DWC Waterfarms

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Growing' started by Herbalistics, Mar 30, 2013.

  1. High,

    Any ideas how we could mod the Waterfarm?

    I've drilled more holes and added a airstone.

    Some other Ideas?
     
  2. Hey Herb,... I'm starting the first of my 10 obligatory posts here.. It won't let me start a thread..
    After my first water farm I changed a few things.. I learned I can't see water through a dark blue tube.. I cut off the blue one and replaced it with a clear one... Don't worry about algae. Take the brown tube and drop it over the clear drain tube.. Problem solved.. I replaced the brown pumping support with a 3/4 in. thin wall PVC.. The I.D. is larger than a sch 40 3/4 inch.. The brown tube is such a tight fit for the pumping column it can pull off the bottom of the pumping column when trying to remove it for cleaning.. The pumping column will almost always clog at the bottom... It's best to have an extra pumping column on hand for a quick change... The air pump they sell with the WF is the bare minimum it needs to work.. Get a larger pump when you can...
     
  3. #3 mytwhyt, Apr 10, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2021
    This is about the most modified WF you're going to come across. I call it a Waterloo. It has it's own separate recirculating insulated res. and scrog screen.. This screen is 18"x24", I build it for a friends 400 watt grow..

    So, whatda you think? It's the first proto-type.. It's meant for a single plant grow...
     

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  4. OMFG that's genius! I never thought of using those insulated water coolers. It would be nice if those fuckers weren't $65/each.
     
  5. 23$ at walfart.. Figure about 110$ for what you see there, if you have to buy everything new... Not counting a good enough pump to run two water pumping columns.. Where I live it's really hot. I think frozen water bottles will last a lot longer with everything insulated.. What you see is dry fitted to make sure everything fits.. I plan on running it for a week in a bathroom heated to 80*f on a 12/12 heat cycle to see what it takes to keep an acceptable res. temp.
    I feel like I'm jacking this thread....but, like a vampire, I did wait, and was invited in.:wave:
     
  6. LOL Walfart, gonna have to add that in my vocabulary right next to Fart and Smile(Smart and Final).

    Frozen bottles get annoying after a while. I lucked out and found a sick ass craigslist deal on a 1/2hp water chiller that I now run. Didn't realize that it was the chiller that only goes down to 70 but I haven't seen the temp budge even 1 degree. I'm hoping that the water helps out my AC to keep my shed cooler. Last year we had a few 112f days that my AC blew the fuse and really fucked up my plants. Since then, I've had another socket put in on a different fuse and switched to rDWC. I'm still weary because I also upgraded flowering from LED to 1000w HPS.
     
  7. This mod is for WFs that are daisy chained together for recirulating... First don't buy the WF recirculating kit.. Instead of using 1/2" hose, barb fittings and grommets, use all 3/4". Google greentrees..
    Don't run the tubing from bucket 1 through 8, and back to the reservoir. Change it so the water enters buckets 8 and 1... Tee the tubing between buckets 4&5 to return to the reservoir..
    If anyones interested, in my next post I'll show how to modify the reservoir for a 200% increase in recirculating speed.
     
  8. Love it! Waterloo :) necessity is the mother of invention
     
  9. Right o. I'm working on a chill factor for 1 plant 1 bucket dwc. Your post helps. Thanks
     
  10. #10 mytwhyt, Nov 8, 2014
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2014
    Ultimate Waterfarm Mod....
    Thought I had figured out how to circulate the reservoir...Boy was I wrong..... Not so much wrong, it works the old way, but this way is so much better and simpler..
     
    Simple, low cost way to circulate water with an existing WF drip ring pumping column.. it's as simple as putting a standing 3/4 column of water in the grow bucket that refills from the reservoir, not the grow bucket.... This water column is where the drip ring now pumps water for the plant.... As the water is pumped out of the water column gravity refills it from the reservoir....... I knew I was on the right track with the water column, I just had the damn thing in the wrong bucket before....
    The water column should be thin wall 3/4 PVC, it has a bigger ID than the sch40 3/4pvc...,and the pumping column is a better fit in the thin wall .This setup will work with a GH reservoir and controller... or a roll your own.. 
    . An 8 bucket WF, setup in this fashion, will circulate water 7 times faster than a single setup.... 7 times faster than a GH recirculating kit.... .. This is a pic of the side location for the water column, put there to line up with the existing hole in the top bucket... The hole in the top bucket stabilizes the water column and keeps it in place... 
    .The inlet to the water column in the resivior is 1/2"threaded to3/4"slip, reducing ell... a 2-1/2" cut off riser and a 1/2" threaded bard on the out side.... Teflon tape all threads, the cutoff riser should get a couple extra wraps for a tight fit... Only one washer is used on the inside. The water column parts came from Home Depot.. Don't glue the water column, the slip fit is good enough.....
    For only a couple WFs 1/2: feed/return lines would be fine... The 1/2" setup return uses the old sight/drain 1/2"barb to connect back to the resivoir... For more WFs 3/4" inch lines would be better..Return 3/4 line water would exit the grow bucket thru a 3/4" grommet/barb.. The water column fittings will still be 1/2" at the water column... 
     
     
    Copy of IMG_2532.JPG Copy of IMG_2536.JPG Copy of IMG_2547.JPG Copy of IMG_2540.JPG Copy of IMG_2542.JPG Copy of IMG_2543.JPG IMG_2548.JPG IMG_2545.JPG IMG_2550.JPG
     
  11. All you really need is more holes and a bigger air pump. Read scottyballs Pineapple Express grow he explains why the waterfarms are so efficient. I no longer grow hydro but I had amazing results following scottyballs methods.

