what about, instead of using 4, 5 gallon buckets, i use one big rubbermaid rectangular tub, with 4 net pots. would the roots get messed up with all the plants? should i put a divider so they dont get tangled with eachother? i think this would be a good way, cuz the i can leave my monitoring equipment in the one tub... and as for filling and draining, its easier too... lemme know if youve tried it or think its a good idea or a bad one. i have a 4 square foot space that is 6 feet high. it could fit 4, 5 gal buckets or one big tub ps, i have seen this done, but has anyone encountered problems?
Im doing that exact same think right now with a rectanglular rubbermaid and 3 netpots. It works really good i think, hardly any maitenance required. As for the roots, it doesnt matter if they grow into eachother. Make sure to put in a drain spout so you can flush it out every once in awhile. Dont forget those air stones too! I Recommend one under each plant. If you are just doing 4 plants, i recommend you check out the ScrOG method to get the most out of your harvest. Peace
thanks bojangles, im gonna have my drain plug coming out from the bottom of the tub so ALL of the old nutes get drained, and i bought a new general hydroponics air pump that pumps a huge amount of air, way overkill but thats good in my opinion... and im gonna have 2 air stones each plant, i go with the 1 inch long ones, they seem to make the tiniest fizz style bubbles, which i like. by the way, how deep is your rubbermaid, is it the tallest one? and yeah, i plan to do LST and maybe one FIMing to make that cabinet ~~~OVERGROWN!!!~~~
Yeah most hydro setups you can buy are set up like that. The only real problem is that if one of your plants runs into any problems due to the setup, all of your plants will be affected. (i.e. air pump gives out, nute problems, etc......)
true, one goes down they all do, but im gonna have 2 air pumps, and i have a nutradip tri meter, so i can just look at the screen while i add nutes slowly. thx for replys guys
My past 2 grows have been using rubber maid bubble buckets. Just don't get too over ambitious as far as the size of your tub, it can become a huge pain draining/refilling a big ass tub in a small space(if youre working in a small space of course). Also, be sure to leave plenty of room between the net pots for them to grow out - especially if you plan on LSTing them or veging for a long time. I also don't recommend using 1-part nutrient solutions in a bubble bucket. They never quite dissolve properly so they gunk up in the res or on the roots causing trouble (at least in my experience). Good luck on the grow - start a journal when ya do.
doh - add a drain tap. simple as that. best thing u can do in dwc is add an ultrasonic fogger. Just 1 will do the job. http://www.ukdj.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=13746 amazing piece of kit for a very low price. The idea is to promote root growth out of the side of the nets into the vacant airspace between the water surface & the lid. i have mine on for 15mins /hr & the plants are thriving. *3rd pic is my last dwc crop in single 25l buckets without fog. Roots were whit until i added plagron!
er - don't pour nutrients & additives directly into ur dwc tub premix them in a separate bucket & make sure the ph & ec are what u want before u add them to the dwc. I cheat a bit. If I want ec of 2.0 (reads 20 on my meter) I mix up at ec 6.0 (60), then add 1 jug of nutes to 2 jugs of water. That way i can mix up nutes for total 100L changeout all in 1 go. Mixing up 100L would take me ages, so I mix up 10L in a bucket & make it 10x stronger than i need, add the required number of jugs on top of fresh water. Get it? my tapwater is 7.6ph, so I premix my nutes & stabilise to 4.5 - this gives me the 5.5 - 5.8 that I want (in veg - bit higher in flower) I have draintaps at the bottom of my dwc's but find it's a lot easier & faster to use a pump attachment in my cordless drill. This cost £1 & takes less than a minute to empty out a 30L tank - same to fill it
I'm a fan of tubs also. You can make it dead easy to manage too... have a look at the 'easy nute access' link in my sig if ya like. Someone said before that it doesn't matter if the roots get tangled up... this is quite true if you know all tangled plants will be female. However, if a male shows up you'll have trouble removing it and all it's roots. And if you have dead roots rotting away in there you may run into trouble. No hassles if you're cloning of course.