24 buckets of blood sweat and brain juice ;)

[gmanwho]

pumps...

pumps...

Grass lover: At most hardware stores there are round rubber stoppers you can find, at homer depot i found ones with holes in the center, add a washer and run a screw through. attach these to a piece of wood, then attach the pump to the wood.

The rubber stoppers are an inch round, and an inch thick. work great. i made a platform for my HUGELY annoying ballast vibration problem. Solved.

IMO i dont think anyone should be using a high output "mag drive" pump. Get a high output external aquarium pump, like the ones used in large salt water tanks or ponds, like this one pictured. i am not sure of the pump style type.


OK i know 3200 gph is abit much for most, but a 15 bucket or more system, this is it. You can always run a valved water return off of the feed and creating more waterfall effect. This would be only if bucket flow becomes to much for roots. ( can go into details if someone has questions).

It is $200 us bucks, thou it is about $50 more then high output mag pumps. It has so much more. Comes with a 3 yr warranty. USES HALF the amount of electricity or more. These are highly efficient and reliable.( for the smaller pump needs, i did find a 1600 gph for $140)

Figure in this, say 100 days of run time, from rooted clone to finished. 30 day root & veg. say 60 day flower. (and extra 10 days to make it easier on math and room for human growing error or extended flower) THIS is 2400 hrs of pump run time! Look at these quick figures:


Mag pump: 3200 GPH. pond master mag drive = 380 watts
Dart/sequence 3200gph pump= 160watts

220 watts less! you could run 2 sequence pumps for still less. Or figure out what you pay for electricity and see the real savings. im thinking in less then a year, the savings alone in electricity will pay for the pump.

Its that i just see alot of people having problems from not enough water circulation, or there mag drive pump shitting the bed on them. Efficient and reliable, thats all you need to know these pumps are.


Just rambling here...just hope i've helped someone here.


B-safe everyone, an grow 0n.

 

[Guest]

Nice grow i3inary amazing construction quality!

Your not in the USA are you?

If you are be extremely careful you will vomit on yourself and swallow yours balls into your throat if you get busted with 25+ plants in any state except California or Maine they all most always consider that Manufacturing With Intent to Distribute.

Manufacturing With Intent to Distribute carries some very very very stiff penalties you could get more time than if you robbed a bank.

Great grow though I would just consider Trees and vertical lighting in the future man.

P.S.

Like your modest style.

 

[Guest]

I run regular bubblers and I switched to GH Flora Nova from the 3 part.

Same great results and only one bottle no big difference though except easier to mix. The only difference they say is Flora Nova has humic acids.

I didn't notice a difference though just more convenient.

I think it is all the same stuff IMO as long as it is pH buffered.

 

[rule35sub1]

in my opinion, all nutes seem to work about the same in bio buckets, i have tried about 6 different brands and have always been pleased.

 

[gmanwho]

Rule: what do you like for nutes? A quick example would be great, cost effective as well.

How about a earth worm casting extract? ever add one to a bio? looking for something to add the earthy / old closet taste/smell to the herb...

 

[rule35sub1]

current grow, using earth juice grow and bloom, working out just fine and is very inexpensive. i have also done worm castings tea, homeade, with some 3 part.

 

[i3inary]

happy new year to all, hope its going to be a good one for everyone.

well now that holidays are past time for updates.

all numbers are from my alpha bio-bucket run cured and trimmed.

total yeild 34oz on this first severely botched run so im not disappointed in the least.

total light on the system was 3k normally it will be 2.4k but i had an extra 600 and figured what the hell since i was having problems so i threw it in.
...overall yeild compared to other growers is not very impressive but i can see that the potential of this system is impressive to say the least...when you factor in the "set it and forget it" autopilot ease of the run and you cant beat bio-buckets period imho.

best plant was 175g (6.2oz)
spent 1 week in a beer cup before being transplanted to its bio-bucket and vegging for 1 more week under hps.
this was what i would expect the worst of the bunch on my next run to look like.

