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

[Kingzako]

Hi,
Great Info!!!! Just getting into this.

My question is what about feeding when the lights are off.
Do I continue to feed or put pump on timer so it shuts off durring sleep time?

Thanks!

 

[BudGood]

I've seen people do small setups, it's possible, you're limited only by your imagination.

Kingzako, the pump runs 24/7. One less timer to worry about...

 

[petemoss]

...
Here is what I'm not understanding completly, the drain holes are cut 2 1/2 " from the top of the lid, I understand, which makes the water level a permanent unmanagable hight if my understanding is correct. Please if I am off base, someone correct me, I am getting to my problem so that u fully understand.
So now he says cut 4 " holes in top but he used 8" net pots so is there something about the net pots I dont understand yet, I havent bought them yet, or did he change and go with an 8" hole drilled in the lid.
Thats just the beginning of my issue.
My real issue is this, if the drains are at 2 1/2" and the net pots are sit into the bucket attatched to the lid, are all net pots the same depth, does it matter, is the bottom of the net pot, I suppose filled with lava rock supposed to be submerged, just getting bubles popped on it or what....

The netpot should be 1/3 to 1/2 submerged. You want to give the beneficial bacteria a place to live (in the lava rocks inside the netpots) and you want to move water through the rocks. There is no air gap between the bottom of the netpot and the water. If the netpot is not submerged, then you are growing in a DWC bubbler, not a bio bucket.

 

[jdkronyk101]

awesome thread bt. took me almost a week on and off for half a year or so to read through all of it. just droppin in to say hi. you covered it all pretty good. if i could offer any advice to the fellow readers in here its this: read!
obviously bt is open to q&a , so if you dont mind the wait, ask away. but this is alot like the big plant forum in tom hills forum area. absolutely everything has been covered period.
this thread is so thorough that all you have to do is scroll back 20 pages and read a bit.
hats off bt great thread nuff said,
j.d.kronyk

 

[BillChillson]

is it possible to run bio buckets without a external res? Or maybe one 5 gal control bucket with a pump? I am considering building a 3 site system to fit in a 4x2 closet.

sorry if the question has been answered!

 

[BudGood]

is it possible to run bio buckets without a external res? Or maybe one 5 gal control bucket with a pump? I am considering building a 3 site system to fit in a 4x2 closet.

sorry if the question has been answered!

There have been a few different variations on the Bio-Bucket theme. It's only limited by your imagination. You might run into problems by said variations, that we would be guessing at best to try to help you with, as none of us will have any experience running your variant of Bio-Buckets, savvy?

This post was in response to someone else asking something similar, about 15-20 posts back.

Personally, I would just cut a hole or 2 in the wall for the drain and supply lines, so you can have the res outside of the closet (better for temps too). Drywall isn't that hard to patch at all (just save the pieces you cut out, I would use a hole saw for each hole), better to just do it right the first time. A res is a very necessary item IMHO.

Bio Buckets may not be for you, I dunno. YMMV.

 

[BillChillson]

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

Thanks budgood... I can imagine the benefits of having an external res. Just seems like a hassle drilling that hole, as my cab is made out of mdf board.

Oh well, I'm sure it's worth it!

 

[TheBioMaster]

A good product to use for this system would be Growstones I bet, they are alot like lava rocks but much cleaner and contain silicone.......can someone explain how this system recirculates if it fills from the top and also drains from the top? How does the solution at the middle and bottom of the buckets get circulated like this? It seems it would only circulate the top of the bucket?

Thanks in advance for the information!

 

[BudGood]

If you look at how they're built, the feed line has a 90 degree barb pointing to the bottom of the bucket, which eliminates any dead zones.

No, Growstones are not an acceptable replacement. Lava rock is needed so the beneficials have a place to colonize in the pores, growstones/hydroton/silica stones/whatever doesn't have the porous nature necessary.

If you want to build this system, build it. If you want to do something different, do that and start a thread about it. Why fix it if it ain't broke?

 

[TheBioMaster]

Ummmm...not trying to fix or build anything, was just asking a question about the system and how it functions. Thanks anyways.

PS- Growstones makes an EXCELLENT home for biological life, and it has the same surface (pores) as lava rocks.

 

[Snow Crash]

I have been using growstone for about a year now as a coco amendment and will be doing something like this in the future. I just wanted to dispel what BudGod said about them being a poor replacement for lava rock, comparing them to Hydroton and perlite. Growstones are EXTREMELY porous and though I am new to these systems I am not new to lava rock. Of the two, I would have to consider GrowStones to be more porous than the lava rock I have experienced. Not less. These pores create habitats for organics and a place for the root systems to attach to in much the same way vines climb up a stucco wall.

BudGod is usually right on, but in this case I'd imagine he might not be as familiar with the product as someone who is using them would be.

I have to totally agree though, why fix it if it isn't broke. GrowStones are prohibitively expensive at >$30 per 1.25cuft and Lava Rock is definitely not as expensive. There is the added benefit that Growstone is made with recycled glass which was enough for an environmentally minded fool like myself to give them a shot in a DTW setup.

 

[BudGood]

I thought he was talking about Hydroton, if you're talking about something else then yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about. If they're expensive, then that would just be another strike against using them, as lava rock was relatively cheap.

Not trying to be a dick at all, and if I came off like that I apologize. But yeah, like I said above, it's only limited by your imagination, but if you run into problems, we would be guessing at best to help you out. Do it if you're so inclined, and post pics.

