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

[Guest]

Sounds like BT is busy takin care of other business right now. It's up to us to work out the details. IMHO,care is needed to match the diameter of your drill bit to the size of the fitting. Remember the actual hole drilled will be slighlty bigger. Hot glue or clear silicone will work well for sealing any fittings that are a little sloppy. One trick for getting a fitting thru a small hole is to apply heat to the area. a plummer's heat gun is best, it's a sooped up version of hair dryer , but a normal hair dryer on high will soften up the plastic The level of the drain controls the level of the water. I drilled my drains a little too high. I don't have that important space for air BT spoke of. The drain set a little lower is better than too high. Also the lava rock can be used over. Again I think it needs to be flushed well to get rid of any old nute buildup and Ya need sufficient time for the GOOD BACTERIA to eat up any organic matter left over from the last run( old roots). I'm about 2 months into my setup and running out of room the plants are growing hella fast!

 

[BudGood2006]

My room and system is done! I'm waiting for the BB to colonize right now. I'll be starting a grow thread soon, the link to the construction is in my sig down below. Check it out, any questions/comments/criticisms are welcome.

I used the big net pots BTW, I don't think it'll affect circulation too much, hopefully??? I figured more area for the BB to colonize, the better? Oh well, I'll find out and let you guys know!

 

[Rattrap]

I drilled my drains a little too high. I don't have that important space for air BT spoke of. The drain set a little lower is better than too high.

Hey cracker,
Do u remember where BT's post was on this air space? I seem to have missed it.
I've noticed that my drain outlets are almost completly under water, is this normal? I'm using 25mm outlets.

 

[Rattrap]

Also has anyone had success with the black pummice rock? I've been over most of the state & its not available here. All i could get was black pummice for BBQ's. Or is there another option for a meduim? I've only got a few days to a week to find something.

 

[mace_ecam]

Rattrap mate, pumice is lava rock.
watch out, it might treated with something.

fair dinkum,

mace

 

[Rattrap]

crap.

 

[Rattrap]

ok so i'l ditch them from the system, still need an alternate medium.

 

[mace_ecam]

don't worry to soon mate, check em out, they could be treated, doesn't mean that they are

let us know how you go

 

[Rattrap]

how could i tell? I've been washing them heaps & theres no sign of any chemical floating on the top of the water

 

[mace_ecam]

if you washed them, its good enough imo

iow, if you have no problems, no need to worry

 

[Rattrap]

too cool.

 

[guest]

Cool beans, Rattrap!!

I'm still digging a place for mine.

Got about 30 girls going and no place for them to go yet ..

 

[BudGood2006]

Rattrap, did you soak them in a water and peroxide solution? If not you might want to. It sterilizes the rock. I had a large amount, so I used a rubbermaid tub, filled it with the rock, dumped a couple of bottles of hydrogen peroxide in, and filled with water to a couple of inches above the rocks. I then let em be for a couple of days, after which I would fill a netpot with em, and rinse the living heck out of them with clean water. How does that old saying go?? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?

 

[Rattrap]

Hey Budgood, i did soak them but not in peroxide solution, just heaps of plain water. I had read somewhere that it wasn't really necessary to soak the rocks in a peroxide solution, just rince really well. But then like u said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"
I checked the TDS & PH this morning, about 20hrs after i filled the system. The TDS has risen about 10 points to 50 while the PH has risen from 6.7 to 7.

 

[coolx]

smokin - tx for the feedback - the first store I looked at didn't have the 8" lids with premolded net-pots (just 6" and 10"), but now I just read in another thread that BT doesn't recommend premoled lid/net-pots as he says they don't fit properlly on top of the buckets - how did they work out? did they fit good?

The other thing is that the 8" premolded have 8" of open space for stuff to fall into, that's why BT at the start of this thread says he likes 4" openings.

cracker - have you actually reused the lava rocks yet? Any problems? .... I have read now here and other place that you can if you're careful but as I said orig. my bghydro guy says all the people who have reused them have had problems, but I don't know if they cleaned them properly.

I'd love to hear from someone who's successfully reused them several times.

 

[Guest]

Hey cracker,
Do u remember where BT's post was on this air space? I seem to have missed it.
I've noticed that my drain outlets are almost completly under water, is this normal? I'm using 25mm outlets.

