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

[BigToke]

Hummmmm…………..well thanks for the info ~ I through the box away maybe it had it on that but I don’t know what conversion my meter is on sorry about that bro……

 

[HOVAH]

lava rocks are indeed a seasonal product for Depot and Lowes ,they donot stock for the summer.. idea!! if you crush the lava rock , you create more surface area , if you have more surface area can you harbor more BB??

 

[senseless]

what kind of meter do you have big toke?

do you have a picture of the filter you rigged up on your rez fans?

 

[BigToke]

I cut little square pieces out of blue house filters that you can get at Lows or Home Depot and put them over the back of my intake fan that goes into my res.

……….as for finding Lava Rocks year around try a landscaping Co.

 

[gregor_mendel]

Suppose I have 9 buckets, and after hours of tuning and timing, the best I can get is 8.6 times exchange each hour to 11.4 times each hour, with the rest of the buckets somewhere in between.

This is within specifications, but must each bucket have exactly the same flow rate? These ball valves are not really for throttling, but for on or off. Difficult to tune with ball valves.

gregor_mendel

 

[BigToke]

............well I would recommend for that number of buckets about ten times an hour with at lest seven and an half foot drop of water/fall/effect into the reservoir.

 

[senseless]

The three different Nutradip Tri-Meter Models differ in the way each display microsiemens, as indicated below:


202 - converts microsiemen to PPM factor (0.5)X(microsiemen)

203 - converts microsiemen to PPM (for fish) (0.675)X(microsiemen)

204 - is microsiemen factor (1.0)X(microsiemen)
A calibration solution set to 1000 microsiemen would require that you calibrate each model as follows:


Model 202 - 100

Model 203 - 135

Model 204 - 200

you should be able to check what calibration solution you use for you meter and then see what model it is here.

do you have those fans blowing into or sucking air from the rez?

 

[gregor_mendel]

Thanks BT.

I am continuing work on the system I had to bail on a few months ago - my wife is letting me spend money again.

gregor_mendel

 

[BigToke]

@.......senseless, the fan with the filter on it is pulling fresh air into the res and the other is pulling out.


@........GM, good to hear bro I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

[StealthSniper]

I'm back!

I'm back!

Hey BT, I'm finally back on my feet again after a harsh regress, and great to be here!

I'm planning on growing 50 plants. Is this going to be too many buckets for one system, or does it matter how many buckets there are?

Here's my thoughts:

Two mothers for clones in an attached room containing the reservoir, ballasts etc.

4 rows of 12 buckets

8 - 600 watt lights horizontal air cooled

 

[BigToke]

Good for you SS………..48 plants two mothers, that’s going to be a nice setup so let me see if I can help ya out some what….

Here is a build list for a 48 bucket bio-system:

• Black Buckets ~Click Here Your Bio-Buckets should be:
  • 48 Black or some other dark color that light cannot get through.
  • Should be a five gallon bucket, if you intend on growing medium to large size plants root are going to get massive!! Here is a link to find them
    My lid's have a 4" holes bored in the meddle of them
• Net-Pots ~Click Here 48 8" net-pot's are what I use, but you should be alright with 5" in most cases, but what ever you use; mount the net-pot underneath the lid's, this is what you will need.
  • One box of (steel) or plastic (recommended) round head Machine Screws, and if you look at the size on the box it should say 8--32 x 3/4.
  • One box of (steel) or plastic hex nuts and the size is 8--32. tip: if you can get those in a "wing-net" that will make it better to get off and on.
  • You will need one drill bit to fit the size of your machine screws, and a Drill, to drill the holes thru the buck lid's.
• Red Lava Rocks ~Click Here One bag should roughly fill up ten 8" net-pots make sure that you get the Red Lava Rocks is at all possible; according to my calculations for a 48 buckets setup your going to need 5.2 bags.
• 1” ¼ x 1” ¼ Insert Couplings ~[/URL]Click Here 48 I use these insert couplings with great success. I bore a 1" 5/16 hole 2" 1/2 down from the top of your bio-bucket.
• ¾ x ¾ piping elbows ~Click Here 48 The size of these depends upon the size of your supply line, I've seen 1/2 to 3/4 piping elbow used and both work just fin. (I use 3/4 in my system) and would recommend ¾ in yours as well. It is recommended that you saw off an inch or more of the inside of the elbow so seapage doesn't happen.
• PVC Ball-Valves ~Click Here 48 The size of ball valve that you will use depends on the size of supply line that your going to be using? (my system uses 1” ½ ) and I would recommend the same for yours. You only need one per-bucket to control the flow of each bio-bucket.
• PVC Tee’s ~Click Here 48 These pvc Tee's are very easy found on the internet.
• Glue Gun & Sticks ~ about two bags should do it. This is a ordinary Glue Gun that can be found in almost any craft deportment, First I use the hot glue "very throe and thick" then let dry.
• Clear Silicone ~ about five tubes should do it. I use silicone over-top and around the hot-glue that I used, I also rub it around the outside of the insert coupling "before I put the sump hose on" this will help with leaks. New silicone will need to be applied every year.
• Hose Clamps ~ 48 I use these hose clamps to go over the sump hose that connects to the "insert couplings" on the buckets. Water will seep back up and out of the hose, so these hose clamps will stop this from happing.
• Sump Pump Hose or Discharge Kits ~Click Here These sump-pump hose's or "discharge kit's" come in 24ft long, that's enough to do 12 bio-buckets grown in the "farmer brown style" only!! So according to my calculations you would need 5.2 bags.
  
