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

[Guest]

Teachme, I think I'm just a week or two ahead of You. I had only a few minor probs and these were my fault. I didn't rinse the rock sufficiently and had a lot of that gritty dirt in the buckets. That can't be good for the pump. I designed the drains poorly and had a few drips. I had high PH at 1st. Once I got it in range it hasn't changed at all. With the AC crankin and a couple of 250 watt lamps I'm having temp issues. Other than that it's going very well. The auto water top off is sweet!

 

[XXX]

i've been lookiing for a nice simple set-up like this for awhile..

thanks and i look forward o asking you a bunch of questions..

XXX

 

[Smokin]

Hey BigToke,

As of now, I have no equipment purchased. I had the electrician come and update my 100 amp main box to a 200 amp main box. I just had the inspector come out and approve everything. I am now currently getting ready to put a sub panel in the garage and starting to dig the lines where the main and sub will connect. I will be building a 10 x 10 or a 12 x 12 room in the garage using Panda Polly. I have not yet decided on the configuration as of yet. As soon as the electrician finishes putting in the sub panel I will start construction of the garage using 2 x 4 and basically building a room within a room.

For lighting purposes, I was going to get 4 600w digital Lumatek Ballast. 2 horizontal and 2 vertical using 19” Cool Tubes with a Hortilux bulb (might go with the Sylvania Grolux bulb since it does have the higher lumens rated at 92,000) these lights will be cooled via Can Fan (GHO) with a cfm of 238. Not sure if this is sufficient enough though.

For the heart of the Bio Bucket system, I was going to get the Pond Master PM36 Mag-Drive Pump rated at 3600 gph.

I am still looking at a chiller and haven’t yet decided on which on yet.

I haven’t yet decided on the AC unit yet either. I wanted to get a portable unit in the range of 10,000 BTU.

For smell control, I was going to use what you are using. The vaportek. I have been really impressed with what it can do.

I wanted to get a comprehensive shopping list so that I can purchase everything once the room is finished being constructed so that I don’t have to keep going back and forth picking up stuff.

Here is what I think I need for the bucket construction, but now sure how many of each that I will need to get

(12) Black 5 gallon bucket with lid
¾” pvc barb (for nute input)
1 ¼” pvc insert (nute outflow 2 ½” below top of bucket)
(12) 8” net pots
washer and screws to attach net pot to lids

1” bushed up to 1 ½” to 1 ½” union (breaks pump free from system..for replacement or storage)
1 ½” main to ¾” valves (controls flow to buckets) to a ¾” barb connected to a ¾” hose connected to bucket at the ¾” pvc elbow barb. (barb points down)

1 1/4” pvc coupling into the 1 ¼ sump pump hose connects to a 4” pvc pipe set to ½ down slope bubble.

4” pvc terminates at the top of res creating 1’ waterfall drop for maximum DO

I don’t know what size rez I will need.

(1) float valve set up
(1) glue gun with plenty of glue sticks
grommets (for leaks where I need to drill into the buckets)

Bigtoke, if you can please provide the parts list for the 12 bucket system, I would really appreciate it.

Smokin

 

[Guest]

Smokin, If I may, BT suggests 9 gls in the reservoir for 12 buckets. Also A MAG36 would blow the lids off a 12 bucket system. It's just way too big. Save it for when You double the number of your buckets! A MAG 10 would be more than anough. I just setup a 12 buckets and use a Rio HP20 pump .It's rated at 1290 at 1ft. It turns over each bucket almost 20 times an hour! A 12 buckets with 9 gls in the res will be around 70 gls total. The rest of your plans sound good!

 

[Smokin]

Hey Cracker,

Thanks for the input. I know that the pump is an over kill, but I wanted to be able to expand later to a 24 system bio system. I was trying to think ahead so that I won't have to go and purchase more items down the line. Since the lights and the pump, chiller, and ac unit was the most expensive purchases, I thought that purchasings items for the future would be best.

Do you think that using that big of a pump on a 12 bucket bio system will not work? Is it becuase the flow of the water is too turbulent for the roots to handle? I figured since the constant flow of the water was to remove any dead spots from the roots, the faster the movement of water the better as long as it doesn't damage the roots. I am also aware that BigToke uses a bigger than nessecary Mag-Pump for his system. If memory serves me correct, I think he is using something rated around the 5,000 gph for his system. Isn't that over kill also?

Anyway, I received this information from Daltron who has been mentoring me from another site, but because of health reasons, he hasn't been on line and I have not been able to continue my learnings from him. He is also currently using the same Mag-Pump that I want to use. He sent me to this site and said that BigToke knew everything there was to learn in regards to the bio buckets and from my readings, I am throughly impressed!

If I am wrong, please lead me into the right direction. From all my readings and reserach I totally love this system on how the BB work together in harmony with the plants. And the ease of maintaince! That in itself is worth doing. I am still a young grasshopper in this world and am willing to learn from the greats.

