Bubble Bucket help please trying to set up 5-6 interconnected

[hookyouup]

Hello i am going to be setting up a bubble bucket system 5-6 plants and am wondering if you guys have figured out a way to interconnect the buckets and make all in one system?

I saw a few posts talking about it but all the pics i cant see and the instructions arent clear. ( maybe pictures are too old ?)


I am basiclly talking about having a single tank with nutes and be able to regulate the water level of all the buckets.

Setting up one bucket is easy i just cant figure out how i would distribute the water and regulate water levels with 5-6 buckets.

Would i put airstones in every bucket or can i put the airstones in one bucket and distrubute it?



Any adivce is apprcaite will be taken seriously and i will be starting a grow log with pics once the project is started so you are not wasting your time.


I am making a run to home depot tonight
Here is my shopping list

Please feel free to recommend anything that would help

5-6 buckets 3-5 gallon with lid
duct tape
aquarium air pump
air line
T-connector
air stones
6" nursery pot /net pot
rockwool/gravel/rocks
pH/ppm/EC meter
nutes


Anything i am missing or think would be worth it ?

HPS will be here is a few days any lights you can recommend that i could use for
the begining of the grow that would hold me over till the hps arrives but that i could possibly intergrate later? i know flora but what wattage and what kind of light

I am going to be ordering a 400-600 w hps with agro son light

Any help would be greatly apprcaited sorry for all the questions.

P.S Growing nirvana seeds Hindu kush and Blue mystic

[Num]

visit the plumbing dept & get some bulkhead compression (or push-in) connectors.
dead easy - just put a connector at the bottom of each bucket & join them up.
Don't forget to add a drain tap

do not scrimp on airstones & pumps. The bigger the airstones & pump, the frothier the water & the bigger / healthier the plant will be.
It's worth buying 2 pumps & connecting them both up so u still have air if 1 pump fails.
If u lose a pump, ur plants will die within 48hrs, so at least have a spare 1 to hand.

Cheap pumps & small airstones are false economy.

Just a point about joining the tubs together......... I know it makes ph'ing etc a lot easier, but u will find that some plants need a lower strength feed than others.
Some plants' roots will develop faster than others & u will be stuck with the same level in all your buckets.

It's really not hard or overly time consuming to maintain 6 buckets individually.
Mix & ph your feeds beforehand - undiluted. Then add to the fresh water to get the ec u want for each separate tank.

If u are joining the tubs together & adding the undiluted feed to 1 bucket, i can more or less guarantee u will kill that plant as it will take a while for the feed to circulate & mix properly with the water in the other buckets.

[hookyouup]

The mixing of the nutes is not a issue it would be ph balanced and mixed before being applied .

Also the way i am thinkin i would have 5-6 buckets with indiviual lines running to each bucket and a return to the main tank.

The issue i am having is i dont know if the plant will be ok with just oxygenized water or if it needs a air stone in each bucket. I am realizing a drip system may be closer to what i am thinking.

I just think setting up 6 pumps and 6 airstones is not very effcient. Plus the mixing and dumping of 6 buckets is a little much when i could just empty the main tank flush the system with water and only have to worry about ph balancing cleaning one bucket.

This is were my lack of experience comes in

1 Can 6 plants all share the name nutes ?
2. Will the plants be ok as long as the water is constantly oxygenized or need there own airstones?

And you mentioned the plants not all needing the same care... dont people run 20+ plants off single hydro systems? or am missing somthing?

[hookyouup]

http://www.skunkforums.co.uk/showthr...=bubble+bucket

This is very simple drawings but i have a aidea of my options now thanks for your help.

[chimera]

I currently run a bubbler and I believe the one thing you don't want to skimp on is the airstone. More air better roots, better root system BIGGGGG plants. As for multiple plants on the same solution. I do have 3 in a 18gal storage box(cost $4 at dollar general). I run three air pumps in mine. Here's a link to pics of my current grow.

http://forum.grasscity.com/attachmen...001_edited.jpg

By the way, I think you will have an easier grow if you keep them seperated, I'm constantly having to adjust, one plant keeps wanting alittle more mag while the rest are happy without. So its a juggling act.

