Thanks for your words Monkey. I have noticed that My nute PPM goes up as water level goes down. I did originally add too much nutes and I did just as you mentioned a couple weeks back. and have only added water since and the plants are thriving now especially since I have been adding PH down to get the PH a little below 6. The add back water I am using is around 500 ppm now and the measured ppm is right about 1200. This would mean that I am basically running on 700 ppm from the nutes and I am in the 2 week of veg and the plants are nice looking ad right at 12" with no stretch. I am running under 1200 MH with 18 bio buckets. So, to summarize what you are saying, I actually should watch for drop in nutes (especially when using a float control) and then add back as needed? Also, I will flip to flower in about 7-10 days. What can I expect the nute ppm's to do then and what ppm level should I shoot for? I am using GH flora products.
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BigTokes ~ "How-To" Of The Bio-Buckets 101
- Thread starter BigToke
- Start date
Roors&Coors
New member
I know there are alot of variables, but I was wondering if someone could give me a rough estimate of an average yield per plant in a 6 bio bucket system under a 1000w?
plumpm0nkey
Member
Why cant people make how to vids on here ?
G
Guest
Bio tips 101?
Bio tips 101?
I, like many people, lurked and searched for the "best" way to grow for many months and rediculous ammounts of hours. Bio buckets seemed to be the shit. So easy, fool-proof, ease of maitenece. And big toke served it up on a silver plater.
Then like many others i built it to the bio bucket 101 specs (99% at least). Worked amazing for a while, then boom. Root rot, brown alge, ph. The whole 9. For a time there were 4 active threads on the same problems. Nobody could really figure out specifically what it was so I want to just add and stress a few things that weren't covered in the beginning. Bio buckets ARE the shit. But more on that later.
You must lightproof everything. Cant stress this enuf. Even pvc feed lines should be hit with a coat of black because they pass light through. Cover the lava, and all bucket surface if not black. Anything that contains water must be lightproof.
"Lava filter/central colonization" It was either haps or getawaymonkey that clued me on to this idea, (both know what they are talking about btw). Have a layer or container of lava that all the return water passes through. The idea is to mainly keep it above the water level so all thoes good bacteria get first crack at any bad bacteria as it must pass through the lava. If someon needs pictures i can get em, but it's a prety simple concept.
I know big toke would shit on me but airstones couldn't hurt. I had the 12" waterfall, overkill pumps, and crazy circulation "like river rapids". But stuff still went bad. Some people have only 1 return in their res. There can be some dead spots in larger res's so you can fix that by throwing in an airstone. I also have airstones in my buckets. The plants love it. Overkill, but it couldn't hurt.
Make sure your drain is lower than your input! I'd use 1.5" drains min, but for convienence i uses the 1 1/4 and the sump hose. With lots of pump the 1 1/4 drain will overflow without throteling the flow. The 2" down from the top isn't what i'd do if i had my time back. If you lower you drain a LITTLE, the input will act as a powerhead with bubbles and create a mini waterfall effect. Lava does very well at retaining moisture especially when covered and lightproofed!. Also a 90 directing the flow at a 45% angle down will create better circulation in the bucket. The circulatory effect also helps prevent roots from clogging your drains. IE whirlpool.
Res temps. This is a good part of what makes of breakes the system. Dont let the res temps get above the low 70's. Personally i'm liking about 65. Whatever the ambieint room temperature is around the buckets ( under the lights in your room), expect your res to be only a few degrees cooler. Some ways to help keep the res cool is to have it on a cold basement floor if possible. Evaporative cooling which is fans blowing at the res, will help up to about 5 degree. Might lead to some res lightproofing issues there though. External pumps are way better than submersible pumps sitting in your res. If a submersable pump is 100w it's almost like 100w heater. Smaller watt systems may be ok but larger ones must bite the bullet and get a chiler.
Er... last one i think is have a large res. Very large. It provides an excelent buffering capacity. More res, more water, more lava in res. Overkill rocks and rubbermaids of all shapes are cheep. Dont forget too light proof the res too!
Another common thing that will mess up your system as add extra nutes. Stick with G M B.
