petemoss
Active member
Hello! I'm petemoss and this will be a description of my Bio Bucket setup. BigToke asked me to write a short grow journal of my last Bio Bucket grow, which was a modular SCROG with each bucket under its own screen. I started using bio buckets while Hurtback was writing his bio threads several years back. Although I didn't know BigToke then, I've since seen and admired the work he's done to keep bio buckets alive. So here goes..
For those of you who don't know what a bio system is: My setup is a six bucket Bio system originally designed by Hurtback. Bio buckets are fast recirculating DWC buckets that drain from the very top into a common reservoir from where nutes are pumped back into the buckets. Each bucket gets changed out 5x-15x per hour. A protein skimmer or powerhead in the res provides additional aeration. These buckets grow big healthy plants with minimal maintenance. The theory behind the Bio buckets involves using beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean, the same way that nature keeps flowing water masses clean.
This first set of pics shows my basic system as designed by Hurtback complete with a protein skimmer for aeration and the reservoir sitting in the middle. I later moved the res outside the bucket area and out from under the hot lights. Due to a hot summer, I had to buy a fairly expensive aquarium chiller to keep water temps to a steady 68-69F. The chiller required a separate pump of at least 300 gph at one foot lift. I used a Mag-drive 500 gph located outside the res. In the res, a 350 gph pump fed the buckets with about a 12x turnover.
For lighting I used a 400 watt MH during veg and a 1000 watt hps during flower. Circulation of air was done with a 265 cfm squirrel cage blower that sucked the air through a Can33 carbon scrubber, through a large air-cooled hood and then out the window. My grow space was a 8x8' corner of a spare bedroom I sectioned off with panda film floor to ceiling.
For those of you who don't know what a bio system is: My setup is a six bucket Bio system originally designed by Hurtback. Bio buckets are fast recirculating DWC buckets that drain from the very top into a common reservoir from where nutes are pumped back into the buckets. Each bucket gets changed out 5x-15x per hour. A protein skimmer or powerhead in the res provides additional aeration. These buckets grow big healthy plants with minimal maintenance. The theory behind the Bio buckets involves using beneficial bacteria to keep the water clean, the same way that nature keeps flowing water masses clean.
This first set of pics shows my basic system as designed by Hurtback complete with a protein skimmer for aeration and the reservoir sitting in the middle. I later moved the res outside the bucket area and out from under the hot lights. Due to a hot summer, I had to buy a fairly expensive aquarium chiller to keep water temps to a steady 68-69F. The chiller required a separate pump of at least 300 gph at one foot lift. I used a Mag-drive 500 gph located outside the res. In the res, a 350 gph pump fed the buckets with about a 12x turnover.
For lighting I used a 400 watt MH during veg and a 1000 watt hps during flower. Circulation of air was done with a 265 cfm squirrel cage blower that sucked the air through a Can33 carbon scrubber, through a large air-cooled hood and then out the window. My grow space was a 8x8' corner of a spare bedroom I sectioned off with panda film floor to ceiling.
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Looks like you got your system tuned rite up!!I agree with BigToke,Beautiful Plants,well done 