 

[kp^]

Thanks again to BigToke for this method. Love it!:thank you!

 

[Sqydro]

hey folks hows it going, great thread, great diy great detail and info, ive just built a undercurrent knock off and if i had seen this i would iof maybe made this instead

one question i have is about the lava rock, does it have the benificials already in there when you buy it or do you have to put them in the res/nutes to make a colony, for eg add zone or great wwhite or something to your system??

 

[THEDOO]

one question i drilled the supply line under the lip like the directions said but i cant get my lids to clamp on in that stop do i have to notch the lids or do i need to lower the supply line more if so i gues i messed up 8 buckets please let me know thanks

 

[BudGood]

hey folks hows it going, great thread, great diy great detail and info, ive just built a undercurrent knock off and if i had seen this i would iof maybe made this instead

one question i have is about the lava rock, does it have the benificials already in there when you buy it or do you have to put them in the res/nutes to make a colony, for eg add zone or great wwhite or something to your system??

The beneficials are in the air, the fan that blows on the waterfall introduces them to the water. Usually takes a week or two. Don't add Zone, it'll kill any beneficials you have built up in the water.

one question i drilled the supply line under the lip like the directions said but i cant get my lids to clamp on in that stop do i have to notch the lids or do i need to lower the supply line more if so i gues i messed up 8 buckets please let me know thanks

Yup, you put them a little too close to the lip. Notch the lids and lower any others you have to do a bit. I can't remember everything about the build, but I do remember I took the lids into account.

 

[lunar4772]

ph dropping ppms going up

ph dropping ppms going up

I was wondering if someone could answer a couple of questions for me. I have searched and can not find definitive answers.

Sorry but I have to get a little long winded here to try and explain my situation.

6 bucket system with 10 gallon res and a float valve.
res 70 F room 82 F lights on
Maxi bloom nutes 800-1000 ppm
ph dropped from 5.7 to 4.4 in a few days. I changed out 1 bucket and ph went to 5.0 but will drop again

I never had this before but my PH keeps going down and my PPM goes up daily even with the float valve adding tap water regularly.

Tap water at about ph 7 140 ppm

2 weeks in flower and The plants are basically healthy and roots are white and coming along nicely but the plants are starting to show what looks like a cal mag deficiency. ( I had a root aphid problem in last grow but I seem to have gotten rid of the little buggers with a very complete cleaning of everything in between crops). So far I can not find any signs of their return. ( They cause what looks like a serious cal mag deficiency and root rot when you have them and you have to really look hard to find them on the roots). They never caused ph and ppm to fluctuate like this though.

The deficiency signs are minor this time but I was a little paranoid that the bugs were back but no signs of them at all. I haven't bumped with cal mag or anything yet

I know that the basic rules are ph goes down/ ppm goes up means too much nutes. And I have tried changing out a bucket every couple days but doesn't seem to be helping. ( total change out 3 buckets over a week)

What could be causing this fluctuation.

Also If I do a complete nute change out with tap water and new nutes to try and stabalize it will this kill all the beneficials in the system.
Thanks in advance for any advise.

 

[lunar4772]

I was wondering if someone could answer a couple of questions for me. I have searched and can not find definitive answers.

Sorry but I have to get a little long winded here to try and explain my situation.

6 bucket system with 10 gallon res and a float valve.
res 70 F room 82 F lights on
Maxi bloom nutes 800-1000 ppm
ph dropped from 5.7 to 4.4 in a few days. I changed out 1 bucket and ph went to 5.0 but will drop again

I never had this before but my PH keeps going down and my PPM goes up daily even with the float valve adding tap water regularly.

Tap water at about ph 7 140 ppm

2 weeks in flower and The plants are basically healthy and roots are white and coming along nicely but the plants are starting to show what looks like a cal mag deficiency. ( I had a root aphid problem in last grow but I seem to have gotten rid of the little buggers with a very complete cleaning of everything in between crops). So far I can not find any signs of their return. ( They cause what looks like a serious cal mag deficiency and root rot when you have them and you have to really look hard to find them on the roots). They never caused ph and ppm to fluctuate like this though.

The deficiency signs are minor this time but I was a little paranoid that the bugs were back but no signs of them at all. I haven't bumped with cal mag or anything yet

I know that the basic rules are ph goes down/ ppm goes up means too much nutes. And I have tried changing out a bucket every couple days but doesn't seem to be helping. ( total change out 3 buckets over a week)

What could be causing this fluctuation.

Also If I do a complete nute change out with tap water and new nutes to try and stabalize it will this kill all the beneficials in the system.
Thanks in advance for any advise.

All is OK I got it figured out. I think I realize whats going on now.
Thanks

 

[bagada]

so what if you just put lava rockes in the resivoir and used hydroton in the pots. Just for ppl who prefer to use hydroton. the resivoir would maybe act as a filter too since the pump would suck water from under the rocks and then waterfall it from the top again. the only problem i feel would be "overcolonizing" the bennificials which iver heard can happen....but i guess you could just use less rocks to control the amount. what do you think?

 

[cravin morehead]

well BT hasn't been around in a while, if your paying attention still, Thanks for this incredible write up!! gotta be the best/most informative posting i've read here. i got a question for ya, how much main controller reservoir water must i have for a 6-5gal bucket set-up?? i keep coming up with 4.5 gal. this is based on a 4'x4', 1000w set-up. 4.5 seems low to my thinking.maybe im wrong and it is enough. im not sure, please can someone help me out on this...

thanks everyone for making such a great post and site in general

cm