Bio buckets are the probably the best thought out system other than areoponics. The ease of mainenence is second to none. I now spend only about 5-10 min per week on res maitenence. They grow themselvs. All i need to do is trim. I hope this might save someone problems at some point in time.
Bio tips 101?
I, like many people, lurked and searched for the "best" way to grow for many months and rediculous ammounts of hours. Bio buckets seemed to be the shit. So easy, fool-proof, ease of maitenece. And big toke served it up on a silver plater.
Then like many others i built it to the bio bucket 101 specs (99% at least). Worked amazing for a while, then boom. Root rot, brown alge, ph. The whole 9. For a time there were 4 active threads on the same problems. Nobody could really figure out specifically what it was so I want to just add and stress a few things that weren't covered in the beginning. Bio buckets ARE the shit. But more on that later.
You must lightproof everything. Cant stress this enuf. Even pvc feed lines should be hit with a coat of black because they pass light through. Cover the lava, and all bucket surface if not black. Anything that contains water must be lightproof.
"Lava filter/central colonization" It was either haps or getawaymonkey that clued me on to this idea, (both know what they are talking about btw). Have a layer or container of lava that all the return water passes through. The idea is to mainly keep it above the water level so all thoes good bacteria get first crack at any bad bacteria as it must pass through the lava. If someon needs pictures i can get em, but it's a prety simple concept.
I know big toke would shit on me but airstones couldn't hurt. I had the 12" waterfall, overkill pumps, and crazy circulation "like river rapids". But stuff still went bad. Some people have only 1 return in their res. There can be some dead spots in larger res's so you can fix that by throwing in an airstone. I also have airstones in my buckets. The plants love it. Overkill, but it couldn't hurt.
Make sure your drain is lower than your input! I'd use 1.5" drains min, but for convienence i uses the 1 1/4 and the sump hose. With lots of pump the 1 1/4 drain will overflow without throteling the flow. The 2" down from the top isn't what i'd do if i had my time back. If you lower you drain a LITTLE, the input will act as a powerhead with bubbles and create a mini waterfall effect. Lava does very well at retaining moisture especially when covered and lightproofed!. Also a 90 directing the flow at a 45% angle down will create better circulation in the bucket. The circulatory effect also helps prevent roots from clogging your drains. IE whirlpool.
Res temps. This is a good part of what makes of breakes the system. Dont let the res temps get above the low 70's. Personally i'm liking about 65. Whatever the ambieint room temperature is around the buckets ( under the lights in your room), expect your res to be only a few degrees cooler. Some ways to help keep the res cool is to have it on a cold basement floor if possible. Evaporative cooling which is fans blowing at the res, will help up to about 5 degree. Might lead to some res lightproofing issues there though. External pumps are way better than submersible pumps sitting in your res. If a submersable pump is 100w it's almost like 100w heater. Smaller watt systems may be ok but larger ones must bite the bullet and get a chiler.
Er... last one i think is have a large res. Very large. It provides an excelent buffering capacity. More res, more water, more lava in res. Overkill rocks and rubbermaids of all shapes are cheep. Dont forget too light proof the res too!
Another common thing that will mess up your system as add extra nutes. Stick with G M B.
Bio buckets are the probably the best thought out system other than areoponics. The ease of mainenence is second to none. I now spend only about 5-10 min per week on res maitenence. They grow themselvs. All i need to do is trim. I hope this might save someone problems at some point in time.
Rattrap
Member
I'm not sure if light proofing is so important but it sure can't hurt. I also added air stones to the bottom of all my bio-buckets mostly because i just couldn't bring myself to trust the waterfall effect. Haveing more rocks in the res above the water level but under the waterfall is an exellent idea, i'll add em to my system next grow. If water temps are a problem as i tend to get come summer, wrap the biobuckets in wall insulation then panda over the top.
Having a seconday water top up res is a must IMO, it keeps the nute level constant without the peaks & troughs u get without.
Having a seconday water top up res is a must IMO, it keeps the nute level constant without the peaks & troughs u get without.
plumpm0nkey
Member
can you incorporate krypto's controller with a bio bicket system?
