Hi Purplesage, I think the 350 pump would work in mine, too. In hindsight, I'd have spent the extra $10-15 to get the more powerful pump. Honestly, I think that as long as you have adequate air bubbles in the system, anything that will circulate the water will be fine. But almost doubling the number of buckets, I'd probably go bigger than the 350, still.. It can't hurt. I don't think you can have too much circulation with this system. Hopefully this helps somewhat.
Hi Purplesage, I think the 350 pump would work in mine, too. In hindsight, I'd have spent the extra $10-15 to get the more powerful pump. Honestly, I think that as long as you have adequate air bubbles in the system, anything that will circulate the water will be fine. But almost doubling the number of buckets, I'd probably go bigger than the 350, still.. It can't hurt. I don't think you can have too much circulation with this system. The water filter I use is like this one here (I bought mine a few years back for a reef tank, and is slightly different, but same vendor.) 50 GPD 6st Reverse Osmosis RO DI Water Filters system | eBay Hopefully this helps somewhat.
Hi Hashd, The trace amount of minerals/salts/electrolytes (or in our terms, nutrients) left in the water, after RO, which would normally be removed by the DI resins, are beneficial to our plants (we need to add these anyways). The RO strips the water "good enough." Running it through the DI only removes more of what we're putting back in. One could argue that trace amounts of undesirables may be left in RO water. I believe these to be insignificant, just as the desirables might be, also. Ultimately, I feel like deionizing is like splitting hairs. I mean, it's weed. =D I don't have the scientific equipment/know how to test all this, but based on what I've read and studied, this is my own conclusion. If anyone has information regarding the pros/cons of using deionized water for hydroponics, I'd be interested in reading it. The goal isn't necessarily to get the cleanest water, it's to get the correct water. Based on my results with this system so far, it's working like a champ. Hope this helps you understand my rationale.
So wheres the pictures? Very interested in what your roots do, the more I read about rdwc the more I hear about roots clogging pipes and tangling.
Quick correction I also should have include LINPAK ( They make the Tidy Cat cat litter containers..... They make them in black.
Interesting on the DI.... Don't know about bad bugs, my unit came with DI and I never considered that it was stripping out anything.
Hey Weed Dude, Linpak/Ropak, they're the same units, as far as I can tell actually. Nice buckets, eh?
Hi Purplesage, I'd be glad to take some pictures of roots in my current grow. I'll just have to do it after the chop, because my SCROG is so low, it restricts efficient access to the root chambers. I have 2" pipe connecting my containers, FYI. My last grow I didn't get any significant roots growing in the pipes, because I turned the plant every day or so. I'm sure the roots are packed in there, now, because I haven't turned them in months. Even if the pipes fill with roots, completely, there's still plenty of flow, in those big pipes! I'll be ready to chop in about 2 weeks, maybe 3, if I let them go for one more.
Hi Weed Dude, I definitely take "interesting" as a compliment. So thanks for that! I think that's a great question. In my own opinion, the drippers are great for young clones, to give them water and nutrients until their roots are long enough to reach the deep water. I actually built drippers to add to this system for the next grow, until the clone roots reach the deep. I don't prefer to use them for the duration of the grow, though. You can literally watch the pH of the water in my system go up, just from the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. This system gives the water a lot of access to air, and there are no stagnant places in the nutrient solution, or dead spots. Everything is mixed, and moving, at all times. This system is good for me for the following reasons: -Dead reliable -Stable/predictable -EXCELLENT results -Easy to top off, and drain. It's a bit cumbersome to really clean out, but this is negligible compared to all the other luxuries it provides. -Enough flow that all the plant sites get even amount of nutrients/water/oxygen -Low maintenance (I'm lazy!!) -Single reservoir, one place to mix nutes, measure PPM/pH -No draining/changing nutes mid grow. -Potential for multiple grows with the same nutes.... Although, I see each crop cycle as a chance to clean the system thoroughly. In addition, there's a bit of redundancy. If the water pump goes out, we'd be at a state of DEFCON 3. The air pump is still going, each plant is getting oxygen. I'd need to get it fixed within a couple days (worst case scenario). If the air pump goes out, we'd be at DEFCON 4, I'd need to replace it that day, preferably within a couple hours. But without the air pump going, the pump/falling water will provide enough oxygen to buy me time. It would take both going down, together, to reach DEFCON 5. In reality, if this happens (loss of power is the likely cause), I'd have to drain most of the nutes, and spray/manually water until the power came back on. This would give me a state similar to Hempy buckets, but without all the media. Air pump is the most important factor, and I'll be adding a second, mainly for redundancy, but the extra airflow will be more than welcome, too. Before I start the next grow in the system, I'll be re-arranging the air manifold, and air pump location anyways. So this will be a good time to do it. So that's some of my rationale for building this type of system... In the end, it's what works best for me, and my personal taste/tolerance for how involved I need to be, to make it work. It's certainly not the best way for everyone, that's the beauty about growing hydroponically.!
Yes they are! They actually sell a 8 and 13 gallon. I grow in a DR 120 II. I had six 4 gallon in there but it was to crowded. I run 4 now. Going to switch to 13 gallon reservoir. Might up grade the 4 gallons to 8's. They been really sufficient my plants max out in height now. I painted a Tidy Cat bucket flat black but still got light leaks which caused minor algae problems.
