6 site DWC bubble bucket setup (project in progress)

[grassman0420]

Hello GC,

This is to get off of MJboy's thread and possibly earn some Barney kush seeds(or whatever it ends up bein called). but most importantly this is to get some input on wether or not this is a good idea.

The Plan:
I want a 6 site DWC bubble bucket setup that has one resevior and a constant circulation of nutes through all the buckets.

Tools:
Gravity, 6 five gallon buckets, 6 six inch net pots, water pump (yet to determin size), air pump that has 6 outputs, 6 of these circular airstones that lay flat on the bottom of the buckets, drainage tube (yet to determin size), 6 drainage valves, big ass tube for the resevior, and thats all i can think of off the top of my head.

How it "should" work:
The resevior will be located underneith the =buckets and will have the water pump submirsed in the res with one output that is connected by a tube to the bottom of the first bubble bucket on the table above. Once the pump is turned on it will fill the first bucket up to where i have a tube as an overflow drain that is connected to the side of the bucket. Once the res gets high enough it will drain out through the overflow drain and then into the bottom of the next bucket. All of the buckets should be at a level height and each bucket should be made exactly the same in order to keep everything level and flowing good. If I'm correct with my physics gravity should keep it so that all of the buckets fill up one by one and then once the whole system is full the pump in combination with the bubbles should create a nice water flow. I tried to demonstrait this in the pic.
waterflow.jpg

no wierd blue arrows in this one:
setup.jpg

once i actually get building this thing i will take pictures and post them but right now i would love some feedback

[ocitown]

Originally Posted by grassman0420

Hello GC,

This is to get off of MJboy's thread and possibly earn some Barney kush seeds(or whatever it ends up bein called). but most importantly this is to get some input on wether or not this is a good idea.

The Plan:
I want a 6 site DWC bubble bucket setup that has one resevior and a constant circulation of nutes through all the buckets.

Tools:
Gravity, 6 five gallon buckets, 6 six inch net pots, water pump (yet to determin size), air pump that has 6 outputs, 6 of these circular airstones that lay flat on the bottom of the buckets, drainage tube (yet to determin size), 6 drainage valves, big ass tube for the resevior, and thats all i can think of off the top of my head.

How it "should" work:
The resevior will be located underneith the =buckets and will have the water pump submirsed in the res with one output that is connected by a tube to the bottom of the first bubble bucket on the table above. Once the pump is turned on it will fill the first bucket up to where i have a tube as an overflow drain that is connected to the side of the bucket. Once the res gets high enough it will drain out through the overflow drain and then into the bottom of the next bucket. All of the buckets should be at a level height and each bucket should be made exactly the same in order to keep everything level and flowing good. If I'm correct with my physics gravity should keep it so that all of the buckets fill up one by one and then once the whole system is full the pump in combination with the bubbles should create a nice water flow. I tried to demonstrait this in the pic.
Attachment 133576

no wierd blue arrows in this one:
Attachment 133586

once i actually get building this thing i will take pictures and post them but right now i would love some feedback

Id love to see it working but since i now have a 6 BB system ill tell ya why i think things need to be changed around a bit.

1st thing is the alignment of the BBs and the non matching foot print the light would put out if using HIDs(long flouro tubes would work with this set up however its poor lighting for RDWC).

2nd is if a power failure ever happened you would have the water contained in the low res(and remember it would need to be big enough to hold the desired reserves of solution AND the full capacity of all 6 BBs,about 21 gal. using 6" net pots)BUT your plants wouldnt last even with the air disks because they need solution to add DO to the roots and need to be wet.
The solution to this is using a res at the right hight so as the system circulates the res level and the BBs are always the same level so in case of a power failure the roots stay wet and (if you have a batt. power backup hooked up to the air pump you have 24 hrs to fix the problem.)Plants stay healthy.

3rd is the redundantcy of the inline BBs plumbing,its going to be more difficult to keep the solution moving at the same rate as roots fill 6 buckets if ALL 6 are lined up in that series.
I use two seperate return systems (which works very well as the footprint of my buckets also match that of my 1K HID)

You can look at my system if you wish in my thread for ideas and ask questions if you like.

These are just my quick observations so keep that in mind,also the fights comming on soon and im getting f-ud up too.

Love the drawing man!!

