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

[Teh_Baker]

I'm not worthy

I'm not worthy

WOW BT!!!!!!!! There really isnt much that I could say to you to explain how in awe I am, in that your knowledge of growing and application of said hobby in your BIO-Bucket setups, is a valuable resource to us all here at IC .
As you will notice I have not had many posts, as I just found IC mag and read for hours on end. I have not been able to see many of your grow pics and for that I am saddened. I am IN LOVE with your setup pics though. You must have worked in some sort of trade that uses motor skills(IE construction, plumbing, electrician etc). In less than 14 days now I am supposed to be moving into a new house and I will have the first ever opportunity to grow. The closet that I chose is aprx. 5ft x 5ft x 8+ft. Just to let you know I wanna use your BIO-Buckets.

I HAVE <9> 70w HPS lamps with remote ballasts(can post pic if you want)
" " 20 old Skunk #1 seeds from Bros Grimm.
My main question to you is as follows:
If I hang the lights vertically do you think that the 9 will be enough for a 12 bucket system?

I was planning on taking the money from my first harvest to buy another light, most likely a 1000 watt setup, perhaps a 400MH/600HPS

Any help that you could give me, would be appreciated to a degree that you would never understand. I have been reading as many of your threads as I can over the last week, and I have come to one conclusion, you are a GODLY cannabis cultivator, and I'm sure that any other person tagging along in your thread will agree.

PS, is there any way I could get my hands on one of those Excel spreadsheets?

 

[BigToke]

Well lets see were to start ha yes, ok thanks for the props and am glad to hear that you like the bio-system way of growing and if you are doing other reading of other bio-grows you will find that there’s not much complaints witch is a very good thing ~ as to my former occupation I’ll make no mention witch brings us to the point of the post……….new house and new grow opportunities ~ so lets look at this:
5ft x 5ft x 8ft and your goal is to put 12 bio-buckets into that space…………well according to me calculations here’s what I am coming up with: (and again all of these calculations are ran thru the bio-program, so the more and more I get grower feed/back the more and more accurate the program will be) ok first idem on the menu………

• Grow/Room Space ~ well at beast all I can see in that much of space is eight bio-buckets.
• Genetics ~ starting out with good seed is a big start and it looks as thou you have that covered.
• Lighting ~ just go ahead and drop the nine and pick yourself up two six’s, you’ll be much better off; don’t start out with good seed and then put bad lighting over them, ok, invest in the lighting its worth it..!!!!

Hummmm……….not sure I know what you mine by “godly cannabis grower” but I like!! I can live with that.

….............yes the spreadsheet is completed. The Excel Spreadsheet is just a working mod for me to use to work out any bugs and such and is being implemented into a VB Program, the program is not yet completed but when it is I will let everyone know. As to how I will make this available to everyone is yet decided.

 

[Teh_Baker]

Well thank you very much BT for your input. As for the lights, picking up 2 600s will not be a possibility at this given time, I wish it was but no. I wasnt really sure how many buckets I could do in the closet but I thought that 12 was a good idea, I guess not. Perhaps you are right about the 8. Once I get into the house I will post closet size, along with everything else that a thread entails, as I will be starting my own.

As for calling you a godly cannabis cultivator, I just meant that you grow some of the meanest plants, that I have seen in any of the Hydro forums. Hope you dont mind, but I'm gonna tag along for the ride in here, and I hope that once I get my thread going, you stop by.

 

[BigToke]

.............well ok then, good luck to yea, looking forward to that thread.

 

[Dr. GreenGenes]

….............yes the spreadsheet is completed. The Excel Spreadsheet is just a working mod for me to use to work out any bugs and such and is being implemented into a VB Program, the program is not yet completed but when it is I will let everyone know. As to how I will make this available to everyone is yet decided.

Ok I haven't been in for a couple of days, but I think this is the first that I heard of your spread-sheets completion. Congrats!!!! That has to be the result of considerable efforts -- for which I think the community will be quite grateful.

We are closing in on our final plans, and chosing vendors. I had a couple of questions. Again quick environment specs is 1mx1mx2m cabinet and a 600watt digiballast. The buckets will be placed on a surface above the rez. They were wanting a vairiety of meds so as to prevent build up of tolerances and to treat differing ailments. I had thought that with the proper plant selection as far a growing traits, we might be able to squeze 6 5 gallon buckets into this area. To do this I was going to have a vertical common drain. Each bucket would have the standard drain pipe and they would feed into a vertically oriented pipe positioned above the rez giving the waterfall effect. Here's a simple diagram...

Is this just a pipe dream? If this would be feasable would you calculate the weaterfall height as the distance of the bottom of the drain to the rez water level?

If it is reasonable to put the right six plants into six 5 gallon buckets, what are your rez recommendations? Waterfall? gph for the pump?

And finally, if at some point some of the plants are growing at different rates, would there be a significant negative effect if one or more of the buckets were raised higher than the others to even the canopy?


If it weren't for space and stealth constraints I would not even bother trying to alter you well thought out method!!! The three of us are very thankful for your help and of course you are welcomed to tell us "RTFM!!!"

Cheers

 

[BigToke]

I have seen this idea before and have even been ask to design one ~ everything looks very good and the only other thing that I mite do differently is to put a Y fitting on the end that is in the reservoir to divide the water/fall/effect into two, as this would increase your O2 and that is a good thing!! Although it’s not a must…….and yes the drain pipe is either a 3” or 4” pvc pipe.

……….one foot is what I recommend on the waterfall height.

