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

[BigToke]

The excel sheet is still in the workings……..I do have a mini-bio-bucket design that I’ve not have the time to through together but it’s still in the workings.

BigTokes: "How-To" Of The Bio-Buckets 101
BigTokes: Hard-Core Bio-Buckets, First Big Run!!
BigTokes: Secound Big Run!! :friends:
BigTokes: AK-47 Plus H.D.F Bio-Bucket Style

 

[Guest]

Big Toke I dropped by just to go OT on your thread ....why? Your fine self of course! You got my hormones in turmoil with that pic you posted Now that we're fellow Mentors can I touch?

 

[the protege]

Well, assuming I use 2 or 3 5 gallon buckets what would your guess on the reservoir be? If I use a c22 then it will be 3 buckets more than likely, but if I go c13, I believe two nice ladies will do it.
the p

 

[BigToke]

Say, thanks xxBluevelvetxx for the complement I’m sure your one fine check yourself but halfbaked is right and although I have 36 girls to take care of {plants} there is one that is above them ALL and to me she is the finest check of them ALL!! but I’m not really wanting to get into my personal life ya know, for security reasons. You know what they say: behind every good man, is a better woman!! This is sooooooooo true in my case!! Don’t really know what to tell ya about those hormones but I can tell ya this, if I was going to the ICMag 420 Cup this year we would do some touching alright!! Dancing and partying that is, we would have a great old time {one to remember!!} maybe next year?

the protégé – from the sound of it you would like to be able to leave your grow for a few days at a time right? If that being the case I would probably go with double the size of the reservoir that is recommended, this should allow you to be away a few days without any problems………btw you can make a true Bio-System work just about any were, just make sure it’s hook-up right? And designed right!! And it should grow anything……….one thing to remember is, if your going to leave it for a few days at a time make sure your lights are raised enough so that it doesn’t burn your plants.

Also I have done another update in the Part Three – Reservoir Design I have added some detailed pic’s that should give a little bit more of an understanding.

 

[the protege]

Thanks BT, I have another question for ya. Would it be counter productive to use any root rot guard type products. Would that kill the good bacterium? Talking about products like SM-90, I think i was told they can render some organic products useless. Just wondering, the real thing i want to be able to do is guard against root rot. I battled it on my first hydro attempt before having to shut down due to landlord intrusion. It was a simple bubble bucket.

 

[BigToke]

It has been my experience that if designed right you will have no trouble at all and no root rot!! I use nothing and would recommend the same for you………….design it the way I have laid it out and BAM!! Root rot gone!! Btw if you cant keep the temp below 80 degrees you may run into trouble no matter what you do.

 

[rule35sub1]

Hey BT. I am starting to see some kind of slimey substance starting to grow on the res walls. It looks kinda dark brown. I am using ordinary tap water. (hard water) 200 ppms with a ph of 8. Any idea what it may be or any suggestions?
thanks bro.

 

[BigToke]

Rule, that dark brown foam doesn’t sound good here are some things to check out that mite help:

1. Make sure that the lava rocks are submerged up to 1” from the top of the net-pot, this will allow for maximum colonization of the Beneficial Bacterium.
2. Make sure that ALL tubs are getting equally exchanged 7 to 10 times an hour,………if you have one for some reason that is not getting exchanged properly enough it will go bad and because ALL tubs are connected together it will spread!! Most of the time you can tell how each tub is efficiently working by watching how each drain-back-line drops into the reservoir, if one is stronger than the others then it’s unevenly distributed.
3. Make sure that the waterfall effect is making enough Dissolved Oxygen for the system and if not add some air stones in the reservoir, that way it will distribute the O2 throughout all of the system.
4. Make sure your NOT using the Lucas Formula!! This formula uses to much phosphors and will lead to an added increase in algae growth.

I hope this helps out somewhat for ya rule, if I can be of any more help to ya just let me know. Btw I would keep a check on those roots and if you see anything that looks funny going on I would dump and start over again…………how long has this water been in the system?

 

[rule35sub1]

I ran it long enough to see the bacteria on the surface of the water. I then added the plants afterwards and the lava rocks are deep enough. The water flow is equal. I will add airstones and see what happens. The brown is a slime, not a foam. Do you know if AN piranha beneficial bacteria would do this maybe?

