My Buckets

After a couple years layoff I am lighting up my room again and really excited to be growing again. I didn't really 'quit' growing, I just got too busy and didn't have time for it, it is a lot of work as you know. I am running really low on smoke and have a lot more time on my hands these days so I am cranking up the operation again. The worst part was I lost all my moms.

Waiting on my seeds to get here (keep your seeds in the freezer people) so I thought I would post up my system until I can get a grow diary going. I run a unique mediumless recirc DWC, I used to be a fish breeder so I built this system based on what I learned about oxygenating and keeping water 'sweet'. It uses a large external pump to move water fast and sprayheads shoot the water into the buckets above the waterline. It moves water pretty fast and has some similarities to the sweet new undercurrent systems I have seen.

Here's some pics of my setup and one of my C99 grows...

subscribed. This looks damn interesting.

Looks pretty interesting. I'll be around to see the show for sure.

wow that looks amazing

Ok, I'm in love with the buckets what are the specs.

Peace,

Nice work on the stealth entry way. I'll be keeping an eye out for updates

Hey Geo & BigGreen, thanks for the interest. Hope you don't get bored waiting for something to happen as I just mailed off for my seeds yesterday and it already seems like forever until I get to my next harvest.

Thanks Mr G, the amazing part about the system is that it just keeps running, no clogs or leaks, I built a few aquarium systems in the past and like to make everything as maint-free as possible.

Hydrosun, thanks for your visitor message, sorry I don't have more pics but I just took some pics during my first grow and then after OG went down I didn't take anymore. After the C99 I also ran SD IBL and True Blueberry in the system but sorry no pics but they were both great smoke. Nope I can't start from clones as I have no source for them.

As soon as I get some AK47 germed I will veg them hard under a 400W MH so I can get some cuttings ASAP and have some clones ready to go in as soon as they are sexed.

I do have a couple of more pics, diagrams that people requested at OG, I will stick them here so you can see how it's put together. I am running 8 buckets + control with 1600W for a 42"X8' scrog screen.

The only things I would do different next time is to put the bucket sprayer lines closer to the top and use 45 degree elbows instead of 90s to bring the water level closer to the top. That and I would have just run a loop off the 1/2" feeder line to the chiller, thought I was going to get away without one but ended up adding it later for the summers.

Also I originally designed this to work w/o airstones but with the larger air gap I ended up adding them to get the popping action that gets the lid wet. One thing I always noticed with this system is that I ran very low PPM levels compared to everyone else, more like an aero sys maybe. I take pre-vegged 12" or so plants out of my SWC veg tub and have to back down the PPMs when they go into these buckets.

CaliJim, thanks man I like the stealth stuff I really wanted the switch in the statues head that slid the bookpanel to reveal the fireman poles to slide down into my room but this will have to do.

Thanks whoever left me rep, I couldn't tell but to answer your question they are 5 gal buckets and with the waterline where it is at I estimate they hold about 4 gals of water each. Like I said earlier if I was building a new one I would move the sprayheads up higher to get more water in there.

tagged!

Wow Lightning... This is VERY clean. K+++, I am very impressed!! Definitely got this one tagged!

I'm interested in seeing how this system compares to the UnderCurrent system everyone is so excited about. Great setup looks clean, Im researching 8 bucket systems and if I had to to do knowledge as you I would be putting my own system up. But I'm just not and Im not pretending to be. I could get it all together but weather or not I would be able to leave for the weekend and know without a doubt that it wouldn't leek....i think not Somethings are just better for me to buy and a system is one of them.

Pulling up a chair, Ill just sit over here in the corner
I love shows with a slow start, builds up the suspense.

Looks like bio-buckets with a waterfall in each bucket as oppossed to just one real big one at the rez.

Super nice diagrams.
Really enough info with the pics to put one together.

Thanks for showing us how you do it. I cant wait to see your system in action.

Peace

Hey thanks SpoCannabis, glad you like it. These pics I took right after I got the room done before the 1st grow so it's not so clean right now but it does clean up good and I am ready to get to work. I will get some more current pics soon as there were changes to the room, that cooltube ducting didn't work LOL and a chiller was added, scrubber exhaust changed etc. to get a stable environment. This is in an upstairs closet which is normally very hot right next to the attic so I run a lot of juice to keep everything cool.