[senior_ganj]

Get yourself a rubbermaid container. Instead of having to connect all the different buckets, you can just fit four plants in one rubbermaid, just get a sgood airpump and run two into the rubbermaid, just make sure they have two spots to hook up hoses, put one under each, and ur good to go. IMO, this is 20x easier than setting up a bunch of buckets, not to mention a space saver.

[hookyouup]

Ok i have figured it out i just need a multi port air pump and
each bucket gets a air stone and have the buckets connected to a main tank.

Just have to figure out how to regulate the water level.

The reason i want the extra water tank is so that i can maintain a set water level right below the net cup.

[hookyouup]

Posted that before i saw your comments. Thank you very much for reply i was getting worried. Thanks for the tips. still havent decided. I get what your saying about the plants not all needing the same food but i am starting with 5-6 plants but plan on doing 20+ later. I want a system that is easy and care free. So the way i see it 5 plants do fine and one is struggling its gone.

And after this first batch ill be cloning so only the strong will survive anyway. so i need somthing that will support 20 plants down the road and there is no way i can individually maintain 20 diffrent buckets.

So i am willing to experiment now so i can automate as much as possible for down the road.

Should have shared that first. I love the results of the bubble buckets but maybe i have the wrong setup in mind for the amount of plants i want to grow.

[hookyouup]

Ok i like the rubbermain container idea and either have the cups sit above the lid or have them float. Any ideas on these ?

[senior_ganj]

Cut holes in the top and then have the net pots sit in there. Dierwolf had a journal where he had a rubbermaid bubble bucket set up.

[chimera]

Hey, I was thinking, what you really need is to add a circulating water pump. And I'd put 2 airstones per bucket, one fails your plant still lives.

[Num]

airstones don't fail m8 - air pumps do tho.

[Chupacabraa]

Originally Posted by hookyouup

Posted that before i saw your comments. Thank you very much for reply i was getting worried. Thanks for the tips. still havent decided. I get what your saying about the plants not all needing the same food but i am starting with 5-6 plants but plan on doing 20+ later. I want a system that is easy and care free. So the way i see it 5 plants do fine and one is struggling its gone.

And after this first batch ill be cloning so only the strong will survive anyway. so i need somthing that will support 20 plants down the road and there is no way i can individually maintain 20 diffrent buckets.

So i am willing to experiment now so i can automate as much as possible for down the road.

Should have shared that first. I love the results of the bubble buckets but maybe i have the wrong setup in mind for the amount of plants i want to grow.

Build yourself a controller. Easy and cheap. This is the link to GH version http://www.generalhydroponics.com/ge...ontroller.html

[ocitown]

All BB set ups should have a control bucket(for one or ten)the control bucket size will depend on how many BB's you have going and how your add back procedure is done(i use a float from r/o which is always adding water).

Using a lil pump to circulate makes your DWC into a RDWC and is highly recommended(i also use a chiller which splashes back into the res/control bucket for added DO.

All BB's with plants also have an air disk,if the air goes off the waterfall and water pump will work alone as will the air if the water pump fails(neither ever did).

I have an online ppm/pH meter on the wall and all i do is read it everyday and add in a lil nutes to 1200ppm.

BTW,i grew for 4 months without EVER changing the solution,during flush i did twice.

[Kai]

I'd just say buy a 20gal rubbermaid for under $10, with lid, and cut your holes for ALL plants in the lid. add a hole for your air tubing and water/nutes on a top corner, throw under a light, plug it all in...good to go.

Takes up less space, is easy to do...

Only problem is plant specific problems...but really, if you are going to use seeds, soil those and take clones for the reservoir. itll take an extra month but will make it more seamless and less need to have separate res's since they are all the same.

You could even make 2 tubs, 1 for each strain.

Very simple, very large yield, for what it is.

Your going to want some blue spectrum for the initial 18/6 vegging, so grab a few compact fluorescents and put those next to the plants, hanging from the...wherever.

Good luck!