Teh_Baker
Active member
its420eh said:
I just took out the parts I wanted to say something about. As for myself running BioBuckets, I do not have my lava light proofed,
nor are PVC feed/return lines. My buckets are LP with Tinfoil and Rez is black plastic.I do run a type of lava filtration. I did it before I read about it, along with adding extra lava rock to my rez. In this pic you can see where the water comes in, and the extra rock bucket is where my return pump is located. My water temp hasnt been above 70 degrees from day 1.
As for the large amount of water, I am currently running 3 buckets at 5gal a piece and a 15gal rez that holds 30gal by itself. I do run a lot of water, but dont have the top off yet, I dont have access to a waterline i can tap, and dont have room to add another holding rez for clearwater.
For nutes, every week I had been giving 1 plant in this system Lucas formula at a ratio of 6/12. I had only 1 rez changeout and that was 4 weeks after I began flowering. Along with the Lucas formula, I was using 5mL/Gal of MagiCal. No other bloom supplements or anything like that. I will soon start flushing her out so I can chop her soon.
How long should I flush? And how many times should I change out the rez, during the flush?
Keepin it Irie
Teh_Baker
G
Guest
The lightproofing is specifically to prevent brown alge. There are more than a few threads on the subject. Many people mistake brown alge for root rot.
Root rot turns the roots into spaghetti, all the small roots fall off/turn to mush and they are useless. High temps cooking the roots.
Brown alge coats the roots. Builds up like a slime. Clearish/brownish/whiteish/snot. Suffocates the roots and deprives nutrients. Light. Alge needs light. Once it's there, even miniscuel ammounts of light can sustain it.
I'm glad you never had any problem Teh_baker. Everything besides your feed lines are lightproofed. The lava wont allow any light to the water either. The reasons i lightproof the lava is to lower temps of the lava and to retain moisture. Larger res is a greater buffer. Less top up (with an auto toper), less nute fluctuations, and greater tempature buffer as well (more water takes more time to heat up during lights on.) But, you can only go as big as you can fit. Overkill never hurts. Can you attach a garden hose to any nearby taps (clothes whashing machine?). Hauling 5 galon buckets aroung is not the best for a back (at least mine).
Personally, i go for min 5 day on tap water,but sometimes a bit longer depending on trichs/growth. When i flush though i transfer the plant into my flushing system. I've smoke buds strait from 1300, no flush. Yah they're harsh, but a good cure takes most shitty taste out. 5 dayes makes it nice and smooth. Many people go for 2 weeks. But i'm happy with my 5 day min. If this is your first run with these specific plants and you plan on growing them again, go for a good flush and harvest at varying times to see what YOU prefer.
Root rot turns the roots into spaghetti, all the small roots fall off/turn to mush and they are useless. High temps cooking the roots.
Brown alge coats the roots. Builds up like a slime. Clearish/brownish/whiteish/snot. Suffocates the roots and deprives nutrients. Light. Alge needs light. Once it's there, even miniscuel ammounts of light can sustain it.
I'm glad you never had any problem Teh_baker. Everything besides your feed lines are lightproofed. The lava wont allow any light to the water either. The reasons i lightproof the lava is to lower temps of the lava and to retain moisture. Larger res is a greater buffer. Less top up (with an auto toper), less nute fluctuations, and greater tempature buffer as well (more water takes more time to heat up during lights on.) But, you can only go as big as you can fit. Overkill never hurts. Can you attach a garden hose to any nearby taps (clothes whashing machine?). Hauling 5 galon buckets aroung is not the best for a back (at least mine).
Personally, i go for min 5 day on tap water,but sometimes a bit longer depending on trichs/growth. When i flush though i transfer the plant into my flushing system. I've smoke buds strait from 1300, no flush. Yah they're harsh, but a good cure takes most shitty taste out. 5 dayes makes it nice and smooth. Many people go for 2 weeks. But i'm happy with my 5 day min. If this is your first run with these specific plants and you plan on growing them again, go for a good flush and harvest at varying times to see what YOU prefer.
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Teh_Baker
Active member
good advice on the varying harvest times. I hadnt thought about that. On my next run Ill lightproof the rest of it. Im actually gonna buy some black buckets and new lids with built in net pots. And Ill have a new light by then too, so it'll be all gravy. Hopefully by then ill have my new tester too. DAMN FISHER SCIENTIFIC!!!!!!!
