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A Tribute to JonJaffer - 4K Vertical PVC Stadium

C

Cheeb

click here for this thread's gallery
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Hey all,

Norther Farmer Style, but fast moving SWC Hydro.

Originally inspired by a guy named JonJaffer back in the OG days, and amazingly I have not seen this replicated. What ever happened to ya dude?

13x10 room to work with. Going to hang 4k vertical as Northern Farmer does, but instead of potted plants on shelves we are going to have 4 8" 10ft PVC channels suspended by chains.

Like this (these are JonJaffer's pics - not mine)
t_showin.jpg
t_Pictur.jpg


Water rushes through top pipe - overflows to bottom pipe - back to res. Just fast moving awesomeness leaving the floor open to sweep, ect.

Been dreaming of duplicating this setup for nearly 8 years when I first discovered it on OG, but have always been confined to upstairs grows and other reasons to choose against this method.

JonJaffer, :respect: this ones for you brudha!



Stay Tuned for the Build + Grow.
 
!!!

!!!

Now in technicolor
Veteran
Months back I spent A LOT time looking for that mediumless EF thread in your sig.. finally found it!

Anyway, this is a sweet setup. I've seen pvc/drain gutter setups like this but never in an inverted pyramid "step" configuration. Very efficient.. can't wait for the build.
 
M

macdiesel

Member
I'm really looking forward to this one.......curious about the pvc. Don't the root balls fill the pipe so much that it clogs and plants are restricted in their size?
 
C

Cheeb

I'm really looking forward to this one.......curious about the pvc. Don't the root balls fill the pipe so much that it clogs and plants are restricted in their size?
Click to expand...

I dont believe they get to the point to cause any clogs. JonJaffer used to run the bloom setup in 6" pipes with no problems until upgrading to 8" pipes and getting even better results from the increase in water flow.

Overflow from top pipe to bottom pipe , and then back to reservoir will actually be 2" PVC in Uniseals so I'm not too concerned about cloging.

- -

PVC has been purchased! Its much larger in person then I was expecting. Almost abandoned the plan after pricing out the PVC lengths and end caps. 8" end cap retails for around $42/ea around here! Luckily my friend dad was able to give me wholesale pricing so I snagged the 8" caps for around $20/ea which I believe it pretty much cost. Have around $600 into PVC for both veg and bloom systems.

- -
I retained pretty much all the info I need except for a few details regarding spacing.

Does anyone have any insight on how far part I should place my 2 bottom rows.. and how far up and out I should hang my upper outer tube?
And how far does northern farmer space his 1K bulbs from one another down the middle?

Will be doing 4k down the middle. 4 10Ft tubes with 7 plants each for a total of 28 plants.

Going to be fun!
 
C

Cheeb

are you doing open bulb too?
Click to expand...

Going to hang the lamps vertical open bulbs just as northern farmer and others are doing here.

Going into winter months here shortly and we'll have a large 1700CFM Max fan exhausting the space so I'm pretty sure temperature will be controllable until next spring/summer.

At that time we'll have to tear down for a mini split install or just box a 24k window AC. We'll deal with that challenge come spring.

- -

Bit of a hang-up. All of the PVC end caps that we got are not completely flat ended caps, but have more of a conical style end which wont work with the way we'll be installing the uniseals and overflow tubes. Exhanging them tonight and then the build will be underway over the course of the next few days.
 
H

halitzor

Member
I'm designing 2 grow rooms for friends similar to this but I'm using 4x4 pvc fence posts which comes in 6 and 8 foot lengths. I really like the idea of suspending them, I'll have to look into that :D


Edit:

Oh and I'll be using way higher plant numbers and flowering as soon as the clones are rooted. Perpetual system.... 4 sep 8 foot long tubes each packed with 3" net pots and 4 sep reservoris. Harvest one tube every 2 weeks and insert new clones every 2 weeks. Looking for around 4oz+ every 2 weeks for a single 1k.
 
C

Cheeb

thanks for the replies.

Hal,
Sounds awesome - please share it with the community once its all in motion. I'd definately look into suspending it. Lots of pros such as:

  • Clean Floor (able to easily sweep as fans drop late bloom)
  • Access to undersides. (makes spraying for pests way easier)
  • Easy to Drain (entire system drains just by raising an end up a few links)
- weight is my only concern but going overkill on the chain, eye bolts, ect. Each 8" tube weighs a lot so I can only imagine the weight going on once its filled with water.

Started building tonight, but unfortunately didnt get near as far as I wanted due to a cheap ass hole saw and other misc things didnt prepare for.

Going with 3.75" Net Cups space every 17" down the tubes.
Drilling the holes is the easy part - its getting the circular piece out of the f'n whole saw that is the real pain. Only got 2 tubes done and the end caps before the whole saw drill bit wouldnt stay in and I had no small allen key to tighten it.

