a ppk for a 6 plant limit

[Skooter]

You should be fine with the 2"

 

[Snook]

Hey guys, I am just about built out on a 4 site ppk. I am using 3.5 gallon square buckets stacked on top of each other for the plant sites. Unfortunately I was a little over anxious and I put 3" tail pieces on my top buckets when I should have used 2".

My question is can I get away with the 3" tail pieces or should I get new top buckets and install 2" tail pieces. With my setup I have the ability to run a max air gap of 6" and my media depth is going to be be around 9".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm thinking that 6" gap might be too much... 3"-4" is the norm.
the wicks purpose is not only to reduce the PWT but to supplement feeding of the root zone, 6" is too high for the water to rise. 9" of media is good but you should veg longer and have higher ceilings to take advantage of a plant that big.. you do not menton light size/type..

 

[DelTaco]

Thanks for the quick responses. I think I may have been unclear so please let me attempt to clarify.

Currently I have 3" inch tail pieces installed on my top buckets. Not 2". From my reading I now know that 2" tail pieces would be better but my question is can I get away with the tail pieces I already have installed or should I get new buckets and switch to 2". I would prefer to keep my 3" ones but I would rather suck up the loss now then potentially start off on a bad foot.

The background info I was trying to give but I think I may have made confusing is that I am using 3.5 gallon square buckets stacked on top of each other. My tail piece is 3" and 8" long and while I plan on starting with a 4" air gap but I can go as high as 6" if need be in order to keep from having to switch to a 2" tail piece. I want to avoid that if possible. The reason I mention this is because I am concerned that if I run the 3" tail pieces that it might lead to an overwatering condition (which I assume I can fix by increasing my air gap) Not sure if I'm over thinking it or not. I need help.

As for my environment I am in a 9x19 sealed room with 9' ceilings and a 24kbtu mini split. I have 4 1k gavita knock offs but I only plan on using one for my 4 plant sites. I will add on and go bigger once I get the hang of things.

 

[420ish]

Thanks for the quick responses. I think I may have been unclear so please let me attempt to clarify.

Currently I have 3" inch tail pieces installed on my top buckets. Not 2". From my reading I now know that 2" tail pieces would be better but my question is can I get away with the tail pieces I already have installed or should I get new buckets and switch to 2". I would prefer to keep my 3" ones but I would rather suck up the loss now then potentially start off on a bad foot.

The background info I was trying to give but I think I may have made confusing is that I am using 3.5 gallon square buckets stacked on top of each other. My tail piece is 3" and 8" long and while I plan on starting with a 4" air gap but I can go as high as 6" if need be in order to keep from having to switch to a 2" tail piece. I want to avoid that if possible. The reason I mention this is because I am concerned that if I run the 3" tail pieces that it might lead to an overwatering condition (which I assume I can fix by increasing my air gap) Not sure if I'm over thinking it or not. I need help.

As for my environment I am in a 9x19 sealed room with 9' ceilings and a 24kbtu mini split. I have 4 1k gavita knock offs but I only plan on using one for my 4 plant sites. I will add on and go bigger once I get the hang of things.

i use 3 gallon rough neck totes with 3 inch tailpieces.i was only running a 3 1/2 inch gap and it worked good but i did not feed as much as others do.i am now running the same 3 gallon with a 5 inch air gap and no problems at all.
i do believe the problem with the 3 inch tail pieces were from using the shallow 3 gallon feed pans.there was not enough depth so they were getting over watered.i do not use those but that was how i interpreted the posts on that.hope that helps

 

[DelTaco]

i use 3 gallon rough neck totes with 3 inch tailpieces.i was only running a 3 1/2 inch gap and it worked good but i did not feed as much as others do.i am now running the same 3 gallon with a 5 inch air gap and no problems at all.
i do believe the problem with the 3 inch tail pieces were from using the shallow 3 gallon feed pans.there was not enough depth so they were getting over watered.i do not use those but that was how i interpreted the posts on that.hope that helps

Thank you very much, that is what I was hoping to hear. Just curious, how come you are using a 5" air gap now instead of the 3 1/2? Also just so I can get in the ballpark of where to start how often do you water and how much? I am planning on doing full floods instead of pulses.

 

[Snook]

i use 3 gallon rough neck totes with 3 inch tailpieces.i was only running a 3 1/2 inch gap and it worked good but i did not feed as much as others do.i am now running the same 3 gallon with a 5 inch air gap and no problems at all.
i do believe the problem with the 3 inch tail pieces were from using the shallow 3 gallon feed pans.there was not enough depth so they were getting over watered.i do not use those but that was how i interpreted the posts on that.hope that helps

ok, its better now but what were the problems you encountered with the 3.5" gap, that is better now with a 5" gap?

