BigTokes ~ "How-To" Of The Bio-Buckets 101

[BigToke]

…………6” net-pots are just fine imo

 

[Guest]

Hey BT ,sweet thread.Im a Bio grower forever and have never done Hydro.But its good to know i can now after all the info and knowledge you have givin here at IC for everyone.Thanks again for youre time and teachings Bro.Peace and stay safe,DancesWithWeed

 

[ocanabis]

Thx Bigtoke
10" it is.Look for my journal to be started this up coming weekend

One other q for you.Would it be benificial to use any other additives like Liquid Karma or superthrive,hygrozime etc.I will be using Future Havest's Bada series nutes.It's a 3 Part with vitamin B added.
Thx
Later
Ocanabis

 

[BigToke]

…………………your welcome DWW and if I can help ya at all just ask


ocanabis, I recommend to use nothing but if you do use any thing, remember when it comes to hydro a little goes a long way.

 

[krustytheclown]

All I can say is, "Holy crap!"

Good job, BigToke.

When I grow up, I wanna be as smart as you!

Well, and have all that weed, too

 

[senseless]

hey bigtoke what EC do you run through out growing? including clone and seeding stage.

when i add nutreints to my rez to raise the EC how long should i wait till i check the EC again and see if i need to make more adjustments?

thanks.

 

[cabanetforester]

Hey Big Toke

Hey Big Toke

The Bio Buckets look like the way to go. Thats quite the setup you have. For now I have a 10 gal rubbermaid with 170 gph powerhead. Similar to what you have just very basic. The 2 plants love it they outgrew the veg cab.. .

I notice you have a waterfall of certain size in the Bio Bucket system to increase DO. I am curious about your observations of the waterfall effect and it's effect on DO levels.

Did you take DO meter readings at different waterfall heights? What were they? I have seen somewhat affordable DO meters online.

I was thinking of doing some experementing with raising the DO level in the root zone, but having trouble finding information.

I'm thinking there must not be much if any benefit of having more 02 in the root zone or else I would have seen more people doing it.


I remember some thread on OG about someone buying some expensive commercial 02 enrichment thing.

--I wish I knew what the DO was in a typical Bio Bucket or similar type system. If regular atmosphere is about 21% then I would think the DO in the DWC would be somewhat less, a few % maybe?

In flood drain or aero maybe O2 would be about 21%?

So- I am curious about the effects of having DO levels of say 21-30+% in the DWC.

I guess most people use Hydrogen Peroxide to raise the DO, so I'm curious about using that. I'm just not sure about the effects of additional H2O2 or how much it would take to raise DO about 10% above average or if it would at all.

Maybe I will get something like this DO meter and do some testing

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7722954408&category=3212#ebayphotohosting


Things were going just fine with my first hydro grow.. This photo was taken before the 2 over grew everything and I lost control of them.

 

[HOVAH]

BigToke im gonna use 10" net pots , can i grow 2 clones per bucket? For 6 bio buckets instead of 6 plants , i flower 12 plants , is this alright? thanks 1HOVAH

 

[senseless]

your probably not going to be able to pull it off. why not just grow only 6 plants? you would most likely harvest more beceause one plant can have a huge root system.

 

[HOVAH]

im also having trouble with hi water temps , my pump is "The little giant" , do i need to buy a chiller or should i add fans to the rez? thanks

 

[HOVAH]

i got 6 buckets, can i go with 12 buckets with the same pump? "The Little Giant pump" temp is 103.8 F per bucket , i think maybe i need more buckets or my pump is too big for 6 buckets

 

[senseless]

with temps of 103f i suggest you look into buying a different pump. inline pumps are the best and produce verry little heat compared to submersable ones.

how many buckets do you have? how many gallons is your reserviour? how high are the buckets above the reserviour? ill tell you the right size pump you need.

 

[BigToke]

senseless

hey bigtoke what EC do you run through out growing? including clone and seeding stage.

when i add nutreints to my rez to raise the EC how long should i wait till i check the EC again and see if i need to make more adjustments?

• Clone ~ 400 ppm’s.
• Veg ~ then I go up to 8 to 900 ppm’s through Veg.
• Flo ~ then from 9 to 1200 ppm’s through Flowering just depends on the strain.