[donedeal]

yeah i have a feeling the first bucket would overflow unless you have a weak ass pump. but its early and i cant figure out exactly why im thinking this

[ocitown]

Originally Posted by donedeal

yeah i have a feeling the first bucket would overflow unless you have a weak ass pump. but its early and i cant figure out exactly why im thinking this

Even with the res at the same level and two returns the pump selection is critical so the flow is not too much or not enough,i started with a pro pump 250gph but it was way too much even with my two 3/4" return lines(1.5" lines could work with his system but it still doesent make sence to me with the other issues).

I now use the 250 to circ the chiller to and from my res and a lil Rio$20 mini aquarium pump to do the solution work,takes 5 min to see total changes in pH and ppm adjustments but thats good as the smaller res gets bombarded with the right amt of pH adj chems or nutes(you will know just the right amt to use real soon too)it delivers the higher res consentrations slowly so as not to shock the root system,also saves power and if a partial clog happens the lil pump wont push too much solution to flood.

The "R" before DWC is for recirculating and with the added DO from the air defussers you have a bullet proof system,add a chiller and a batt. back up and you will be hard pressed to find a better system.....Unless like me you add a float in the res to your R/O system and an online pH,ppm and temp meter.

[ocitown]

Pic #5 has just finished its 4th week of 9 and is 21"x3" atm and will proly double to 5-6" round.

The 1K with the best bulbs and the chiller is my deduction as to why this system is kicking so much ass with ZERO problems thus far,all i do is add a few ml of barricade(to raise the pH)every 3 days and add nutes(Lucas system) as needed and AN sups weekly.

As you can see 90% of my time is spent with the soil plants between the hydro system which uses the extra light.

[grassman0420]

Originally Posted by ocitown

Id love to see it working but since i now have a 6 BB system ill tell ya why i think things need to be changed around a bit.

1st thing is the alignment of the BBs and the non matching foot print the light would put out if using HIDs(long flouro tubes would work with this set up however its poor lighting for RDWC).

2nd is if a power failure ever happened you would have the water contained in the low res(and remember it would need to be big enough to hold the desired reserves of solution AND the full capacity of all 6 BBs,about 21 gal. using 6" net pots)BUT your plants wouldnt last even with the air disks because they need solution to add DO to the roots and need to be wet.
The solution to this is using a res at the right hight so as the system circulates the res level and the BBs are always the same level so in case of a power failure the roots stay wet and (if you have a batt. power backup hooked up to the air pump you have 24 hrs to fix the problem.)Plants stay healthy.

3rd is the redundantcy of the inline BBs plumbing,its going to be more difficult to keep the solution moving at the same rate as roots fill 6 buckets if ALL 6 are lined up in that series.
I use two seperate return systems (which works very well as the footprint of my buckets also match that of my 1K HID)

You can look at my system if you wish in my thread for ideas and ask questions if you like.

These are just my quick observations so keep that in mind,also the fights comming on soon and im getting f-ud up too.

Love the drawing man!!

First: Thanks for the input.. this is exactly the kinda thing i need to happen in this thread

Second: are each of your bb's connected seperatly to the res or does all the water pass through each bucket?

Third: I'm goin to use CFL's the whole way and i need it to be in a line like that because of my closet.. it is wide and shallow.. The res technically could be at the same level as all the bb's but i don't see the point to having to level everything out like that (if thats what you are tellin me to do) but i do see why it would be a problem for the first bb on the system if the power were to go out.. but if i put one of those things that makes sure that no water goes "backwards" only "forwards" at the entrance to the first bb if the power were to go out all bb should stay full

last but not least i think that 2 return drainage tubes is a very good idea and one that ill make sure to incorperate in the plans

[ocitown]

Originally Posted by grassman0420

First: Thanks for the input.. this is exactly the kinda thing i need to happen in this thread

Second: are each of your bb's connected seperatly to the res or does all the water pass through each bucket?

Third: I'm goin to use CFL's the whole way and i need it to be in a line like that because of my closet.. it is wide and shallow.. The res technically could be at the same level as all the bb's but i don't see the point to having to level everything out like that (if thats what you are tellin me to do) but i do see why it would be a problem for the first bb on the system if the power were to go out.. but if i put one of those things that makes sure that no water goes "backwards" only "forwards" at the entrance to the first bb if the power were to go out all bb should stay full

last but not least i think that 2 return drainage tubes is a very good idea and one that ill make sure to incorperate in the plans

Not to many ppl have the ability to lower their res unless they raise the BBs,and if you start the series from the top(waterfall effect will just add more DO)and the next four then go lower BB to lower BB on the 6th no need for any chack valve at all.