 

[420ish]

Thank you very much, that is what I was hoping to hear. Just curious, how come you are using a 5" air gap now instead of the 3 1/2? Also just so I can get in the ballpark of where to start how often do you water and how much? I am planning on doing full floods instead of pulses.

i was using the roughneck 3 gallon totes top and bottom.i was going for more headroom in my flowering cabinets.i could not adjust the air gap at all.having no way to adjust the air gap due to tote only being barely over 6 inches high on the bottom.if my res started creeping up on height ,i would have over watering problems.if i tried full flooding the three inch tail piece would cause over watering but my totes with the 2 sink tailpieces would not show as bad or at all.most of my totes are with the three inch tail pieces.
i built a new room for my new led cob lights and designed in less headroom so i can have an adjustable gap.i now have only the three inch tail pieces.i am not running full flood but have increased my frequency and on time.i have not tried a full flood yet due to the plants looking great with the waves.i am now at 45 seconds on and 60 minutes off.
i used to run 20 to 30 seconds every ninety minutes.
if i ran full flood ,the turface was always too wet in the three inch tail piece totes.
i was running three flower cabinets 4 foot by 4 foot by 6 foot high with two 600 hps stacked bare bulbs in the middle with a small fan blowing up on low and a 6 inch or 8 inch fan and filter in the middle on top extracting .
each cabinet had 4 plants tied one to a wall and one tied to a swinging rack in the door way.in 3 gallon smart pots with promix bx my best was 44 oz.that was not the norm,25 to 36 was.
with the ppk it is much easier and consistant.usually 32 to 40 with the ppk and easier to take care of and maintain.
i did not have problems in my veg cabinet which uses the same 3 gallon totes but the air gap is not adjustable in there.the cabinet is raised so gravity and where i drilled the drain hose does not allow the gap to change.
i still can not full flood the veg cabinet with three to 3 and a half inch air gap and using 3 inch tail piece.i do screen my turface .the 2 sink tail pieces did not do as good with my set air gap in veg using full flood either though.

 

[DelTaco]

i was using the roughneck 3 gallon totes top and bottom.i was going for more headroom in my flowering cabinets.i could not adjust the air gap at all.having no way to adjust the air gap due to tote only being barely over 6 inches high on the bottom.if my res started creeping up on height ,i would have over watering problems.if i tried full flooding the three inch tail piece would cause over watering but my totes with the 2 sink tailpieces would not show as bad or at all.most of my totes are with the three inch tail pieces.
i built a new room for my new led cob lights and designed in less headroom so i can have an adjustable gap.i now have only the three inch tail pieces.i am not running full flood but have increased my frequency and on time.i have not tried a full flood yet due to the plants looking great with the waves.i am now at 45 seconds on and 60 minutes off.
i used to run 20 to 30 seconds every ninety minutes.
if i ran full flood ,the turface was always too wet in the three inch tail piece totes.
i was running three flower cabinets 4 foot by 4 foot by 6 foot high with two 600 hps stacked bare bulbs in the middle with a small fan blowing up on low and a 6 inch or 8 inch fan and filter in the middle on top extracting .
each cabinet had 4 plants tied one to a wall and one tied to a swinging rack in the door way.in 3 gallon smart pots with promix bx my best was 44 oz.that was not the norm,25 to 36 was.
with the ppk it is much easier and consistant.usually 32 to 40 with the ppk and easier to take care of and maintain.
i did not have problems in my veg cabinet which uses the same 3 gallon totes but the air gap is not adjustable in there.the cabinet is raised so gravity and where i drilled the drain hose does not allow the gap to change.
i still can not full flood the veg cabinet with three to 3 and a half inch air gap and using 3 inch tail piece.i do screen my turface .the 2 sink tail pieces did not do as good with my set air gap in veg using full flood either though.

You're the man! Thank you for the good info. I still want to shoot for a full flood but it is good to know that I can do a long pulse instead if I have to and still get good results.

 

[420ish]

You're the man! Thank you for the good info. I still want to shoot for a full flood but it is good to know that I can do a long pulse instead if I have to and still get good results.

my problems also could be related to my basement floor being not level.i had no room for error in my cabinets since i tried to maximize the possible height of my plants.it would have been better to build in the ability to adjust.i moved my cabinets around getting ready to build my new room and opened up all sorts of level problems.i worked through it but alot of times i never utilized the max height anyways and a bigger bottom tote would have made life easier.
i thought some one who has used the three gallon feed pans would have commented.i think that was where the bigger problems with the three inch tailpiece were.
mine work and do fine.it was just not as easy as most people have with the ppk due to my design flaws in the build out.