Yes definitely a compliment ! Awesome system... Thank You for the breakdown on your system. What type of yield do you get from this type of system vs DWC bucket?
[quote name='"kryptickasserol"'] I exchanged my 1-1/4" grommets and picked up some 2" Uniseals instead. Turns out that I had quite the aquatic environment facility not too far from the grow headquarters. In regard to air pump, I'm sticking with my Eco Air 4 for my buckets, and a Danner Mag250, which is what Current Culture's 4-piece system comes with. I have a question...I'm using a Tough Box from Home Depot as my epicenter. My problem is being able to connect PVC to each side of the res, through the bottom of the tent (though holes that I will cut in), and inserted to the middle of the bucket. The tough box is nearly as long as the tent is wide, so my buckets would have to go all the way in each corner for the PVC Pipe connection to go straight. So my question is, do you think I can just push he pvc pipes coming from the front of the control rez right into the tent? do you think having on the sides instead makes a difference?[/quote] Dood you can put the PVC pipes anywhere on your toughbox just make sure they are symmetrical and then into your plant buckets its still gunna run on a loop go out bottom and return on the top it will all mix and loop..
That's a nice rig man.. Want to see it in action. What nutes are you gunna run. Also how often are you going to Change ur resivour. I'm running a DIY RDWC.. I made it from just looking at the system from local hydro store and website. Here is my system 25 gal using 5x5 gal buckets (4 planters and 1 epicenter) Eco air 3 (65 L/min) Eco plus 1054 GPH water pump, 1.25" PVC pipe, ball valve choking down to 1" return line. And 4" clunker air stones. The baskets are 8" or 7" net cup lids. I'm using house and garden aqua flakes and fox farm soluables ( open sesame, beastie bloom and cha Ching) Roots pic was about a week ago
Sorry if this was described, but is the pump pulling water OUT of the reservoir or pumping it INTO the reservoir? SpecialEd; do you have any concerns using 1.25" pipe? This would seem to be a lot more reasonable to work with? For anyone using uniseals, pickup some keg-lube. Its pretty much like vasoline but food grade. Will make things go together a lot easier. Vasoline could be used but iirc may be a little more caustic. Should be fine though.
Yeah, I was looking at the 4.25 gallon buckets, but the place that sells them only sold them in large quantities. Finally, I decided to stick with the 3.5s. I'm happy with them. I don't think I need any larger in my DR90Twin!! You know what's funny? I have a Tidy Cat bucket (same kind, Linpak/Ropak) that I use to feed my mothers. It's a very simple pressurized dripper system, but works like a champ. it sits outside the tent, so no need to cover it (though it's ugly!) I'd like to see your system, do you have a journal, or pics?
Hi Biff! You're correct, the pump is drawing water from the rear two buckets, and pumping it into the controller bucket. All the buckets between the controller, and the rear buckets are connected with 2" pipe, so they all share the same level of nutrients. If it would be helpful, I can draw a diagram of water flow. Let me know, and I'll put it up.
Nice looking system, man! What are you using to connect the PVC to the buckets? Bulkheads, uniseals? I use GH FloraNova Grow/Bloom in the manner of the Lucas formula. This is a complete nutrient system, and works very well. The particular grow I'm on now (Greenhouse Seeds Kalashnikova) I had to add a tiny bit of CalMag in the past week. But I don't use additives, or any gimmicks. I just like to meet the needs of the plants, not spend money on useless extras. Because of my nutrient program, I only change nutes between grows. I don't add anything in excess, so I don't have to change them out. In theory, I could use the same nutes for 2-3 grows, but I take the opportunity to drain and clean the system between grows! Thanks for checking it out. In my signature, you can follow my current grow. I'm 9 days from chop! What kind of air pump(s) are you using?
Thanks bro! You know, I have nothing to compare it to, hydroponically, as I skipped over using bubble buckets. I like the idea/simplicity of bubble buckets, but for my lifestyle, they have too many drawbacks, requiring more manual labor/effort on my part (Remember, I'm lazy) So I built a system that would minimize this effort. This is my first hydroponic system. I analyzed and studied every type I could get my hands on, or read about. I research the needs of our plants, extensively, and continuously. Although I didn't design this hydro system, originally, I used the existing commercial version as my reference to build my own, I believe it to be the best for the plants, and easiest to maintain/get results from. It isn't the least expensive to build, or operate, that's for sure. But I feel like it does it's job 100% without any drawbacks. It's, by far, worth the investment. I expect I should get similar yeild/quality as a bubble bucket system, perhaps slightly better because I don't have crazy PH swings, I don't disrupt the roots every week changing nutes, stable root zone temperatures, and my plants get everything they need, at all times. If anyone could think of an improvement to this system, I'd be all ears, and I'd love to implement it.
Thats ok, I think I understand it. That link you posted on the first page to the Under Current brand system had some good info and illustrations. Considering this is your first hydro system your off to a really good start....more so than most people, myself included. I'm using a larger tupper bin to hold 2 plants (ea. about 3' tall), but I think what you have has more benefits. Don't be afraid to use the Cal Mag you mentioned....I had a deficiency a few weeks into flower, I think its a common issue for hydro. The 240w Blackstar led's your using..... is the 240w real led wattage or equivelent? And what wattage HPS would it be equal to? Thanks!