.
Rt, IMHO 1.5 to 2 inches of space is good. Your 25 mm fittings are real close to the one inch fittings I'm using. BT suggested 1.25 drains. A 1.25 diameter drain will carry a lot more water than a 1 inch drain. Lets say we got two buckets one with a 1 inch drain the other has a 1.25 inch drain both buckets are draining 10gph. The 1inch drain requires more of it's inner area to drain than the 1.25 drain. So this raises the water level in the bucket. You put me on this when you mentioned your drains are almost submerged. That's why My water level is too high. I ended up putting 1" styrofoam blocks between the bucket and lid. Next round I will use larger drains. I think You don't want the drains completely submerged. They need to suck some air to equalize the pressure. Like trying to drain a milk jug to fast. We are using smaller drains so we will have to be sure they don't clogup! I hope that makes sense.LOL! Also I don't think pumice for the BBQ would be treated with anything. but the black stuff affects your water hardness. BT dicusses this somewhere.
I gotta question for Ya'll, How much space are you leaving between buckets? My plants are way too crowded with 1 inch between

 

[Rattrap]

I tried to find 1 1/4" fittings & hose but no luck, i had enough probs with the 1"! I've still got a good inch or more space between the top water level & the lid, just no room for outlet blockages!
A friend told me how she saw a system similar to ours where they had cut a piece of PVC pipe in half length-ways then mounted a half in the bucket , the bottom off the ground by an inch or 2, with the top over the outlet. This way the roots have to grow all the way up the half pipe before they get to the outlet, if the do reach the outlet just rotating the lid 360deg will pull the root right back out.
What do u think? It sounded good to me, but then this will be my first bio-bucket so i don't know what probs that might cause.

I've allowed 10" between my buckets, 1" is really too little IMO

On the subject of adding nutes to the system. In my current recirculating dripper system its real easy, i know that my system holds about 70L of water so come nute change day i just mix up enough for 70L of water & i know that i'm gonna be pretty close to the mark. But with the bio-buckets the bigger the root structure gets the less water will be in the buckets. So how do u work out how much concentrate nutes to add to the system? Is it just add a bit then measure then add a bit more & measure again...till u have the strength right?

 

[BudGood2006]

Rattrap Hey Budgood, i did soak them but not in peroxide solution, just heaps of plain water. I had read somewhere that it wasn't really necessary to soak the rocks in a peroxide solution, just rince really well. But then like u said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

As a matter of fact, I'm remembering a post where the guy got fungus gnats, and BigToke said it could've been due to not sterilizing the rocks. He himself recommends it, someone correct me if I'm wrong. Heck, the water was still bubbling 2 days later when I rinsed the rocks!

cracker I gotta question for Ya'll, How much space are you leaving between buckets? My plants are way too crowded with 1 inch between

I have each bucket in the center of a 2'x2' area, giving it a decent area to bush, I was considering going to 10 buckets, but I'm sure the AK will fill that area no problem! Total area is 4'x8', 2 600's, 8 buckets.

coolx smokin - tx for the feedback - the first store I looked at didn't have the 8" lids with premolded net-pots (just 6" and 10"), but now I just read in another thread that BT doesn't recommend premoled lid/net-pots as he says they don't fit properlly on top of the buckets - how did they work out? did they fit good?


cracker - have you actually reused the lava rocks yet? Any problems? .... I have read now here and other place that you can if you're careful but as I said orig. my bghydro guy says all the people who have reused them have had problems, but I don't know if they cleaned them properly.

I'd love to hear from someone who's successfully reused them several times.

I have the big 10" net pots, they fit great, go on and remove easily. But I had another type that didn't, so it varies from 1 manufacturer to another, IMO. The ones from the link above look exactly the same as mine though.

I believe BigToke has reused his lava rocks a few times at least. He just fills the system with water, adds a bottle of peroxide, lets it run and filters out the old roots that are gonna come out, if I'm not mistaken. Then drains, refills with clean water, and starts again. I could be wrong tho, don't quote me.

 

[Rattrap]

Ok so its decision time for what medium to use.
I checked my cuttings & i recon they'll be ready to go in in a week to 10 days & i want to add the bio-bugs a good week before the plants go in.
I can't find red pumice stone anywhere here, i can get red scoria but its a much denser volcanic rock & so i doubt if it would be any good.

Here then are my medium choices unless someone has a better sugestion:
Black pumice stone
hydroton
perlite
terracotta (broken up unglazed terracotta pots)
Recomdentations please?

 

[BudGood2006]

I would say black pumice, if you can't find red. Search black lava rock and see what Mr. Toke says on the matter.