I have one 3/4" res out line splitting 6 feet to a tee to feed 3 BBs on one and 3 on the other while i use two 3/4" return lines for three BBs each.

The lower the res the more the head pressure and thus the bigger the pump,although you could use one a little bigger and valve it down to flow best for your system opening it if needed as roots may slow it some late in flower.

Good luck,how much CFL watts are each plant getting and will you start them in there or add them for flower only?

[grassman0420]

Originally Posted by ocitown

Not to many ppl have the ability to lower their res unless they raise the BBs,and if you start the series from the top(waterfall effect will just add more DO)and the next four then go lower BB to lower BB on the 6th no need for any chack valve at all.

I have one 3/4" res out line splitting 6 feet to a tee to feed 3 BBs on one and 3 on the other while i use two 3/4" return lines for three BBs each.

The lower the res the more the head pressure and thus the bigger the pump,although you could use one a little bigger and valve it down to flow best for your system opening it if needed as roots may slow it some late in flower.

Good luck,how much CFL watts are each plant getting and will you start them in there or add them for flower only?

ok now i get how your doin it...
i'm plannin on using atleast 100 watts per plant and i'll use 1/2 daylight cfl and half cool white cfl.. i'm only gonna have this as a flower system.. i made different setup for veg.

[ocitown]

Originally Posted by grassman0420

ok now i get how your doin it...
i'm plannin on using atleast 100 watts per plant and i'll use 1/2 daylight cfl and half cool white cfl.. i'm only gonna have this as a flower system.. i made different setup for veg.

Sounds great but add about 33% more red 2200K to them and that mix will be great!!

And remember 1-3" MAX away always,if they like 1" do it but watch closly cause DWC grows fast.Some use 4-8" and that just wastes all the good light,think about HID/HPS in the future if you can.

[grassman0420]

Originally Posted by ocitown

Sounds great but add about 33% more red 2200K to them and that mix will be great!!

And remember 1-3" MAX away always,if they like 1" do it but watch closly cause DWC grows fast.Some use 4-8" and that just wastes all the good light,think about HID/HPS in the future if you can.

thats how i have my current set-up about 2-3 inches but my baby still doesn't grow up that fast.. all i used is bagseed but it only got really wide and like a bush.. its 18inch tall and has an 18 inch diameter.. i'm sure that the purple kush seeds i just got will get a bit taller

[ocitown]

Originally Posted by grassman0420

thats how i have my current set-up about 2-3 inches but my baby still doesn't grow up that fast.. all i used is bagseed but it only got really wide and like a bush.. its 18inch tall and has an 18 inch diameter.. i'm sure that the purple kush seeds i just got will get a bit taller

There still in veg and the low bushy plants will pay off when you go 12/12 and will stretch a foot or more over the hight they are when flowering starts.

[Can-O-Biss]

kinda just skimmed most of the thread but read your plans...looks like a good setup!

lights? what are you using?

htgsupply and nehydroponics are good sites i buy from

htg has the best light deals on the net IMO

of course you could be good on lights already

Lets see this get going! lol

[madman6233]

wow i am using 4 buckets total one res and a 60 gph pump from the res and top feed 3 times a day usually, forgot to set timer and pumped all my water into the last buckets in the line but by keeping 3 buckets with one res only spilled 1 gallon of water so i decided like you i want 6 but im gonna do 2 4 buckets ill have two res but this way i can feed each diff levels too and like rumple says i like the scientist appraoch btw I just germed my own seeds first time ever not killing a male and it worked so kewl little purplish stem and everything wow man!!!! Great genetics makes for incredible highs so i am told!
Ps green is the res three red buckets attached via footer/header idk what ya call it well wont let me post that pic used already it says so peace.

[grassman0420]

Originally Posted by ocitown

There still in veg and the low bushy plants will pay off when you go 12/12 and will stretch a foot or more over the hight they are when flowering starts.

i'm in flower now... take a look.. some buds just started to pop up and the tops are stretchin up fast

[grassman0420]

ok so i have a 6 foot high by 7.5 feet wide with a 2 foot depth... i'm new at this so what kind of lights do you all think? i am running cfl only right now with my first experimental grow and have been happy with them so far but i still don't know if it will give me the dense buds i'm lookin for.. if they do i'll just use cfl, they are cost effective, keep temps easy to manage and are easy to move around.
otherwise what should i look for?