Got a list now so I should be able to pickup the remaining items I need and really make some progress tomorrow night.

picture.php


I'll be doing my ends a little different then JJ's original stadium. I splurged on some Uniseals which will allow a 2" PVC pipe to slip in, but still give me the ability to pivot my return to accomodate my lower pipe's position.

1st pic is what I'm doing (cup just sitting there - actually presses down in very tightly.
picture.php


vs. what JJ did by glueing in his pvc 3"-2" reducer/elbow
picture.php



- Sorry for the shitty pics - will have a decent camera from here on out to better show my progress.

:wave:
 
C

Cheeb

Uniseals can be had at Aquatic Eco-Systems

http://www.aquaticeco.com/subcategories/829/Uniseals

Not the cheapest things in the world. 5.40/ea for the 2" - 2.95/ea for the 1.25", but definately making that whole step easy...and I could use easy right now.

day2 build didn't go so hot.

- Spilt purple pvc primer all over the floor (which is a nice shiney garage type floor). Immediately stained it. woops..

- door installed at bottom of basement steps. Had to saw zaw the bottom few inches of a prehung el-cheapo homedepot door to fit in a 80" opening vs. the 82" opening the door required. Got a small splinter of wood in my eye.. WEAR EYE PROTECTION PEOPLE! always!


Hopefully i'll get this wrapped up this weekend..as far as all the major stuff goes.
 
W

Work2much

Member
I like you're style cheeb, it's like I'm I'm reading my own thoughts when you post as we seem to have most of the same interests and experiences in growing: mediumless sog, coco tables, and swc in tubes. I'm in the planning stages of a plastic rain gutter NFT sog. Same light setup, NF stadium style but with 5k closed system A/C+CO2. I'm trying to decide between the ease of well PH'd rockwool blocks with clones in the rockwool plugs versus just filling the gutters with hydroton and using clones from my bubble cloner.

I'll be checking in on the progress.

Also, I'm sure you've seen Heath's flooded tube grow on RIU. It's the closest thing to Jon Jaffer's system and would be a good few hour long study for ya if you haven't already. See ya.
 
M

*mistress*

Member
Veteran
Cheeb said:
Originally inspired by a guy named JonJaffer back in the OG days, and amazingly I have not seen this replicated.
Click to expand...
:peek:
many og & cw innovations still innovative...many moments since.

there was also irish & webbie tubes... was that cw?
k+ for resurrecting & replicating system... :tiphat:

& to op:ying:

*edit*
can illustrated pic by JJ be enlarged?
 
Last edited:
C

Cheeb

Unfortunately cannot enlarge the pic by JJ. It was a cached OG image with a dead link to the original.

Making progress now - -everything hung and I was able to test half of the system w/ water. Still need 1 more 8" cap to finish it complete.

I think I may have spaced it a tad too wide, but only time will tell. I can raise each tube up and down to shorten or lengthen my "step", but cant really adjust the spacing of the pipes. top and bottom pipe are 21" apart (eyebolt to eyebolt) - I think the top pipe is 42" from where bulbs will hang (too far?). I can most likely swing the entire assembly more inward and use something to keep it there should I have to.

picture.php


picture.php


The anticipation to fill this thing with plants is KILLING me.

I'm not going to add airstones to the pipes as JJ did. I'm hoping to rely on fast moving water and the waterfall effect from pipe to pipe and back to res to give me all the aeration I need. I do have a really nice alita airpump on standby should I need it, but after seeing heath's results w/o additional air I dont think I will.

I'll be back with more. Water situation is done. Brute trash can stays filled with RO on an electronic float (merlin RO Machine) and then it'll fill my smaller res automatically via another gravity float. Shouldn't have to do much but addback nutrients to a diluted res. 1267GPH Pump sits in res and pumps via 3/4 tubing to each outer top pipe.

Just need to mount sockets on the 2x4 pictured, ventilation, and some cuts to root and I'll have this show on the road. Going to toss some poly saddles on the pipes and prolly some on the walls for reflection in the early stages.

- then I got to do it all again for veg setup. Fun stuff.


Comments, suggestions, whatever always welcome.

peace
 
bobblehead

bobblehead

Active member
Veteran
I've always wanted to do this! I figured I'd look kinda funny bringing in all this big PVC though...
 
D

dramamine

Looking nice, Cheeb! Another aspect of this setup that is favourable is temperature control. Lotsa nice cool air surrounding the rooting zone.

You will probably want to bring the pipes in closer to the lights, like you said, at least initially. I have to disagree with ropes being more stable than chains (??). Great work.
 
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