Cool, man, sounds like a sweet set up! Can't wait to see it! Be sure you build a little table, or something over the controller bucket, so you can access it on a regular basis. If your fresh water refil rez is sitting on top of it, it'll be a pain to get to your nutes. I have the green LEDs turned all the way down. I'll take a peek at it in the dark, and see what it looks like in there. I might make a velcro cover, or just move it outside, like you said, if it gives me any hell. I will post here, for sure, if I find it gives me any trouble. Thanks for the heads up on that. There are so many variables, it's easy to miss a few!
Yea,, I am working on a PVC Stand that will sit over the Controller that the Res can sit on, so I will be able to get to the Nutes without a hassle When I add anything to my tent that has an LED light, I use the Black electrical tape to cover the lights and black them out. It pulls off easily enough without a bunch of residue. Good luck with your grow! Be sure to keep us posted.
Thanks, man. I ended up going with an 18-gal Sterelite Bin, which was significantly smaller in width than the tough box. I will say that getting the 2" PVC through the Uniseals was a pain in the ass! I had to sand down the holes in the buckets just a tad, as well as the PVC pipe. Finally got it all in though. I took it outside and did a test run and to my surprise, it worked, lol. I don't have some leaks, however. Most of them are where the PVC piping is joined via elbows, which I'm sure will clear up once I primer + cement the areas. However, I do have a leak or two coming from the outside of the buckets where the Uniseal is. What did you use for your leaks (assuming you had any)? I figured I could use some silicone and put it around the Uniseal on the outside of the bucket. Good thinking on the unions idea. I will pick some up today and install them on both sides. Will I have to cement those in as well? I'm assuming not, of that will defeat the purpose, lol.
Hey, bro! Glad to hear you've got that thing mocked up. I didn't have any leaks once I fit my uniseals. Mine were a bitch to install. I'm a big/strong person, and basically used brute force to get my 2" pipe through the seals. If I had to guess, maybe there's some sort of plastic dust/scrap stuck in the hole, where the seal was installed, or you sanded one hole out of round a bit... Honestly, if I were you, I'd re-drill the holes in a new bucket. It's the kind of thing that you should fix now, before it floods and ruins your crop one day. Yeah, the unions, and all the PVC fittings need to be "glued" Due to the fact that our systems will hold little to no pressure, you can get away with a one step process.. I used "Christy's Red Hot Blue Glue".... You can find it at any hardware with the other PVC adhesives. Follow the instructions on the bottle for all your PVC joints. Let me know how it goes!
Please help my brain I'm new to hydro. I have most of this concept down but then I saw a float valve?? What's this for? I'm thinking it's for a second bucket of ro water that refills the res?
Right on, brotha. The 2" PVC was a real asshole. Soap and water weren't working for me. Vegetable Oil surely did the trick though! Btdubz, do you use a water chiller? Seems the more I read, the more I'm getting the feeling that the water temperature will not be adequete enough to prevent root rot from occurring. Also, how are you adjusting your pH in the rez? Are you adding pH up/down straight to your control bucket, or mixing so many drops in water prior to dumping that in the control bucket? In any case, I'm stoked to see more pics of your ladies.
[quote name='"purplesage"']Please help my brain I'm new to hydro. I have most of this concept down but then I saw a float valve?? What's this for? I'm thinking it's for a second bucket of ro water that refills the res?[/quote] Hiya Purple, You're exactly right, about the float valve. It will shut off water flow at a certain level. You can use another container for topping off, but I have a line directly from my RO/filter unit going directly into the valve. This shuts off the RO unit, preventing an overflow.
What chiller are you using? Also, what type of R/O System? I was thinking of grabbing one that I saw for like 65$ or so, but unsure on this.
I adjust PH in the controller bucket.. No more than a squirt of 1-2 ml at a time, let it mix for a minute, then add more, if necessary. I don't bother mixing with fresh water or anything. Same with the nutes. Just add small amounts at a time until my meter shows my goal. I <3 Bluelab Guardian, FYI. It allows me to make quick and easy adjustments at any time.
Hi, Interesting set up!! I use a DWC drip system. Whats the advantage of using under current? I also see the containers are white. I have seen ROPAK EZ Store buckets in Black would that be a better choice? I thought I could just foil the lids.
Thanks for the info. With this setup how often do you drain the Rez and start over with new water and nutes? Also if I did 8 buckets vs 4 buckets would i still have to change water as often or more/less?
With this setup (assuming you're using the same nutes throughout the grow, i.e. Lucas Formula or some others), it isn't mandatory that you drain the system until after the grow unless you run into pond scum, root rot, or other bacteria developing within the system itself that you feel needs to be eliminated. If you're using two different sets of nutes for veg and flower, then as you get closer to flower (roughly a week out) don't do any add backs to let the water level go down. Once it's low enough, just add fresh water and Round 2 of your nutes. If you prefer to drain the whole system however, just use a drain that sits at the bottom of the rez, let the pump get as much water out as it can, then use a submersible pump to grab the rest of the water out.
If you're using a recirculating system with the same nutes throughout the entire grow, then I don't think you need to do a full change out at all. Just my opinion though. Others may think otherwise.
I'm using this chiller: 1/15hp Current USA Prime Chiller w/ Dual Stage Thermostat And I can't find my exact filter system, but it's along the lines of this: 100 GPD Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Filter | eBay Note, that you want a reverse osmosis filter system, not an RO/DI (reverse osmosis de-ionization) system. If that's all you get, be sure to bypass the DI resin.
I, personally, only drain the system at the end of the grow. In theory, you can use the same nutes for up to 3 grows (as per Lucas himself) but in my case, I've only had one grow with this system so far, and I chose to drain/completely clean it because I had an algae issue originally. On this grow, I've covered the whole thing with Panda Film, and haven't had any algae, whatsoever. The reason I can use the same nutes throughout is because I have a good filter system, so the undesireable elements aren't building up over time. However, the use of PH up/down does build up in the water over time, using up precious PPMs that the plants don't use. Because of this, I'll probably change my nutes before each grow. That said, unless there's a problem, I don't see any reason to change the nutes out during the grow. I'm using GH Floranova Grow/Bloom... The Lucas formula only calls for the Bloom nutes, but I filled the res with only the Grow nutes to start, and have been topping off with only the Bloom nutes from that point forward. Hopefully this is helpful to you.
I'm in the veg stage of my second grow with this system, and have only ever changed nutes out once. That was between grows. I'm lazy, and built the system which I felt would bring a lazy person like me the most success, with the least amount of work. I feel like I've achieved that.
So I'm thinking I want to use this setup with the 350 pump. I'm making up my parts list and pricing out items. I'm going 600w and was thinking of 7 sites plus Rez how much bigger pumps(air and water) would you recommend? Also what kinda filter are you using? Thanks again for all your help