  Optional
  it is recommended it a system of this size that you use the optional drain plug fittings.
• ¾ Drain Plug ~Click Here 48 This is not a must but it will help simplify things when it comes to draining your buckets.
• ¾ PVC Ball-Valve ~Click Here If you have chosen to put a drain plug in your buckets you must put a shut-off-valve at the end of each row of buckets because there's nothing to stop it from draining if you don’t. one per row is all that’s needed.
  
  Reservoir Sizing
• Single Res size – In Gallons ~ If you get a reservoir that is made out of a fiberglass X plastic material it will last you a life time, but what ever you get the most important thing is to look at the reservoir and make sure that it can hold the required size for your grow and that it has enough room at the top to have a "one foot droop." According to my calculations your going to need a 36 gallon reservoir, this will leave you with a one foot drop.
  
  Pump Sizing
• Single Pump Size – In GPH ~Click Here Mag-Drive 3960, this pump is very versatile it can be mounted in or out of your reservoir. This pump is of high quality and built for continues use. Do NOT place pump & reservoir over five feet away from the first bio-bucket.
  There's nothing worse than having your pump go out in the meddle of a big time grow. The pump you see in my setup is a Mag-Drive and has been in continues use for over five years.
  Each pump is already pre-calculated with distance and size for each of the listed grow/size listed in this program, just pick how many Bio-Buckets that you want to grow in and the program will automatically adjust for each size, with flow rats included.

well I believe that just about covers it, if you would like a feeding schedule your need to post your tap-waters pH for me and I’ll see what I can do for ya. And is there if I can be of any other help for yea just let me know, it’s good to see your back in action.

 

[Rattrap]

Hey bio-bucketers,
I've been following this thread for a while & i'm thinking of giving it a go.
One big question i have is regarding the nutes used. I'm trying to make a go of using home made teas using chicken poop or worm castings as its base. Has anyone run a bio-bucket system with home made teas?
I'm also using Earth Juice microblast(the only EJ product avail here), Seasol which is a seaweed based nute, Bio-bugs(a source of Benifical bacteria) & good old mollassis.
From my brief read of this huge thread it seams that PBP is a big favourite, sadly that nute isn't available where i am.

 

[StealthSniper]

Awesome, thanks BT! This is gonna be fun!

I've read and re-read Bio-Buckets 101 in it's entirety, and have a fairly good understanding of the system and why it is so effective. I'm sure I'll have more questions as we move forward, and I do very much appreciate your assistance and expertise.

Space required:
Your room is 10X12X8. How wide is each row of 2 buckets, and how long are the rows for your 9 buckets? I guess I'm ultimately asking what the length will be for 12 buckets, and width of 4 rows like yours?
Here’s the room size I’m working with: 12’8” wide X 14’ long X 7’8” high. This will be just the main flowering area. The reservoir and mother plants will be in an attached room.

Single Pump Size:
Is 3960 the model number or GPH? I'm having a little difficulty finding the Mag-Drive Pump 3960. The highest model I can find is the Danner Mag-Drive Supreme 36 3600 gph Pump. Note: Mag-Drive pumps not recommended for external use. I see yours is external, which I would prefer to maintain proper reservoir heat. Any idea why would they recommend this?

