Opinons on GH WaterFarm?

I was in your exact same situation 2 months ago when I decided to start growing a 2 plant hydro scrog. I started with two waterfarms and ended up just building my own Recirculating DWC which promotes faster growth. The reason I did this is because I want to grow very large plants and the Waterfarms work great...like a modified DWC that promotes super fast veg growth...however, the waterfarm resovoirs can only hold about 2.5 gallons of water each, and once you have a large root ball after a month or two of veg you will be having to refill the res every single day. This is not good when you have a screen on the plants, it becomes nearly impossible to lift up the waterfarm netpot to add water or nutes without disrupting the scrog net. 

Give me some more details, like how long you want to veg, lights and room size, and most importantly, budget. If money is not a huge issue, and you really don't feel like building anything yourself there are options I can show you. I'd love to help you since I just went through this whole thing myself!!

Here's my grow documented, you can see that they did great in the waterfarms but once I switched them to this new system they really flourished and maintenance is so much easier. RDWC will save your back a lot of trouble.
http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-growing/1348176-kushlattes-1-grow-rdwc-400w-scrog.html

 

Hi,

I'm on my second grow with the water farm and have been contemplating building a less labor intensive system. I couldn't agree with you more. It's tough having to mess with the bucket everyday. Especially since I just had back surgery in July! I'm so impressed with your ingenuity in building the "Waterloo" as you so aptly named! It will undoubtably keep the temps in check during the summer months. I fought temperatures all summer! Everyone becomes a better gardener in the winter! I would be very grateful if you could send me instructions on how to build a two plant system. I'm 4 weeks into flowering right now and just as you mentioned, the colas are so immeshed in the scrogging net that it's impossible to move the whole shebang. Anyway, nice going on that design Mr Edison!


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With RDWC you have a lot of customizable build options but yes that is going to be the most basic setup of a RDWC. Two plant sites with one main rez/control bucket. Connect the buckets together with uniseals and 2" PVC pipe (using a hole saw to make holes for the uniseals) and then just connect the buckets in a loop so that the end of the last bucket runs a pipe all the way back to an inline waterpump sucking water back into your control bucket so then the process just starts over again and keeps the nute water running through the plant site reservoirs for faster nutrient uptake and growth.

With a budget of $600 you are only going to be able to spend ~$200 on your plant system because lights and fans will easily run you $400. With $200 your best bet is going to be recreating a waterfarm or RDWC system DIY style....now I know you say you suck at building stuff but let me let you in on a secret... SO DO I! I didn't even own a drill until after I bought my waterfarms and started setting them up. What I realized once I set them up and modified them and everything....these things are literally just raw materials thrown together. Works well, but easy to replicate once you have like 5minutes with them and realize how simply they work. It's a big bucket with a smaller bucket inside it and the smaller bucket has holes for roots. Fill the top bucket with hydroton and a plant and fill the bottom bucket with nute water. Then you could buy a $10 waterfarm kit which has the drip ring and tube attachments and then just shove the drip ring tube in through the smaller pot and down to the res (the hole for this in the top pot will have to be a bit bigger). Add a dual outlet airpump that will cost you like $15 to connect to the drip ring and to an airstone in the bottom res and boom you have yourself a cheap waterfarm. At that same hydrostore where they have the waterfarm I bet you they also have big buckets with little buckets that fit inside them, 1/2" tubing and $10 waterfarm kits. They probably buy the buckets from home depot   

My main issue with the waterfarm system is just the small res and lifting it up all the goddamn time its so heavy. And if you want to scrog, not having RDWC makes maintenance hard. So during my grow while I was scouring youtube I came across a HygroHybrid RDWC DIY build video and watched for weeks until I felt I was ready to try it out myself. The hardest part was just finding a good hardware store that carried a lot of the PVC joints and adapters that I needed. Also finding the perfect totes were a little annoying but if you know your space you will figure that out. If you dont want to order the totes the larger hardware stores have them or even like the container store. They have some great waterproof ones that I use.
 
All the pH and PPM adjustment troubles I went through with the small waterfarm res were eliminated once I setup the totes and a control.

Stick with the HPS all the way through since you are on a budget. When I upgraded from one light to two I had to put an hps in one of the hoods just because I didnt have another MH so I have 2 plants in one tent and each with a different light spectrum in veg but they are both performing exactly the same. The HPS one is actually a little bigger haha but the difference is really hard to notice.

If you are going to spend $200 on a system though I would say go youtube "HygroHybrid DIY RDWC" and follow his guide because that's how much it costs and that's what I got. When you see his results you will see how well the setup is justified. 

 

Yeah sure buddy, my Skype is tonaltenacity, you guys can add me there if you have questions

 

Check out my waterfarm mod that addresses some of those problems ... lets you add a reservoir/controller, and circulate it with the drip ring..  http://forum.grasscity.com/hydroponic-growing/1199182-dwc-waterfarms.html#entry20892500
About the only drawback is you can't remove the grow bucket during the grow...

 

Hey all,
So I just got my Waterfarm setup and it holds 5 gal. Is this the same ones as you guys had?

I also saw that, to drain the res you can simple start the grow with your Waterfarm buckets on stands so their above the ground. When you go to drain, unplug the nute tub and turn it so it faces down..let it drain completely and then turn it back up. Fill up with clean water and drain so you can clean it, then fill up with nute water through a funnel into the tube into the tub. This saves having to move anything

Thoughts ?
Also, whY yields do you expect off two waterfarms with scrogs, 300w UFO led and a 80x80x180 cm tent.

 

I have two Waterfarms and two homemade "Waterfarms" that I made with the GH parts kit and a standard bucket with net pot lids. Both work great, the homemade one was cheaper and hold more water.

 

I know this post is old but I’m hoping you can answer a question for me. I just bought a waterfarm. When refilling the reservoir can you not just put the nutrient water on top of the clay pebbles to refill it?