…………….checking ppm’s? just depends on how much time I have, every day if I have the time and every other day if I don’t and some times I’ll go a week without checking anything.

 

[HOVAH]

i had 6 buckets, i just added 4 more to make 10 total , my rez is 40 gallons. im hoping that 10 buckets will cool things down, ill also be adding a fan to the rez . for all of u using a cooler for your system , how much did u pay for it , where did u get it and what kind of cooler is it? thanks

 

[Bonzo]

Hi HOVAH, Howdt BT! The second ckiller from the top , the CL280 is what i have and it kicks ass. I got mine on ebay, brand new, but cant seem to find chillers at all on there at the moment. Anyhow maybe you can find them there. There were alot of em, i dont understand why i cant fnd em' Anyhow mine was like 300 bucks including shipping so try ebay if you can , i have another site for these as well, ill see if i can find it.

http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/chillers.html

mine, in action:



good luck

peace

bonz

 

[HOVAH]

thanks Bonzo , thats alot of money man!! , so i think im gonna invest in another pump , an inline pump it should be cheaper thanks

 

[raygun]

Hey thanks for the props Big Toke. I am still running my cab bio-bucket set up and love it! got some of rez Petrol going now. I have had great sucess with it and for any one who was curious if it could be done it CAN!
As far as what i do for veg is I use a separate veg box and will veg my sativas for no more than 20 days and the indicas for perhaps 3 weeks under a 150w cfl in a 2gal SWC bubbler. Its medium less so i don't have to worry when transfering to the cab. I just grab and put in 1/2 filled basket, top off with rocks and you are off.
Hope my little grow helps some of you looking to get this system in your cab. Feel free to ask any questions.
this is my veg/mom box

~raygun~

 

[senseless]

is that using a .5 conversion factor?

senseless

• Clone ~ 400 ppm’s.
• Veg ~ then I go up to 8 to 900 ppm’s through Veg.
• Flo ~ then from 9 to 1200 ppm’s through Flowering just depends on the strain.

…………….checking ppm’s? just depends on how much time I have, every day if I have the time and every other day if I don’t and some times I’ll go a week without checking anything.

 

[BigToke]

Supp HOVAH ~ …………just remember to put some kind of filter on the backside of your fans or you will dirty up your water, it’s not a must but it helps.



Bonzo!!! it’s good to hear from you old friend thanks for helping out……



Raygun I hard of people doing that before but have never done it myself but it’s good to now that it can be done………


Senseless ~ .5 conversion factor? ……………I’ll need a little help with that one…lol

 

[senseless]

ppms are confusing as hell i think. let me try and explain.

ppm is a calculation of EC or CF.

CF= EC multiplied by 10. ex, 1.0ec x 10 = 10CF

ec = CF divided by 10. ex, 10CF divided by 10 = 1.0 EC

the problem with ppm is that its not a standardized way of taking readings so almost every product manufacture has a different way of measuring ppm. in other words thier ppm conversion factor.

a .7 factor is actually called a 442 conversion factor wich is approximately 700 multiplied by EC.

a .5 factor or the NaCl conversion factor wich is approximately 500 multiplied by EC.

depending on wich type of TDS meter you use it will use either a .5 or .7 conversion factor. this is why some people get different readings with different meters.

lets say your nutreint solution was 1.0 EC
using the .7 conversion factor your ppm would be 700.
using the .5 conversion factor your ppm would be 500.

heres a table,
(EC)------(PPM.5)---------(PPM.7)-------(CF)
.4---------200-------------280-----------4-----seedling/clones
.6---------300-------------420-----------6-----clones/rooted clones
.8---------400-------------560-----------8-----veg
1.0--------500-------------700----------10
1.2--------600-------------840----------12
1.4--------700-------------980----------14
1.6--------800-------------1120---------16-----aggressive
1.8--------900-------------1260---------18
2.0--------1000------------1400---------20-----super aggressive
2.2--------1100------------1540---------22
2.4--------1200------------1680---------24-----be carefull after this point!!
2.8--------1400------------1960---------28
3.2--------1600------------2240---------32
3.6--------1800------------2520---------36
4.0--------2000------------2800---------40
4.4--------2200------------3080---------44
i suggest everone start using EC or CF. its simple, standard, and most parts of the world use it.

damn that was a long post for me. time to smoke some kush.