I'm a newbie and was just wondering do you give them a little less nutrients then the regular amount just because it recalculates, because i was reading something on the current culture and it said to give it less nutrients then regular
Hey original past, GREAT thread - just what I was looking for. You did a great job on the build and on the D.I.Y. I'll be making one of these when time permits Quick question RE: "EZ store"/Square Pails in general; Where did you/where can I get them? I live in Canada. Ebay comes up with nothing, us plastics has tall square buckets but not EZ store pails. I'd want black, for sure - but IF all I could find was white or anther color I'd probably just put reflectix on it. Thanks for the great thread.
What type of RDWC ya got there man, looks good; is it undercurrent. And, I didn't see an answer to the question; Are you using uniseals for that PVC pipe..on round buckets - how does that work out for ya? Thanks.
great thread. plenty of info. im trying to figure out if the current pump and airstones for each of my buckets should be on 24/0? anyone have a preference or schedule that they use? i would guess its not gonna hurt to have some water movement when the lights are out?
The water must move 100% of the time. Yes 24 hours a day. Why are people asking this? The definition of hydroponics is growing plants in oxygenated water (moving). You run an airpump constantly in a fish tank. The fish have gills to breath. Roots will rot in stagnant water.
Strany, I would suggest that you build a supply manifold and individual return lines for your system. If you have them looped or "daisy chained" and a line gets plugged with roots, you will have serious problems. I'm not sure the bypass valves will entirely solve that issue. Also if you build a supply manifold, you can ensure that each bucket is getting the same flow as the next. Run the supply lines into the bottom of the bucket and returns out of the top, this will reduce the chances of them getting clogged.
thanks middy. and cousin thanks also. yes i did realize you cant have stagnant water, i wanted a comparison of how i like to run mine and how others run theirs. its basically the reason i joined this forum to meet and talk with others who have the same interest but a different approach then myself. my main reason for asking was because you do have the option to run just the circulation or oxygenation by themselves. either would be sufficient to prevent a stagnant enviroment for the roots.
just to give a heads up, there are systems where the pump only runs for X amount of minutes every Y amount of hours for instance, i've heard of many different hydro systems only running the pump for 15 minutes every 6 hours...flood and drain/ebb and flow, hempy buckets, ect...
Yes but he was asking about dwc. Also in any of those systems you listed, none have the roots completely submerged 24/7 in water. So thats why its not moving all the time. In dwc the water is the growing medium. Therefore it must be aerated.
indeed...i was just meaning when you said the definition of hydro is using oxygenated water...that's not 100% true, as there are hydro systems that don't even use air pumps and stones they get their oxygen from letting the root zone dry out between floods...no oxygenated water
Technically those methods arent true hydroponics. Its actually a soiless medium. Kind of like true aero vs low pressure. Its all just technical jargon. I call those methods hydro too but in all actuality only dwc is.
ok this looks just like what i am wanting to do in my 4x3 grow box, but im kinda dumb and totally new to hydro i need a step by step how to build this thing?any help plzzzzzzz
It's been my inspiration too (thanks a million OriginalPast!), I'm mostly finished putting together my system in a stealth 2x3 box. I got all the plumbing supplies from the local hydro shop for about $120, and the plastic tubs from various online sources for about $40. If you have a few tools and are somewhat handy it's pretty simple to do - in fact the hardest part for me was finding plastic tubs that were the right size and shape for my setup. So I would start by finding some black five gallon buckets or big tubs and take it from there.
the supplies and building is the easy part, ive got most of it figured out, but hydro is alltogether new to me so im having a hard time figuring out the plumbing part....what pumps what to where and where all the lines and stuff go, ive tried you tube searching on here, and my total lack of experience w hydro has me lost lol, i figured out the pump is pulling the water thru the bucket from the far end away from the res...i think.. and the rest i havnt had time to study on, i need a diagram or a walk thru of some kind to fill in the blank spots for me, as im reallly close to having everything else put together, im just gonna go with a four bucket setup....any help? and thanks for the reply, ive gotten alot of help from this site just since ive joined on again today!
Mine is just a loop,sort of. I used 3/4" tubing (biggest the hydro store had) instead of PVC because I wanted it to be a bit flexible, and to be able to take it apart. The loop starts out of the bottom of the side of the reservoir and enters the first tub with a union connection. Then on the other side of that tub I started another piece of tubing which runs to the next tub. Then I have an exit on the opposite side of the second tub, more tubing which runs to an inline filter (they sold me on it at the store, it was cheap), which runs to an inline water pump, which runs back to the upper side of the reservoir. Simple. Just use a little care when drilling the plastic so you don't shatter the tubs (yeah, I did that) and sand off any burrs so the union fittings sit well and you'll be set. The air is even simpler. You just need to drill the hole up high (above the water line, naturally) and connect the air stone to the air pump. Done. If I were you I'd use two small pumps instead of one bigger one, that way if one craps out you'll still be fine for a while since the other one will be running and the water will still be circulating. I can't wait to have mine up and running, in case you can't tell.
Ok try again, love your system and in fact tried to buy the genuine product recently however was advised to try DIY as was not cost effective to ship to Australia. Considering this has anyone been able to source the same buckets or similar on black to assist with keeping the algae at bay. If so please provide a link to suit, thanks! Ganga
I been running DWC/ dripper for almost 3 years .I don't run my pumps 24/7 . They run 15 min on 45 min off. Never had a problem with root rot. I would suspect if you were running single bucket you would need to aerate the solution. I also used plastic coffee pots and just "swirled" them on a daily basis.