Teh _Baker
Teh _Baker
3BM
Member
Hey all,
I am building some bio-buckets. I planned to use 10 gal buckets rather than 5 gal to increase root volume and go for a semi-tree style (thereby reducing plant count). I plan to run 12 buckets (10gal apiece) with a 3000gph pump and a 30 gal res. I have increased the net pots to 10" and the drain lines to 2". My feed line will start at 1" from the pump and then reduce to 3/4" hose at each bucket. My question is will this feed line adequately circulate the larger bucket size? Im trying to avoid dead spots, and the buckets I use are about 3" deeper and 2" wider than the standard 5gal, so will the flow rate of a 3/4" line suffice to circulate these larger buckets (given the 2" drain)? In addition, will I need a larger return line (like say 4.5" instead of 4")? I hope thats all clear, thanks in advance for any help on this.
3bm
I am building some bio-buckets. I planned to use 10 gal buckets rather than 5 gal to increase root volume and go for a semi-tree style (thereby reducing plant count). I plan to run 12 buckets (10gal apiece) with a 3000gph pump and a 30 gal res. I have increased the net pots to 10" and the drain lines to 2". My feed line will start at 1" from the pump and then reduce to 3/4" hose at each bucket. My question is will this feed line adequately circulate the larger bucket size? Im trying to avoid dead spots, and the buckets I use are about 3" deeper and 2" wider than the standard 5gal, so will the flow rate of a 3/4" line suffice to circulate these larger buckets (given the 2" drain)? In addition, will I need a larger return line (like say 4.5" instead of 4")? I hope thats all clear, thanks in advance for any help on this.
3bm
3BM: IMO you may have to be carefull with running larger size buckets. Without airstones. The water will have less movement vs a 5 gal. . Algae likes slower or standing water.
I would light proof the tops of the lava as well.
Just a heads up, it may work fine. But i would be cautious with running multiple larger containers. Slow moving water is no good. Unless u add an airstone per bucket.
Thats all my opinion thou, take it as you will.
Best of luck & B-safe.
I would light proof the tops of the lava as well.
Just a heads up, it may work fine. But i would be cautious with running multiple larger containers. Slow moving water is no good. Unless u add an airstone per bucket.
Thats all my opinion thou, take it as you will.
Best of luck & B-safe.
Wong…..Wong….Wong!!!
Right…..Right…..Right!!!
Optional……
……this is the whole key to everything else that you’ve said, “Worked amazing for a while, then boom. Root rot, brown alge, ph. The whole 9” I could write a book on what you just said but I wont…..proper cleaning is essential…bottom line!!
G
Guest
Thanks for the comments big toke. I was wondering when the hammer would come down. 
Far be it from me to contradict you. There is nothing but respect.
But i just wish to clarify a thing or two.
"I could write a book on what you just said."
All your writings are great reads. But i would love fore you to explain the cause of brown alge. In the condensed readers digest version please. I know that the brown alge cant live with out light. So no light = no alge.
"Woked amazing for a while then boom...."
Boom was brown alge. Root rot and ph problems were caused by brown alge. I attribute it to the fact my res was getting direct light 12 hours a day. I did not have my "lava filter" at the time and the top was left open. It became a breeding ground for brown alge. You could see it start there. It grew on the res wall first, then....
Before i started, I had everythinig bleached/ cleaned/ h2o2'ed before use. I followed you instructions, so, of course it worked great! So i'm unaware how it started, maby cleanliness, maby not.
"You must lightproof everything"
That's strong wording. Probably too strong. Maby it should have been put,
"I strongly recomend to lightproof everythiing......"
I thought it was commonly accepted that you should lightproof your buckets. Or buy black buckets. Black = lightproof.
Bigtoke, you had your res in a seperate room away from direct light right, if i'm not mistaken? Black i'm prety sure. I cant remember the color of the buckets, black i assumme? The pvc feed lines were on the floor far away from the light in your system. Not really a factor. Especially after the plants got going. All supply hoses were lightproof, as well as the sump drains. I guess the pvs return wasn't. Ever notice a browinsh buildup in there?
