Ok. When i got started i bought a General Hydro Rainforest Aeroponic system. I didn't know any better, it was clever, it had everything needed, and i couldn't afford anything from Current Culture. It came. Everything was there, I filled it with water in the kitchen and started it up. Nothing. It made an intermittent whirring sound but it sure as hell wasn't able to take care of plants aeroponically. Turns out GH had changed vendors in Asia and they were sending out bad power cords... It didn't seem right to me either, power cords? Whatever... I had seedlings with no place to go. Out of necessity, i bought an air pump and made it DWC. I later bought another and added the R to DWC.
To be fair, i didnt have the room finished, i jumped the gun. I added an air conditioner. got everything in and sorted, with the outside air at 106. Room temps were coming down. But water temp was still 84. Not a huge deal since the roots haven't hit water yet but there's no future in it. I bought a chiller, expedited shipping. It shows up and sounded like a box full of mason jars. My chiller was chooched. It got sent back. Water temp is still only good for cooking lobsters and i had no way of getting it on the right track.
I did the following... I cut a 6 inch hole in the lid of my res. And set a inline fan in the hole, then I just set the lid back on the tank so the inlet air could escape. I wrapped a piece of airhose around the fan and silver taped it in place. 6 inch fan will fall through a 6 inch hole cut with a holesaw. It took 10 degrees off of my res temp in 12 hours. No shit. I added a piece of ducting to the fan and ran it to my AC. During my last grow (Ayahuasca Purple)when I tried to get my plants to change color. I turned my AC way down at night, and at one point my res. Got down to 59 degrees.
This is a trick used with aquariums. I worked for me. And im thinking it might help others that dont want to spend $300 on a chiller.
If you run your water at 67 or above be sure your tank has a nice air pump and airstones/diffuser. I run 2 65l per minute air pumps and 2 12 inch diffusers one set per 17 gallon bucket. This is not only important for disolved O2 (there is a limit on dissolved O2 in water by the way) but the little splashes that the bubbles make when the bubbles pop is a real plus. This action is very important in DWC as we all know. Another good thing about this is power. Chillers dont sip electricity, it's like adding a dorm fridge to your system. My fan cost $19.
