Temperature questions

ok, so I have a question regarding grow room temperatures. I grow in the basement all year and i live in a northern climate. Winter temps down there are around 55 degrees.

It's obviously not a problem during lights on, the temp is comfortably in the low 70s in the room. Also, I've never really had any problems doing soil grows in this environment. But, now I'm switching to hydro and I'm starting to have some concerns.

Given that the light is off a minimum of 6 hours and a max of 12 and my res is 18 gallons, I'm assuming that my water temp is going to hover around 55 degrees. That's too cold, right?

So the question is really, is it just the water temp that is too cold, or will the air temps cause me trouble too. Again, I haven't had to much trouble with soil, but the yeilds are sometimes lower than I would expect, maybe this is the cause.

The 2 options I have come up with are . . .

1) use a space heater in the room that either has a temp gauge, or have it run opposite the light times so it warms at night (cycle)

2) or, use an aquarium heater to keep the water temperature in the right range.

3) I guess the third option is run both.

Thoughts?

Also, what is the optimal room and water temps for a hydro grow? I've been reading the general consensus is mid 70's for room and 60's for water, yes?

thanks!

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Originally Posted by SaintAlphonzo

ok, so I have a question regarding grow room temperatures. I grow in the basement all year and i live in a northern climate. Winter temps down there are around 55 degrees.

It's obviously not a problem during lights on, the temp is comfortably in the low 70s in the room. Also, I've never really had any problems doing soil grows in this environment. But, now I'm switching to hydro and I'm starting to have some concerns.

Given that the light is off a minimum of 6 hours and a max of 12 and my res is 18 gallons, I'm assuming that my water temp is going to hover around 55 degrees. That's too cold, right?

So the question is really, is it just the water temp that is too cold, or will the air temps cause me trouble too. Again, I haven't had to much trouble with soil, but the yeilds are sometimes lower than I would expect, maybe this is the cause.

The 2 options I have come up with are . . .

1) use a space heater in the room that either has a temp gauge, or have it run opposite the light times so it warms at night (cycle)

2) or, use an aquarium heater to keep the water temperature in the right range.

3) I guess the third option is run both.

Thoughts?

Also, what is the optimal room and water temps for a hydro grow? I've been reading the general consensus is mid 70's for room and 60's for water, yes?

thanks!

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I've been researching this stuff like crazy and after toking i've forgot just about everything i've read. haha

I would run the aquarium heater, buy one specifically for a 20gal size tank and experiment with it until you can get a good temperature range. I think 70deg temps in the res would be sufficient from what i've read. I think. :)

I do know 85deg is optimal for a c02 grow room and they can supposedly get up to 95deg no problems.

What kinda system are you using ?

I recirculate my dwc system - about 25 gal. total and use a titanium aquarium heater and have no problems .

Find out the actual res. temp w/ the lights out for a while .

I read max oxyg. / aeration of H2O happens at about 62 deg .
I see best growth at 72-76 though , any hotter is askin for root rot .

Peace
Crispi :stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 4x4Turbo

I've been researching this stuff like crazy and after toking i've forgot just about everything i've read. haha

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hehehe, i know . . that's the big problem when researching this particular hobby. I pretty much bake out before doing anything, but reading about and thinking about herb makes me want to smoke even more than normal .. :stoned:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 4x4Turbo

I would run the aquarium heater, buy one specifically for a 20gal size tank and experiment with it until you can get a good temperature range. I think 70deg temps in the res would be sufficient from what i've read. I think. :)

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good, that's what I was thinking too, no real reason not to run the aquarium heater . . I only saw 1 at wal-mart today, cheap but fixed at 78 deg. Maybe I'll check the pet store. . .

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Originally Posted by xcrispi

What kinda system are you using ?

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I just set up an ebb & flow, 2x3 with 18 gal res. 70 GPH pump (inherited, may go bigger if need be). 400W MH and looking now for HPS light to help increase the yields and quality. That will either be 400 or 600, not sure yet. 3x3 real space, but the room is a bit bigger.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xcrispi

I recirculate my dwc system - about 25 gal. total and use a titanium aquarium heater and have no problems .

Find out the actual res. temp w/ the lights out for a while .

I read max oxyg. / aeration of H2O happens at about 62 deg .
I see best growth at 72-76 though , any hotter is askin for root rot .

Peace
Crispi :stoned:

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the actual temp right now is about 63 degrees (ambiant and res temps), but we haven't gotten cold yet. By the time I'm flowering the room will fall to 55 at night, so definitely too cold.

So, you keep your water between 72-76?

Can I ask you something about your DWC system? I really like the look of those, and the apparent simplicity and self containment, etc . . how do you go about changing out the water in the res?

I just built the ebb and flow setup but started thinking I might be better off converting one of my bigger rubbermaid containers into a dwc but I haven't been able to figure out how I will change out the water and nutes easily. Don't want to have to lift off the lid. Thought maybe using a pump to drain the old shit and pump in some new shit, but not sure yet . . .really curious to here the answer to that.

Search DWC Club and see my system .

I keep my res . at 70 w/ lights off , but it ends up higher 72 / 76 when lights are on , 2000w heats it up a lil .

You've got the right idea w/ a pump to chg out nutes , unless your running a bigger system theres easier ways of going about it = you'll see in the thread I mentioned .

You'r ebb n flow sys. will be easy to control water temps = a submersible fishtank heater . It's ambient room temps I have a lil more trouble with = I'm in the north too . I've read it's best to keep lights on / off temps within 10 deg. of each other . If the spot gets down to 55 you might need a heater for the room / spot . I try to keep my low temp around 65 . High at 75-78 . It doesn't always happen though .

Peace
Crispi :stoned:

Hi,

I'd get an aquarium heater too be sure its the submersible kind. Walmart has these real small ones made for small tanks that is submersible. Just be sure to check your water temps at least once a week I find that with my fish tanks that the thermastats can creep in either direction.

I am also up north (about 30 mins or so from Canada) and I use a space heater that keeps kicks on at 69 degrees and basically only runs during lights out. When lights are on it sits at about 78 and all working well here. I would say just be carefull how high you set the res heater, I think around the 70-72 range would prob work well for you.