little to scary for me to mess around with . (dont want root rot)

so i have come up with an idea to chill my buckets with a water chiller while having no MAINE reservoir.

i am no artist, i apologize but this is a simple drawing of my idea and i would really appreciate any input on the idea and if you think it would work right before i go drilling holes in all my buckets and possible ruining them.




my questions are:

will the chiller on the floor/underneath the shelf create any kind of water pressure from buckets being higher i should be aware of?
will the bucket connecting hoses on the lower part of the buckets allow for even water displacement between the 3??
should bucket connecting hoses be at water level instead?
would this be more of a under current system now?

anybodys help, input or comments would be GREATLY appreciated.

please let me know what you think.


and for anybody who is wondering i am currently growing
1x Dutch Passion Think Different AUTO
1x Buddha Magnum AUTO
1x Royal Queen Seeds Northern Light AUTO
all 16 days from sprout.

using full "FloraNova Expert Recirculating" nutrient regimen

It looks like the pump would have to work harder pumping up hill, on second look at the diagram it may not. Can you put the chiller on the same level as the buckets??

I'd recommend having your water pump before the chiller (Pushing water through it) as they are pretty inefficient at sucking water.

Can't imagine you'd have problems with water pressure by putting the pump and the chiller lower than the buckets as the chillers are usually made for raised aquariums and sit on the floor.

if the chiller is lower than the buckets, the water will flow down hill and the pump will not have to pull

Can't imagine going through all the trouble of creating rdwc but not putting a res. Changing the water would sure be a pain. Also, by adding a big res outside the room, you'll keep water temps down and not have to add to it so often.

Add a res.. just my opinion. Your system looks like it would work fine otherwise.

Greetings:
I know from experience that finding a affordable none submersible pump is hard I have not found one for under a hundred dollars, if you find one please let me know. I always wanted to do a similar system but could never find a pump, as for the water level you will problem need to experiment a little to get the right size connecting hose/pipe to keep the first bucket from over flowing, and I wonder if by having the connecting pipe at the bottom only would this cause a nutrient imbalance in all but the first bucket I guess you could use food coloring to experiment to find the best connecting pipe size and location. Maybe putting the connecting pipes from the first bucket to the top of the second bucket and doing the same for the last bucket, and to keep the same level between buckets you could run a hose/pipe at what water level you wanted from one bucket to the other I think this would help keep any one bucket from over flowing. But changing your nutrients would be a real pain unless you had a pipe at the bottom of each bucket with a hose quick connector in the pipe to the chiller then you could drain all three buckets at the same time. Good luck I hope you can build your system without too many problems.

You look good, I'd move that third bucket's drain to the top (wherever you want the water level).