Net Pots:
I have access to pre-made 8” net pot lids for 5 gallon buckets. Have you seen these, and is there a reason you don’t recommend them? I’m not sure how large the hole is on the top.

Lighting:
Is one 600 watt light over 6 buckets adequate? That would mean 8 lights spread out over 48 buckets.
...

 

[BigToke]

Space required:
Your room is 10X12X8. How wide is each row of 2 buckets, and how long are the rows for your 9 buckets? I guess I'm ultimately asking what the length will be for 12 buckets, and width of 4 rows like yours?
Here’s the room size I’m working with: 12’8” wide X 14’ long X 7’8” high. This will be just the main flowering area. The reservoir and mother plants will be in an attached room.

well here’s what I would do with that space; I would go with two row’s of 24 bio-buckets per row, each row is would be 12 feet long and save that other space for growth.

Single Pump Size:
Is 3960 the model number or GPH? I'm having a little difficulty finding the Mag-Drive Pump 3960. The highest model I can find is the Danner Mag-Drive Supreme 36 3600 gph Pump. Note: Mag-Drive pumps not recommended for external use. I see yours is external, which I would prefer to maintain proper reservoir heat. Any idea why would they recommend this?

……….just round it off at the next pump size up from that ~ I’m not sure why that they would say that for but I have been using mine for years external and it is still doing just fine.

Net Pots:
I have access to pre-made 8” net pot lids for 5 gallon buckets. Have you seen these, and is there a reason you don’t recommend them? I’m not sure how large the hole is on the top.

imp that’s not a good idea, those lids do not set down into the bio-buckets far enough.

Lighting:
Is one 600 watt light over 6 buckets adequate? That would mean 8 lights spread out over 48 buckets.

yes ~ one 600w is what I use for 6 buckets.

 

[StealthSniper]

well here’s what I would do with that space; I would go with two row’s of 24 bio-buckets per row, each row is would be 12 feet long and save that other space for growth.

I think I'm misunderstanding something here. I just measured a pail, and it's 1 foot across, meaning in one row of 24 buckets lined up next to each other would be 24 feet long? Or do you mean 4 rows of 12 buckets each...

The Gallons Per Hour necessary is 3600 or greater? I can't find a larger mag-drive then the 3600, both US and Canuck.

Gotcha on the pre-made net pot lids. I'll make my own! Thought maybe I could save a little labour there! Do you still put that piece of plastic at the drain line elbow to prevent roots from plugging it? Or is that necessary?

Thanks for your help man, I'm gonna make you proud on this one! We're still building in the room from bare cement wall, so as things progress a little more, I'll start the pics and a thread.

I need to find some high quality clones here in a month or so.

 

[BigToke]

I think I'm misunderstanding something here. I just measured a pail, and it's 1 foot across, meaning in one row of 24 buckets lined up next to each other would be 24 feet long? Or do you mean 4 rows of 12 buckets each...

…….lol that’s funny bro, your thinking is not right……look at it this way, one row is mad up of 24 buckets now divide that into two and what do you have 12 ……..now that’s one row…….one bucket on one side, and another bucket on the other side, got it? Here look at a pic of my buckets:

The Gallons Per Hour necessary is 3600 or greater? I can't find a larger mag-drive then the 3600, both US and Canuck.

Here yea go bro…………Click Here

Do you still put that piece of plastic at the drain line elbow to prevent roots from plugging it? Or is that necessary?

only if your going to grow plants over two-half foot to three foot tall…………any thing under that and you should be just fine.

 

[Guest]

Damn BT ,i never get bored reading youre teachings Bro .Top to bottom youve layed everything down for the Noob to grow top notch Hydro bombs.Awesome thread .Peace and stay safe,DancesWithWeed

 

[BigToke]

Thanks bro………..it’s always good to hear from old friends.

 

[Rattrap]

hey BT,
Did i read that u run 6 buckets under 1 x 600W light? I normally don't like running more than 3 plants to 1 600w light. infact next grow i'm planning on running 4 x 600W HPS over just 6 plants

 

[BigToke]

…………yea I grow with 400w over 6 buckets for a long time, the system is very efficient when it comes to using the light that it has……