I dont know what problems you have had in the past with the buckets. I dont know if it took years of f*ing around and experimenting or what. But your 101 system seems 90% lightproofed anyway. It just wasn't really stressed even though it was the way you have your system, intentional or not. Others build to the same specs with different materials and sometimes do not end up with as much of a lightproofed system. I just hoped to save some troubles. Maby it stressed it tooo much. Overkill never hurts.
Once again nothing but respect. Thanks for serving it up on a silver platter. I have so much more time now. Over 2 monthes with no res changes. I'll See how long i can go.
Far be it from me to contradict you. There is nothing but respect.
But i just wish to clarify a thing or two.
"I could write a book on what you just said."
All your writings are great reads. But i would love fore you to explain the cause of brown alge. In the condensed readers digest version please. I know that the brown alge cant live with out light. So no light = no alge.
"Woked amazing for a while then boom...."
Boom was brown alge. Root rot and ph problems were caused by brown alge. I attribute it to the fact my res was getting direct light 12 hours a day. I did not have my "lava filter" at the time and the top was left open. It became a breeding ground for brown alge. You could see it start there. It grew on the res wall first, then....
Before i started, I had everythinig bleached/ cleaned/ h2o2'ed before use. I followed you instructions, so, of course it worked great! So i'm unaware how it started, maby cleanliness, maby not.
"You must lightproof everything"
That's strong wording. Probably too strong. Maby it should have been put,
"I strongly recomend to lightproof everythiing......"
I thought it was commonly accepted that you should lightproof your buckets. Or buy black buckets. Black = lightproof.
Bigtoke, you had your res in a seperate room away from direct light right, if i'm not mistaken? Black i'm prety sure. I cant remember the color of the buckets, black i assumme? The pvc feed lines were on the floor far away from the light in your system. Not really a factor. Especially after the plants got going. All supply hoses were lightproof, as well as the sump drains. I guess the pvs return wasn't. Ever notice a browinsh buildup in there?
I dont know what problems you have had in the past with the buckets. I dont know if it took years of f*ing around and experimenting or what. But your 101 system seems 90% lightproofed anyway. It just wasn't really stressed even though it was the way you have your system, intentional or not. Others build to the same specs with different materials and sometimes do not end up with as much of a lightproofed system. I just hoped to save some troubles. Maby it stressed it tooo much. Overkill never hurts.
Once again nothing but respect. Thanks for serving it up on a silver platter. I have so much more time now. Over 2 monthes with no res changes. I'll See how long i can go.
Last edited:
Rev. Alucian
New member
Hey BT, thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the rest of us here. I've been reading your threads for a minute, and want to set up a mini bio-system of my own. My space is limited, so I am thinking of running 6 2.5 gallon buckets with 6" net pots. Would this be enough to grow 3' tall plants max, and what size pump, res, and plumbing would I need to make it work? The grow space is 2' by 4', and will be lit with a 400w. Res and pump will be outside the grow space. Thanks again for the time and info, I look forward to seein some more trees from you soon!
Rev.
Rev.
Rattrap
Member
Thought i'd throw up a couple of pics of my latest system, just finished puting it all together & added rocks today. I've got some squares of panda that sit over the rocks. I've wrapped the white buckets in wall insulation bats & panda plastic, they look a little lite fridgy bags. lol. I'll let it run for a week to 10 days depending on when the cuttings are rooted. I'm running 4 x 600W HPS on a light mover rail. The 4 lights are in cooltubes mounted into adjusta shades.
Last time i ran the buckets i had problems with roots blocking the 32mm outlet even with a screen blocking off 1/3 of the net pot holes. So this time i've plumbed the 13mm drainage pipes in the bottom into a 25mm line then into the end of the main drain pipe still giving me the waterfall effect & also ensuring that only 1/2 the buckets can empty in the event of a power outage.
I'm puting 9 himilyian gold into the system soon as they are rooted. The cuttings are rooting in a bubbler cloner.
Last time i ran the buckets i had problems with roots blocking the 32mm outlet even with a screen blocking off 1/3 of the net pot holes. So this time i've plumbed the 13mm drainage pipes in the bottom into a 25mm line then into the end of the main drain pipe still giving me the waterfall effect & also ensuring that only 1/2 the buckets can empty in the event of a power outage.
I'm puting 9 himilyian gold into the system soon as they are rooted. The cuttings are rooting in a bubbler cloner.