 

[DelTaco]

my problems also could be related to my basement floor being not level.i had no room for error in my cabinets since i tried to maximize the possible height of my plants.it would have been better to build in the ability to adjust.i moved my cabinets around getting ready to build my new room and opened up all sorts of level problems.i worked through it but alot of times i never utilized the max height anyways and a bigger bottom tote would have made life easier.
i thought some one who has used the three gallon feed pans would have commented.i think that was where the bigger problems with the three inch tailpiece were.
mine work and do fine.it was just not as easy as most people have with the ppk due to my design flaws in the build out.

Again thank you for the thorough explanation. My room is in my garage so I also have level issues to deal with but for me it is just a piece of 1/2 plywood under two of my plant modules. Even with 9' ceilings headroom is going to be a problem for me and my DE lamps so I am going to have@ to scrog my plants out. My buckets are each 12" tall so my plan is to fill the top bucket to about 9" which will leave me only enough room to grow 3' plants. I am having buyers remorse right now with my lights. I originally wanted to go bare bulbs and grow vert but I got caught up in the gavita hype. Not saying they are bad lights just not suited for how I want to grow. I have to make do with what I have so instead of new lights I need to get lower to the ground some how. If I ever make the switch to vert bulbs I will probably go with 7 gallon feed pans and the big muck tubs.

 

[Snook]

screening turface> the screenaltor

screening turface> the screenaltor

12 gallon shopvac, remove filter, wrap with window screen, point the exhaust out the door and vacuum up the new turface maybe twice (if youre still old school) >screened.. but I must do it when cloudy and windy cause it looks like a fire with all the dust blowin around... cant have questions.
Hello BroD9nsx.. you are responsible for my actions!

 

[delta9nxs]

12 gallon shopvac, remove filter, wrap with window screen, point the exhaust out the door and vacuum up the new turface maybe twice (if youre still old school) >screened.. but I must do it when cloudy and windy cause it looks like a fire with all the dust blowin around... cant have questions.
Hello BroD9nsx.. you are responsible for my actions!

pretty cool!

 

[Boutique Manettino]

I run a pellet stove in winter. It has to be cleaned regularly and a shop vac picks up the fine ash perfectly.

In the first season or two, I was using a shop vac that was roughly (17) years old but had been nursed along and was still healthy.

After that point the motor started to get noisy. When we finally euthanized the shop-vac, it was howling so bad one needed ear plugs and sparks were flying out of the motor.

The dust passing through the motor baked it.

If you see dust coming out of your shop vac, it has passed thru the motor already.


I use drywall / "fine particle" bags on the new shop-vac and all is good. There isn't much volume per bag however.

Shop vac's aren't super expensive ($49 etc for the small 5 or 6 gallon units) so maybe it's not a big deal.

 

[McKush]

12 gallon shopvac, remove filter, wrap with window screen, point the exhaust out the door and vacuum up the new turface maybe twice (if youre still old school) >screened.. but I must do it when cloudy and windy cause it looks like a fire with all the dust blowin around... cant have questions.
Hello BroD9nsx.. you are responsible for my actions!

Coola Snookers me likes! Are you topping up or changing out?

 

[Snook]

Coola Snookers me likes! Are you topping up or changing out?

McK..'topping up'.. ?? no habla.. i've run thru enough turface that I needed to open an prepare a new bag for the normal rotation of ppks.. there was 5 bags cleaned and screened this will be the 6th.. it is used and reused for vegging in ppks and blooming in ppks.. like the odd sock, I wonder where the other bag went!? and as it turns out, two, maybe three passes thru the shopvac will do it but it still needs to be washed.. better than sitting at that damned screening box..

 

[DelTaco]

So what's the verdict on using the 3 gallon feed pans in the 40qt muck tubs? @delta9nxs did you ever figure out what was wrong with that setup?

 

[delta9nxs]

So what's the verdict on using the 3 gallon feed pans in the 40qt muck tubs? @delta9nxs did you ever figure out what was wrong with that setup?

yes, i think the depth was too shallow. it only allows for about a 3.5" media depth. we are not having the same issues in the feed pans with a 5" media depth.

 

[C.O.B.]

D9 when I get my post count up, I'd like to pm you for some help/advise with a ppk build. 1 or 2 ppks to start. Thank you in advance.

 

[C.O.B.]

It seems, all the ppk threads I've read are outdated, except this one and Raven's.

 

[av8or]

Outdated? Nah man...those threads are called "pre-requisites." Everyone should read those first before asking all the same questions over and over again.