avg yeild per bio-bucket 56g (2oz)
from 12 hardcore shocked survivors (soil to hydro transplant).

best soil was 112g (4oz)
6x soil (mothers of bucket clones)...lined up down the middle of the bucket rows.
all soil vegged 6 weeks total. during bloom i used fox farm grow, tigerbloom, and bigbloom, and LK with RO water (@ 1400ppm .5 conversion.)


gmanwho:
thanks for the diagram and pump info ideas...that extra valve off the feed is another brilliant idea...kind of like a waterfall you can adjust. i can tell you're def gonna have a kickass system when you build yours.


as for nutes i decided on purblend pro...so my system is now using PBP grow, bloom, calmag, LK, and of course the nectar of the gods...hygrozyme.

except for the putrid smell compared to gh nutes im digging it...oh well i guess you cant have your nutes and breathe in the room too!

 

[Neptune]

awesome thread, I just found it when it bumped.

Excellent design, anything you would do differently if you were building another one of these systems? Keep us updated on your current grows! I'd love to see this system bangin' full of healthy lush clones!!


OH and BTW dude!!! Listen up! Don't use so many dern additives, go with hygrozyme and base... that's all you need! If you really feel like you want to add special snake sauce to your plants, foliar feed is where it's at. Kelp foliars is BAMBIZZLESHIZZLEDIZZZLE WOOT WOOT YEAAA! get me?

 

[i3inary]

i would def use gmanwho's pump suggestion...hands down no question about it especially since the thing uses less freaking watts and is more quiet.

another thing i think i would do is forget the damn hoses...all pvc. i spent more freaking time looking for the right size and types of hose only to spend hours ripping my hands up putting them on.......only to have them leak (even with hoseclamps which cose another 30 bucks) after all that before replacing them with new more expensive spa hose that was more work to put on...all pvc no doubt easier, cleaner, less chances to leak, and waaaaaay cheaper....yeah im sour at the hoses. heheh....after all my buckets wont be moving since they are all hotglued solid to the stands

i will also make the changes to my inlet plumbing runs as per gmanwho pointed out in his diagram.

go big or go home with the pump...you can always put a valve to tune it.

 

[Heineken]

If you are be extremely careful you will vomit on yourself and swallow yours balls into your throat if you get busted with 25+ plants in any state except California or Maine they all most always consider that Manufacturing With Intent to Distribute.

Jail house lawyers suck. You have good intentions but don't spread bad info... it doesn't help the cause. In NY you'd get popped with unlawful growing which is a Public Health Law Violation and Unlawful/Criminal Possession of Marijuana based on the dried weight of the entire plant.

Possible sentences as follow:

less than 25 grams: Unlawful Possession of Marijuana - Violation (not to exceed 15 days - county time)

more than 25 grams: Criminal Possession of Marijuana 5th - B Misdemeanor (less than 90 days - county time)

more than 2 ounces: Criminal Possession of Marijuana 4th - A Misdemeanor (not to exceed 1 year - county time)

more than 8 ounces: Criminal Possession of Marijuana 3rd - E Felony (more than 1.5 years - not to exceed 4 years - state time)

more than 16 ounces: Criminal Possession of Marijuana 2nd - D Felony (more than 2 years - not to exceed 7 years - state time)

more than 10 pounds: Criminal Possession of Marijuana 1st - C Felony (more than 3.5 years - not to exceed 15 years - state time)

NY being one of the most liberal states in the nation... you would probably be able to plea to something lesser than you actually were charged with.

Criminal Sale is more than just possessing it.... you must actually sell it in NY.

 

[Neptune]

OH!!!

I thought Pot was Legal???

ALL THESE YEARS I'VE BEEN A CRIMINAL????

 

[i3inary]

no risk=no reward.

imo that applies to all aspects of life...from girls to business.