    I also like putting tinsfoil over the top to prevent algae and salt buildup on the hydroton and it prevents nute water splashing on your plants.
     
  12. #12 mytwhyt, Nov 8, 2014
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2016
    Da-Lu,
    I don't think you understand what I've done with this mod.... It adds a reservoir and a way to circulate it with the addition of the water column in the grow bucket.... If you look closer you'll see there are extra holes in the bucket.... As far as Scottyballs, I followed that thread from the beginning, I even have a few posts in it....

    Here's a scrog screen for your waterfarm...I always use a scrog screen with my WFs and sometimes want/need to move it... Instead of a permanent screen I made this one out of 1/2" pvc... the black piece is 3/32" abs to reinforce the plastic handle of the wf... Without some reinforcement the hose clamps will break the molded handle when you tighten down the 1/2" tee... Some zip ties secure the 2"x 4"plastic coated screen.. No need to glue the frame, it seems to work well enough without it... a plus being you can take it apart if need be... Not much to it, 4- 1/2" 90*ells, 4 1/2" tees, 4 hose clamps and enough 1/2" sch-40 pvc pipe for the frame... This a 24"X30" screen, but I think you could go as large as 36"x36" [ Part of this text was posted on another site, to lazy to retype it}

    IMG_2557.JPG IMG_2556.JPG IMG_2554.JPG IMG_2553.JPG IMG_2552.JPG IMG_2343.JPG
     
  13. #13 mytwhyt, Nov 30, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2016
    This is a speaker port added as a passthrough for the standing water column, but didn't add it to this thread after i later added it to my own WFs.. The biggest drawback with the first mod that started this thread, was that you couldn't lift your girls skirt to check out her roots, not and keep your hydroton balls in place at the same time...
    I found the solution here... Speaker Cabinet Port Tube 1-1/8" ID x 6-1/2" L Flared ... It needs to be shortened about 3/4-1".... The standing water column is a perfect fit inside this tapered cone..
    No glue or sealant is used to keep the cone in place... Now the top bucket can be pulled out and the hydroton stays in the top bucket..
    Bought this drill at HF 7.00, to drill the exact hole size for ridges on the cone..It snaps in place like it was made for it....
    I used the same hole location that GH put in the top bucket to drill the hole bigger... I contact glued a round abs patch over the hole on the inside of the bucket... It wouldn't take the pressure when drilling the centering hole from the outside and peeled off.. So i inverted the bucket over a 4"x 4" x12" pc of wood to support the patch while drilling ...

    IMG_3112.JPG IMG_3115_1.JPG IMG_3110.JPG
     
  14. upload_2019-10-6_0-40-47.png
    pumps r in the black buckt.
     
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  15. The point of this thread is about not using electric water pumps... I'm getting away from the heat electric water pumps add, and still circulating the water from the reservoir at 5-6 gal an hour.. Drip rings on hydroton add so much o2 it eliminates the need for air stones.. Haven't used them since I modified all my WFs, and WF type grows containers ...
    2 plants no air stones, no water pumps, except the drip rings.. 630 watts 26 oz..
     

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  16. now-msqLfwDl-VerbingALjpg-1210-680.jpg

    All joking aside I think that is a very cool idea. Once I get more experience I would like to do some Macgyver projects.
     
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  17. yes these are similar to the powergrower units though, I just showed u a modded version (with a pump). It overheated and died lol. I don't think it needed the air pump, but it was too hot at the res, so yea, air pumps r nice.
    Have you seen the foggers? I ordered one last couple weeks back and used it to start some seedlings, you may like that. I was planning to try it during cloning. For $10 its a cool thing.
     
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  18. you built those cooler buckets above.

    seems like a brilliant solution to water temps.

    two questions.
    how was drilling through it?
    with all the layers I would have though drilling through would make a less than perfect hole.

    and what did you do for a top?
    cut a hole in the existing lid or use a larger basket?
     
  19. #19 mytwhyt, Dec 25, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
    Ill be running 2 igloo Waterloos, with attached 24x32" scrog screens.. Here's a single Waterloo with remote igloo that was used as a reservoir.. 2 liter frozen water bottles changed twice daily.. The scrog screen was18"x24".. 6 oz yield.. 27 day veg from a clone, 70 day flower.. Changing the bottles twice a day worked to keep the temps down to about 68*f. Got to be a pia, but it worked..
    IMG_2663.jpg image_19757.jpg image_19762.jpg image_19771.jpg image_19846.jpg IMG_2790.jpg IMG_2904.jpg IMG_2909.jpg image_20001.jpg
     
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  20. #20 mytwhyt, Dec 25, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2019
    This is my plan for running the two Waterloos and keeping them cool.. I bought an Ice Probe and an Ink Bird heat/cool temp controller off Amazon.. Better range of set temps than the one Ice Probe sells.. The igloos were less than 25$ ea at Walfart.. Found this old Rubber Maid ice chest to use as a reservoir... With the igloos and insulated lines I'm betting [hoping] the probe will keep the temps where I need them..
    IMG_0203.JPG IMG_0202.JPG IMG_0204.JPG IMG_0211.JPG IMG_0248 (1).JPG IMG_0249 (1).JPG IMG_0250 (1).JPG IMG_0251 (1).JPG
    Don't know why all the pics didn't post full size.. Will be using a basket lid only this time,W/O the igloo lid... Seems like I'm always changing things as I go.. Feel it'll work fine without the igloo lid..
     

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