Not shown is the small veg area which holds a DIY aerocloner and SWC mom/veg sys which stays cool with a duct tapped off the home central AC sys, I will get some pics when I get something in there.

Hey DoobyDan, yes the system uses alot of fast water flow like the UC system and are alike I guess in that they don't baby the root system which seems to like the turbulence from what I have seen.

Yes, even you could put this system together and not have to worry about leaks ever, that is why the expensive bulkheads are used and square buckets. I can leave for a week or more as long as I keep the water supply line valve open to maintain the water level with the float valve. During a grow I normally leave it closed so I can see how much water they are drinking and adjust PPM. Someimes in the stretch when they are drinking a lot I will leave it open or if I know I will be busy and not up there for a couple days.

After running several thousand gallon fish systems I learned how to not leak water LOL. Gluing PVC together is really just that easy, you could make this system easy prolly less than $300 and a big part of that is the 1200 GPH magdrive pump which runs around $135. A drill with the right size holesaws for the bulkheads and hacksaw is about all the tools you need.

I am pretty lazy so I made the system to just keep running no matter what that is why the big drain pipes. The sprayheads are just PVC endcaps with holes drilled in them, I went thru a couple different hole sizes and patterns before I found one that was just the right size that never clogs with good pressure and those aren't glued on so you can pull them off if they do get something in them.

I also have made a couple of aero-type spinner attachments that plug into place of the sprayheads but haven't tried them yet, I might run one or two in buckets this run when I start them as I think it will help for that period between when I put them in and the roots are long enough to reach the water.

The real beauty of it comes draining time and all you do is turn the ballvalve to shut off the feedlines and open the one that goes to the flexpipe to my bathroom where I pull it out of the linen closet and stick it in the toilet. System drains in about 5 mins or less.

Hey HippyJohnny, yes I actually started wanting to do bio-buckets back when I saw the success hurtback and others were having on OG but when came time to do it I just couldn't use some of those materials as I didn't want any leaks or anything and it just kind of evolved from there. Yes the waterfall is one of the best ways to aerate so why not move one into each bucket and put some pressure behind it to really turbocharge things more like a venturi.

At the time I dismissed the whole bio thing as plenty of hydro guys pull plenty of weight without a bio bed but I have since changed my mind since seeing the results people are having with EWC tea lately. I do have a bio filter though, not shown is the large square filter sponge in the control bucket covering the filter intake. I run floranova so it does get caked up with some humic material but a couple of squeezes gets it all back circulating again.

BigAppleNugz thanks, I think everyones grow should be super stealth unless they are legit, I lined the walls of this room with R19 AND styrofoam insulation for soundproofing before I even started, had to struggle to cram the sheetrock on it LOL.

Well everybody is waiting for the show but I was just going to show off my buckets in this thread and do a grow diary elsewhere but I can't let you guys down now and we will have to do it here.

Got the confirmation Gypsy sent my seeds out last week so it won't be too long now.

First up will be Serious AK47 to get the ball rolling well. I am not a pro grower, I have a couple very successful outdoor runs and have done 4 runs in this system with the best coming in at 2.5 elbows for the 1600W. I will try to do better this time and this will be the best yielding strain I have ever run so I have high hopes.

Great setup!! Im doing something similar w/waterfarm buckets. Im just curious about the pressure equalization loop you have, im not understanding why this is needed? I was thinking that capping the end would be ok.

Wow! great looking room. That stealth entry it pimp.

very nice...

super clean room!!!

i'll watch from back here...maybe i'll learn some stuff!

nice setup. So you just made the doorway into what looks like a closet right? So do you have to crawl in? Does the upper part open too? please more details or did I miss it whilst skimming?

Should be fun to watch.
Nice clean work on the whole setup. Fish education really paying off !!
By cutting down to the 1/2", ya got a guess on the actual flow rate?

CB

edit: The powers that be should cut to the chase and make this a "Sticky" now.

Nice set up. Very clean!!!!

my man... u just saved me a shit ton of cash that i would have spent on a UC system. your my hero bro nice set up.