 

[gmanwho]

Gmanwho asks: " Umm am i mistaken? I thought this was the "24 buckets blood sweet and brain juice" ? I didnt know how it could have gotten crossed with the legal forums.

Ohhhh wait....i see now, Heineken must have missed the Legal and security forums else where, with all the lovely links to state and federal laws. So maybe he wanted to post it here. Just incaseeeee we missed it on the way in.

 

[Fire]

tagged

Thanks Binary....your info has been, and will be invaluable to many

three thumbs up

 

[Lootpimpin]

Very informative thread.

 

[icough2getoff]

Those plants turned out fantastic looking, regardless of the problems they had. Very nice job, very inspiring. Keep up the good work, I'll be looking out for your future grows.

 

[Neptune]

can we get some updates Binary?

 

[vhGhost]

 

[Getawaymonkey!]

my suggestions for a DIY bio system......I hope this info helps someone and doesnt hurt anyones feelings LOL...

1) No metal in your system .especially copper and aluminum. Unless you like watching your prize bud die a rapid aginizing death before its time. This will cause corrosion between the metals and and our favorite plant doesnt seem to like it so well.
2)keep a spare pump,aquarium heater, and hose (youre gonna need it,trust me...Thankx Murphy)
3)USE aluminum foil and good ol' hotglue to light proof your buckets, lids,....and blacktape for your tubing. its cheap and effective and special coloered buckets are high
4)make sure each bucket is level and that each inlet and outlet the same hiegth
5)if you cant afford Uniseals or cant find em' where you are, just use plain old hose barbs and rubber grommets found at nearly every decent harware store and plain old clear vinyl thickwalled tubing.Never leaks,lasts forever and is easy to make adjustments/changes when needed.
5)for the outlets of each bucket I use vacuum hose, and just drill a hole with a holesaw so that the vacuum hose fits snugly into the hole i just made,.. so that the grooves on the hose catch slighly, I rough up the surface surrounding the hole on all sides with sandpaper, insert the vacuum hose in its place,then i seal it all with hotglue. building layers of glue until the glue encases about 3/4 of an inch of the vacuum hose.This gives it strength against moving when youre adjusting things around...which you WILL. And I dont give a sh*t how amatuar it is to use hotglue , Ive not had a single leak in 6 grows and going strong. Take it or leave it.
6)keep everything lightproof and temps around 20C and no higher than 25C and youll never see rootrot . Atleast Ive never seen it in my biosystem.
7)If you dont have the luxury or placing your res in a dark cool location, atleast have the sense to lightproof the thing and keep it covered. Air exchange will occur because the air WILL find a way in there, as long as the water is flowing. I personally airate my res with stones and have filled up buckets with roots so thick they stood up just like a bucket when sat on the floor at harvest LOL.
9)proper solution Temperature is the most important thing in a biosystem IMO.Keeps the uglies from overpopulating the good bacteria. Everything else just kind of takes care of itself if running properly.
8)KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.. I use GH Flora MICRO and BLOOM and plain old tap water, and just harvested 8.275 oz from 1 plant SCROG under a 400 in 91 days and 2 weeks of that it was stunted from STUPID USER ERROR.Not too mention i had to lop about an ounce off with the sciccors at harvest due to mold.
I dont add any additives or anything other than what they need to grow,..the biosystem takes care of the bloom boosting for me !

I never check my ph ,EVER. Im not advocating doing this..I just found that it was a waste of time for me and my particuliar system, as it was redundant to do so.

The only thing I do is check PPM and temps and log them every day, add nutrients if needed and top off with plain tap water . Oh and drool all over myself, of course.

Nutrient management is easy once you get the hang of it.
Once I got the hang of it, I stopped buying expensive meter parts and calibration solutions for ph and havent touched the ph button on my hanna in a year! SHAME ON ME HUH?I should note that my water supply is clean...40-55 ppm year round. Hehe