And seeing that your growing in a cab and just about everything is limited I mite even consider using 2.5 gallon buckets, because your not going to be growing trees!! Veg time is going to be sorter but flower time is the same {cant change that}. If one plant is growing slower then the rest then there’s really not much you can do about it other then making sure that it is getting lots of light!! (not all of your clones will be perfect).

………I don’t know what this is “RTFM”.

 

[Dr. GreenGenes]

Thanks for the quick and very helpful response. I really like the "Y" idea. FOr some reason it almost pains me to think of smaller buckets. Would it be just as easy to keep the larger bucket size, but control size by veg period? ANy suggestion to amount of water in rez for either the six 5 or 2.5 gal bucket config?

I look forward to seeing your spreadsheet.

You are forever welcome in our smoke circle.

Cheers

Oh the RTFM is Read The F&^*ing Manual

 

[BigToke]

…………yes, you can veg for a shorter pried of time and control the size that way and still use the five gallon buckets.

 

[HOVAH]

got my S.D. vegging in my 12 bucket system , my question is what nuke strenght should i use , i understand biobuckets dont use as much nukes?? thank u

 

[BigToke]

Supp HOVAH…………..

• Week-One ~ (frish clones) 400 ppm.
• Week-Two ~ 800 ppm.
• Week-Three ~ 1000 ppm.
• Week-Four ~ 1000 ppm……….if there is a week three (small trees) week four (medium trees) anything beyond week four is large trees!!

I hope this helps old bud……….any further Q’s just let me know.

 

[Nate]

I am a long time organic soil grower who stopped growin for a bit and has now decided to go hydro. I have been doing a simple ebb and flow with GH flora and the Lucas schedule. I was designing a crazy ebb and flow bucket system when I landed on your bio bucket thread, i was blown away! I have literally spent days reading your threads, and I have decided to take the plunge into the Bio Buckets. I have a few Q's

I understand you have to feed less than with the lucas formula...how many ml per gal should I give?

Do you rinse the Lava rock at all after you buy it, or do you just use it straight? I want to preserve the microbes inside right? So I shouldn't bleach them or anything right?

And about the Vaportek 4000 odor control deal...Does it really work?! it's so small! Do I still need my carbon filter if i have one those bad boys?

 

[BigToke]

………..thanks for all the good props bro, so lets get down to business ok…

I understand you have to feed less than with the lucas formula...how many ml per gal should I give?

I do not use lucas formula nor do I recommend it in the bio-bucket system style of growing ~ (……go and read BigTokes Bio-Buckets Water Chemistry.) ……and far as to how much I would recommend on using of any nutrients, just follow the label that’s usually the best.

Do you rinse the Lava rock at all after you buy it, or do you just use it straight? I want to preserve the microbes inside right? So I shouldn't bleach them or anything right?

yes to the both of these and for more info I think you should do some more reading….no punt intended.

……….yes the Vaportek do work very well.

 

[Guest]

Hello Ya'll, I'm new around here and I hope a question or two is OK. As an aquarist the Bio Bucket system makes a lot of sense to me. I plan to setup a 12 bucket system .I understand a total reservoir water volume of 8 gls is correct. Is this figure about right?

BT, I'm familiar with large Mag drives They are very dependable and deliver a lotta flow. But Dam they are loud when used externally! Do You agree?
Thanks!

 

[BigToke]

Welcome aboard cracker, a twelve bucket bio-system would need a reservoir size of nine gallons with a one foot drop….and yes I do agree with yea that mag-drives are some what loud when used externally but to me it’s better than having all that heat in my reservoir………I incase my pump in a water container and that cuts the noise way down……..like those water-jackets that you put around tomatoes..

 

[MID TOWN]

Alright well I think I've decided to go with a bio bucket system. the only thing that I might not be able to do is the 1ft drop for airation due to height limitation and I was wondering if it would be possible to replace that with an air pump & diffuser?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the welcome! I set up a row of 6 and need to make a few changes. I'll share some picts as soon as I get it all setup and running.
BT Thanks for the total reservoir gls needed.
Mid Town An airstone will help oxygenate the water but I think a power head positioned to agitate the water surface would be better.

 

[MID TOWN]

Yea thats what I was goin to do especialy since I have one layin arround.

hey BT and every one else I'll be postin pics of my bio grow set up in SETTIN UP A 18 WATT SHED in the indor hydro thread so check it out .

here's a pic of a couple of early picked nugs


peace
mid town

 

[MID TOWN]

I got my lava rocks today and I was just wondering what to wash them off with to make sure I dont get any bugs or anything else.


thanks

 

[BigToke]

@..............M.T ~ If the one foot drop is not possible then just put a power/head in the reservoir ~ pre-sock ALL lava rocks!! Put them into a five gallon bucket, pour one bottle of H202 into the bucket, then fill the rest with H2O, let sock over-night then wash with tap-water and that’s it!!.........go to go….lol

@............looking forward to those pics..

 

[Guest]

YA! I have 10 out of 12 buckets on a dry/wet run. I screwed up and misaligned the holes on 1 out of 10 buckets. Not bad I think. The few dribbles were quickly taken care of. so far so good. I set 2 rows of 6 each on a short bench built from old exterior door. About 3 by 7'. I had a lot of similar fittings on hand so my design is a little differant. I over did it with a RIO HP 20 pump I'm turning over each bucket about 20 times an hour. So I hope 12 buckets with a foot print of 3 by 7" isn't crowded and the high turnover rate is ok. Also can I replace the H2o2 with a little clorine bleach? The whole thing went smoothly untill I reached for the camera, I think it's shot! I will work on some picts tomorrow! Best wishes to ALL!