Hello all, just wanted to share with you a two site undercurrent inspired system I've been working on. This will be my first time running a RDWC as well as my first time using 600w light output. Please give your opinions and let me know of any problems I might run into. Thanks for looking!
Looks good! I would raise the air pump off the ground with something just in case of a leak, god forbid.
Looks good, what did you use for seals and have you tested for leaks? Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
Thanks Steve, story for the late reply. I ordered 2" uniseals and ran it for 24hrs in the tub for leaks. None so far.
Just saw that your using a 600 watt one, what I've noticed in my past grows when using a high power light like that, the plants will stretch toward the light then get a flimsy and have a chance to fall over. What I just started doing was using a couple cfl bulbs to get it going then switch to my MH. I've noticed this grow my seedlings haven't stretched and got a good center structure going on. It may be the genetics that it didn't stretch or whatever but I only have had one grow starting the cfls so I dot have a lot to back up that theory. Sent from my iPhone using Grasscity Forum
I hung my air pump from shock cord and it helps alot with noise and vibration. Those pumps can be obnoxious.
Looks good. I'd just echo the above, the pump is in a danger zone on the floor, from leaks but also if the air pump fails it can siphon water back through the air lines. Hang it from a bungee cord works well. Is the water pump safe to get wet? You may want to raise that too Is the pump pumping water from just the one bucket? It looks like you have a feed going to both. If this is correct you could have the main flow bypassing the one bucket
Oh wait I see the pump is taking water from the pipe joining the two buckets, I didn't spot that, I suspect that will be fine then. I honestly don't want to piss on your work because clearly you have done a tidy job, but wouldn't have it been easier to use just one large reservoir? Like a 145 litre RUB with two holes in the lid or something?
Thanks for the advice everybody! The pump I'm using can be used in line or submerged. The first bucket splits and feeds both grow buckets through a t-pipe. Then both buckets are connected to the water pump through another t-pipe.
You mean by using a larger nutrient tank? I guess I just stuck to this specific design based on the research I did on RDWC and undercurrent hydroponics. In theory I guess all three buckets are recirculating nutrient tanks.
Yeah, nothing wrong with your set up. RDWC is great system. I probably would have had the nutrient solution going through each bucket in turn and back to the header tank. Just so I know it's fully circulating. But because the feeder pipes are yours are so wide I'm sure you won't get any troubles. If I'm honest I'm not a huge fan of under current RDWC. I prefer overflow. I made an undercurrent once and it sprang a small leak. The whole system emptied out ruining my wooden floor and killing the plants. My fault of course. I should have made sure it couldn't leak. With overflow RDWC if you did get a leak, only the header tank would empty, leaving each bucket full. But both have their advantages and disadvantages. The single nutrient reservoir I mentioned didn't necessarily have to be bigger than your 3, but as it's just the one and so no water pump or pipes it's very unlikely to spring a leak and of course easier to build lol. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying one system is better than another, just different advantages that's all
I would recommend that you light proof the PVC pipe, and check out this post if you haven't already read about it. http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-growing/903852-cure-root-rot-dwc-ewc-tea-find-out-how.html Otherwise you have a good looking system!