Smokin

Oops, forgot to ask about the resivor size. Since I am eventually planning on upgrading to a 24 bucket system, the rez size should be 18 gallons. Is that correct? If that is the case, I will get a rez that will hold that capcity and just add 9 gallons into the rez for the 12 bucket system. Thanks for the help Cracker! ^_^

 

[Guest]

Smokin, Upgrading already! LOL You can always place a valve right after the unions and and bleed off any excess flow You may have. That will help oxygenate your water. I have a Mag 36 on a 200 gl aquarium 1.5 " output with 6 ft head and 12 1/2 inch outlets I still get almost 2000gph! The big Mags are beasts they put out serious flow. They are very loud if run externally but there are a few tricks to help quiet them down a little. They don't recomend running them externally because the impeller housing is kinda fragile and will warp and leak if not aligned properly. Also You are right to increase the outlet pipe. the 36 has 1" input and output. IMO deffinetly go to at least 1.5 inch pipe on the outlet and if run externally use 2" pipe with at least a 1 foot (2 is better) horizontal run to the input side. The big mags need a lot of water at the input or they cavitate and will make a hella lot of noise. Very important not to restrict the input side. OK I better shut up now I'm new around here and don't want to blab too much. There is a 24 bucket thread that is sweet. He has a lotta info on his setup. GOOD LUCK!

 

[teachme]

thanks cracker
I think that I'm going to put together a 4 bucket system under a 400 hortilux or 600 (using that for the SOG I have going right now ) for a test run to figure this system out. Hopefully it all works out.
Good luck on the project smokin'. I'm sure that it will go well.

peace

 

[Guest]

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=32849
heres i 3's sweet 24 bucket system

 

[Smokin]

Cracker,

LOL...I just read that yesterday! That was what gave me the idea of possible later upgrading to the 24 bucket system. I will be watching that thread to gleam ideas and success and possible problems.

Again, thank you Cracker, and the whole community here, for helping me understand and help me mold me into a better "farmer"

Smokin

 

[guest]

"T" Buckets

"T" Buckets

Pictures as requested:

I call'em "T" buckets :

Top of "T" open to prevent syphening action



Note space near bottom of dip tube:

 

[brooklyn]

peace bigT, u were right, the feeder lines were way too restrictive for the pump, therefore causing a slow demise to the pressure, but once i changed the manifold and installed larger lines no prob.., now that the system is flowin i'm running into the roots cloggin the drain already, hey peanutbutter u had a chance to test those exit lines, i'm thinkin of using ur design...if its workin for ya...i love this thread...

one!

 

[guest]

peace bigT, u were right, the feeder lines were way too restrictive for the pump, therefore causing a slow demise to the pressure, but once i changed the manifold and installed larger lines no prob.., now that the system is flowin i'm running into the roots cloggin the drain already, hey peanutbutter u had a chance to test those exit lines, i'm thinkin of using ur design...if its workin for ya...i love this thread...

one!

Haven't harvested yet ..

Put my setup together last week and should harvest tomorrow ..

just kidding (if they can do it on Weeds why can't I??)

pb

ps

I'm just getting started.



root porn ..

 

[Rattrap]

Hey peanutbutter, on your 'T' buckets, how do u stop heaps of water coming up the top of your 'T' piece?
I was thinking of fitting a 4mm elbow into the top of the inlet to act as a bleeder if the power ever goes out but pointing down so that while the pump is running only a small stream will squirt into the top of the bucket.

 

[guest]

Sorry Rattrap ..

The "T" is for the outlet. Not the inlet.

 

[Rattrap]

Sorry peanutbutter. that'll teach me to read earlier posts more carefully.
i gotta ask tho, why would u have a syphoning problem from the outlet? Wouldn't the syphoning stop as soon as the water level reached the bottom of the outlet? I would have thought syphioning back thru the inlet if the power went off would be a bigger problem.

 

[ocanabis]

Hi Bigtoke

Well,I finally got my buckets up and running for about a week now.The thing is my girls are going yellow on me and I don't know what to do about it.It's been sugested to try and epson salt to the res.My Nutes are at [email protected]r temps at about 74 df and room tamp @80-82 df.Ive been using Advance Nutes Mother Earth Super Tea which is a hydro organic fert.Here's a couple of pis for you to see.
My journal is at:The Garden's cure
Hydroponic grow journals
Titeled Bigblues Bio Bucket

http://www.gardenscure.com/420/
Maybe you could swing buy and take a look.
Thanks
Later
Ocanabis

 

[rv9308]

any help?

any help?

First off I'm new here so a good hello to all and thanks for all of this information. I've been reading and reading and everything finally clicked in my head! So i'm very excited to get started. Brilliant mind Big Toke!!
Alright I've been going back and forth as to which system I wanna try out and I've made a couple of designs to fit my room where I'll be growing. It'll be a three bio bucket (five gallons each) system with a Res. Now my question is for this three 5 gallon bucket system how many gallons should the Res be? And what size of pvc pipe would be better suited for this? Also, what pump would be ideal for this? sorry for so many questions but i'm really excited to get this project going! Thanks in advance.

 

[Rattrap]

Hey big toke,
Well i went on a shopping spree yesterday & bought all the fittings etc for a 6 bucket run but the one thing i couldn't find anywhere is the lava rocks or pummice stone. I tried all the landscape suppiles shops as well as hardware, nursery, Kmart, every bloody where i could think of but no luck at all.
So..... is there any other medium that will work? Perlite, hydroton?????
Any sugestions? Short of ordering it from the mainland pummice stone is out for me.

 

[Rattrap]

Thanks for that Schneider, i never would have thought of a BBQ supply place! I'll make some calls today, see whats available.

 

[Rattrap]

OK, i made some calls this morning & i think i found a BBQ place that has heat stones for BBQ's that they say is pummice stone, a brown rock around the te size of a 50cent peice (aussie 50 cents), around 1 1/4 inches across. Sound like the real deal??? I'll be in town next week so i'll have to check them out myself. Fingers crossed.