This is my first custom hydro setup and would take any opinions or tips for improvement. I guess i would call it a DWC / Drip system hybrid. The top tubs are the DWC portion or this setup. The bottom tub is the feeding reservoir for the drip system part of it. The top tubs have 3 grow sites. Each tub has 2 drains, 1 just to empty the tub for flushes. The other will have a piece of PVC cut to a desired length for how ever high I need the water to stop. So the plants can continue to feed from the drip system with out the worry of over flowing the tubs and in turn will feed DWC portion. The bottom tub will hold the water pump which will feed the 6 site distribution hub centered between the two tubs, which will have lines running to each grow site. I'm not totally sure its going to work, this is all in theory. I am going to prime the system in the next couple weeks to get an idea on the timing of the system. Some of the tubing will have to covered or changed out with black tubing. The light shown is just the cloning light doing its thing. So let me know what you think. Any input would be great.
I ran a dwc and the growth rate is outa this world the res tub will be handy for keeping nutes adjusted. Now I haven't ran with a drip but they seem like they would benefit the most at the early stages. Like when the clone/seedling first goes in to keep the roots moist until they hit the res. I didn't have the drip so I just kept my res about an inch or two above the bottom of the pot until I saw the roots come out. Looks good to me good job
Here's my thoughts... Mostly opinions, but opinions backed from facts. First of all I love the design, it looks like something I would build I saw a similar setup to this on youtube, but on a larger scale about a year ago. I'll see if I can find it and link to it in the next post. The top water drip portion is cool too, especially for the first couple days when the roots dont reach the water yet. Where is your access point to the reservoir? Easy access means you're more likely to do it often. What is the full recycle time of this system? I.E. if you have 6 - 1 gph drippers, and a 6 gallon reservoir, the whole system would be recycled in 1 hour.
I run a RDWC that is similar (but on steroids). I don't run drip and I don't have the pump in the rez though.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D63rzjt31yE]YouTube - COOP Recirculating DWC Mother Plant System[/ame]
Thanks! It has been in the works for sometime. Just hope it ends up working out good! The access point to the res is a part that I struggled with for some time. So it pretty much is a quick disconnect to the 6- line hub so that should free the res from the system. I debated on keeping the res outside the cabinet all together but I am hoping this way, if I can control the climate in the cabinet then the res should maintain a decent temp. I have been having some issues with that very question. You are correct with the 1gph drippers. The res is actually a 15 gallon i believe. I did how ever fill it to diff levels to know how much was low. I thinking of running it at about 8-10gal. And at the most the top DWC part will hold 5gal each. That way I can get a away with changing out the system with a even 20gal. But the part i struggle with is that i am unsure of the cycles i want to run. The timer is a 8 cycle timer. So evenly spaced it would run every 3hrs. Now do I run it for 10min every 3hrs? or run it for 15...30 ect. lets says I run it for 15min, then that is also saying it will have to go 2hr 45min before getting water again. That is the part I worry about. What if the plants are too young and the roots are just not long enough to hit the DWC. Can the roots hanging in the open air, make it that long between cycle times. I know the rockwool will hold the moisture, but is that enough? Thanks for posting! All input is appreciated.
my system is similiar except that my lines run through the top of the lids about 1" down so the water splashes into the totes. I have airstones and use thesame type of vertical PVC drain where i just change the length of the PVC to change my water lvl. Seems to work good but this is my first grow and its been a huge learning experience. I use a 400gph pump with 2 3/8" hoses (just used a t-splitter) going into the top of the tote. The drain is 1" PVC so that it can drain just as fast as it fills. My totes are 20gal and my rez is 5gal so if for some reason the drain clogs and the pump drains the rez i wont overfil the tote. I have the airstones in the tote to make sure if the pump fails oxygen still gets to the roots.