What's up Blades?! I'm making a recirculating dwc bubble bucket system. How many gph would I need to effectively recirculate 9 5gallon buckets? In addition would I need a float valve? Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!
I have 8 buckets and I use the eco185 pump. Be sure your drainage keeps up with the pump you decide to use. I first installed 1/2" fittings but had to go with 3/4" after the end buckets overflowed. Check out my sig, first post has a pic of the barebones so you can compare since our setup is similar in size.
Best advice ever! Oversize your drains! I have 1/2" drains and I have to run my pump 15min "on"/45min "off" and I have 25 gph moving water through 6 buckets.
Everybody has their opinions but I like to go big on the pumps. I run 800gph for 4 buckets, enough to switch out each bucket about once a minute. Works great but for 9 buckets you would need 1800gph. Maybe half that would be great 900-1000gph would swap each bucket every two minutes. I find that the faster the flow the fewer problems you have with algae etc. Good advice with the drains, should always be larger than the fills. I run 3/4" fills and 1" drains and they work terrific. Ebb & Flo fittings make things nice and easy.
Ecoplus 185 GPH Submersible Pump - $11.59 OR Ecoplus 264 GPH Submersible Pump - $17.59 would be fine... Or is you want to go with superusa's advise and get a pump you can also take a shower with, get the Ecoplus 2245 GPH Submersible Pump - $111.19 Personally I use the Ecoplus 185 GPH Submersible Pump.. At 12 bucks each, get a backup pump, because shit happens, and you do not want to be caught without a pump...
Jake.... you use a 185gph to circulate a 9 bucket system? I know of people that do use the small pumps even for systems with that many buckets, but it takes forever and a day to add your nutes and pH because it takes 45 minutes or more for that pump to fully mix the nutes through a system with that capacity. Not saying it wont work because it certainly will, but I like to add my nutes to my system and have everything fully mixed in 3 or 4 minutes. Then I don't have to come back later to keep making adjustments. And like I said, my experience has been that higher flow rates reduce root rot/algea problems etc, even though I DONT run a chiller and my average res temp is 84-85 degrees. Never had a single problem with those temps when the water is churning, but have some buddies who have run much slower flows at high temps and ran into issues. Opinions are like assholes and I am not saying mine is the only one worth listening to. I think each grower should do what works best for them. If it aint broke don't fix it. I use 2 of the 400+gph submersible fountain pumps care of home depot (about $35 each). OP: Are you using a res? and if so how big? float valve depends on if you want to use a top off res also. And nice scrog jake.
I use 3-1/2gal buckets... So lets break it down.... Which only fill to 3gal before it hits the overflow... 3 x 9 = 27gal 27(gal) ÷ 185(gph) = 6.85 So it will fill the 9 buckets a little over twice within the 15 minute flood.. Not sure what you're talking about mixing and making adjustments... The system is a FLOOD AND DRAIN... Once it is flooded, you can drain, there is no need to keep running it once the system reaches it flood level... Ummmmm, the growth of algae and problems with root rot have nothing (well VERY little anyway) with flooding your buckets 30 times over within 15 minutes.. Light within the reservoir and lack of O2 causes them issues... Again, once the system reaches the flooding level, there is no need to continue flooding... Thanks... Yes, I use a 50gal for my 4x8 tent and a 27gal for the 3x3.. I do not use an auto fill, because I want to know how much my plants are using, so I use a Hydro Logic Flowmaster and just reset it after done topping off.. Within the 4x8 tent I use 12 sites and use a 396gph pump.. I'm using the same for the 3x3 scrog, only because that's all I had laying around.. But with the 12 sites and the 396gph pump, I have no problems with algae or root rot and they flood within like 12-13 minutes before the controller's pump kicks in and starts dumping back... Also only flood them 15 minutes as well..
lol it happens. I agree ebb&flo I use way smaller pumps too. Probably just got done puffing when you first posted lol. I do that shit all the time....
That's why I was suggesting 900-1000, enough to be useful but not contribute so heavily to the electric bill lol. Even so those 2200 gph fountain pumps are not very big at all and I wouldn't hesitate to use one to circulate a 9-12 bucket system. Everybody has a preference. I like that ebb&gro setup you got there I wouldn't mind something similar with hydroton and rockwool dice mixed for the whole bucket no netpot at all.
Thanks guys! I'm just using a 20 gal res for now. Space is kinda tight. Also is there a 4 way connector that I have to use instead or the T connector to connect 8 buckets?