What system to go with?

So ive been pondering for a couple years about my potential next grow and im new to hydroponics and have a few concerns about heat.

I would love to run a DWC or aeroponics but im concerned as im from australia and the temperatures for the res are always going to be around 25-30c if im running hydroponics.

Heat being an issue and so is the cost of power for cooling, what sort of system would best suit me and is it still possible to run a DWC with my water temps?
 

wwfjdraw

Active Member
I'm not an expert yet on growing. But I'll do my best to answer your question. When choosing what kind of hydroponic system to do you have many options. Personally I believe that the easiest way to grow with hydroponics runs to two categories in regard to easiness. So if ease is what your looking for I recommend either DWC or 420 pots. Both are extremely easy to set up, and maintain. With both you never have to worry about over or under watering. With the pots you don't have to worry about anything breaking down, or using any electricity so if there's a power outage you'll be unaffected. The for 420 pots allow you to use coco which is good, and with dwc, a tub an air stone, a pump, net pots, and clayeton and your good to go. I never considered doing anything else because set up with these systems couldn't be easier. As for nutrients I again only can recommend two period. The first being AN with PH perfect tech. Or dyna because dyna seems to be so good that if it's not the best it seems to be recommended as one of the best, with promising results and potential. Dyna is also simple to use as well without having to mix two many bottles together from their products for feeding. With dyna you also save big on money, in fact I think they are the cheapest nutrients out there.
 

wwfjdraw

Active Member
Or you might instead. To just go with Dwc and use coco with the pots. Or 420 pots and throw a little air stone into the reservoir.
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
with temps that high you're gonna have issues. I use coolers to beat the heat. drop in a chunk of ice and it's good for a couple days even in a hot room.
 

hehehemann

Well-Known Member
Also i would suggest running chemical nutes if you do go hydro. I use the aero rail system (harvest a pound every 3 weeks thread) with pool shock to keep all nasties at bay. So far using the pool shock in all my reservoirs including the cloner I have had zero issues after a previous spell of constant problems. Here is a link https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=219683 Hope they have this type of stuff over there. Its been a life saver in the summer for me.
 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
I have done hydro with drip, high pressure, bubble, top spray & drain. My next grow will be 21st Century Drip. See my thread for youtube link. I will be combining it with larger gph pump to create more of a spray
 

mattisreal420

Well-Known Member
Hi, first off itis very possible for you to run a DWC type system, despite the heat. Now youcan potentially go with any type of hydroponic system and with the right preparationand environment the heat will never become an issue with your water temps.

I`ll go overquickly what are a few things you can do to keep your water temps in check in aDWC type system

1) Always make sure that there is absolutely nolight penetrating to the water, this will over time heat your water upgradually and also cause you some algae and other types of res relatedproblems. The solution to this would be to use light reflective (or other) tapeto properly seal your dwc bucket or system all together.
2) You can totally surround your entire DWC system orbuckets with light reflective tape, Mylar, or poly plastic; this is drasticallyreduce the heating of your water.
3) Change the res more frequently (labor some buteffective)
4) Another thing you could do is buy a waterchilling type system, there are all types and prices, and some use very littlepower.
Additional I would also go here for a lot more info on thisand more possible solutions to your problem, and any other hydroponic relatedproblem; plus they have a 12 month live support with any growing related question
 

Oo S0uP oO

Active Member
ebb and flow produces very good results, has higher tolerance to heat related res problems, and is very easy and cheap to set up if you do it your self. Once everything is in line its almost labor free. Simply pH your solution regularly make sure your topping off your res to avoid climbing ppm (these two chores take me 5 min a day) and every 7-10 days change out your res and clean your system (this process takes me roughly an hour but only cause of my OCD) if you cant devote 1 1/2 hours a week to your garden your in the wrong hobby. If you do a search on google or you tube there should be plenty of links on how to set this system up your self instead of paying out the ass. The only two things you NEED from a hydro store is a set of ebb and flow fittings for your tray (Under 10$) and a water pump (Got my 396gph for less than 20$) you could get the tubing and misc fittings from there also but to save money go to Home Depot or lowes and look in the micro irrigation or pond section (I also use concrete mixing trays as my tables to save bout 70$ each one over the hydro store). To further avoid heat issues and because your res would be seperate you could use cheap 50l coolers from walmart as your reservoir (54$) and just drop some frozen bottles in there every once in a while to keep it SUPER under control. Goodluck, there are many options but if you follow this plan I think it will give you a very high chance of consistent success.-S0uP
 

Mechmike

Well-Known Member
G'day Mate!
Since you're in Australia, check out this stuff. http://www.sandaproducts.com.au/sanda_products_003.htm

I live in the US and I pay a premium for their Hydrofungicide. It was developed in Australia for use in hydroponics at the high temperatures you see there. For aeroponics, DWC and NFT there is nothing I have found better to keep the root zone healthy. My systems are all aeroponic. I use Hydrofungicide from start to finish. You will still need to keep your reservoir temperature as close to 20c as possible because warm water doesn't carry enough oxygen to support root function. You can get away with higher (like 25c) if you supplement with horticultural or food grade H2O2.
 
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