 

[BigToke]

AN Piranha!!! Please don’t till me you put that in your Bio-System!! Man I wrote the book on Bio in the Bio-Systems trust me, and if you needed to put any thing else in your Bio-System I would have told everyone……….Well if you did Flush!! this nor anything else is applicable in are situation I want go into a lot of detail about this because of many different reasons………..but bottom line is, all you need is clean fresh water, let run for one week and open to the air!! No need to put anything else in the Bio-System to make or help it work, it will do it on it’s own…………..sorry dude if I sounded a little bit pushy there but I see so many products out there that are unnecessary for Hydroponics, if the system is designed right it will support it’s self, these products are made for DIY hydro builders who improperly designed there hydro-system and therefore need extra help in order to grow there plants but I say again if designed right you need nothing but a well designed system!!

Rule I would put my Bio-System up against any product on the market……..you could put my Bio-System side-by-side with another hydro-system any kind it doesn’t matter, and put this anti-fungus product in there system and I would put my Bio-System up against there’s and guarantee that there’s would get root-rot before mine did………….I have grown plants in my system for up to six-months without any reservoir change-outs and without any root-rot!! I have never had root-rot or lost a plant in the Bio-System………..I am sorry so much trouble out of this system but if I were you I would go over every thing and make sure that the system is designed right and what every you do put nothing in it!! If you do and something goes wrong you will always wonder if it was something you did? That’s one of the reasons I say start out with nothing and then go from there.

I hope this helps if there’s any thing else I can do for ya let me know and I’ll do my best.

 

[rule35sub1]

Hey BT, sorry, my bad. I will flush the system and just use plain water. Will the bacteria in the lava rocks stay established?

 

[BigToke]

Well that depends? If you flush your system and refill it with plan old tap water most likely the chlorine will finish off what established Beneficial Bacterium that you mite have because your plants are small, but you did use large net-pots so it is possible that some mite survive, but flushing would still be better than having that stuff in your system imo,………..your plants are young and small watch is a plus for you, {not a great deal of plant matter in the water-system} if it were me I would flush now and refill with just tap-water it may take a week for the {BB} to reestablish themselves but this should not hurt the plants at all.

 

[Guest]

BigToke I just wanted to say I am really impressed with your setup. I'm in. I did DWC my first grow and had some fucked up problems with rootrot and did my last couple of grows in soil which is fine but no explosive growth and monster yields like a sweet 'dro grow IMO. My space is basically 8.5'x10' and height is not an issue. Ceilings are like 14 feet. The sealed enclosure I will create will probably be 10' tall but that is more because the panda film is 10' wide than anything else. I believe I will go with 6 or 8 buckets to start with under 1200W (2x600) and then have another 600W on the other side of the room that I am going to flower a few plants in soil still until I have this thing dialed in. I'm basically going to follow everything you said, the only thing I couldn't follow was the floater mechanism which introduces new water to the system. Is the hose bringing replacement tap water coming directly from the tap or is there another reservoir with plain tap water near the reservoir with the nutes? Getting this figured out is really the only thing keeping me from setting one up by the end of the month. I don't have many posts here but I'm a senior member and have a grow thread over at OG, same username... Is 2g/watt with this setup an unreasonable goal after a couple of runs? I think 1g/W is no problem from the size of the stalks on your plants. Hmmm can't think of anything else I will add a link to my growthread over at OG and I have a few pics in my gallery here.

Peace,
Phat

edit- here's my link thanks a lot my man. PhatDaddyNugzYo OG Thread

 

[BigToke]

How’s it going PhatDaddy ~ the mechanism that you speck of is a float valve and can be bought at any hydroponics store ~ the device that I got to connect to that float valve is a ¼ “ self-taping water supply line that can be bought at any hardware store, it is the same device that is used to hook up water supply for refrigerators ice makers. Btw maybe sometime later we’ll get into the yield aspect of it but for now first things first.

Ps……I like the same user name thing BT get just a little on edge whenever folks start changing here user names, makes me think that there running from something? That’s a plus on your behalf PhatDaddy!!

 

[Guest]

Hey BT its going good, thanks for setting me straight on that. I think I could probably swing that. Its all good I am down with being secure and like to make everyone comfortable I'll be at the 420 Cup next week so I'll be able to meet a few people and I'm really looking forward to the seminars. Thanks for the reply, those massive pot trees you've been turning out are a big plus on your behalf I'll let you know as things develop and will post a thread here as well as the other place

Peace,
Phat

PS I've thrown in a pic of this strain called Rescue Me which is some of the best stuff I've ever puffed

 

[Getawaymonkey!]

Hey BIGTOKE........did you ever get that excel spreedsheet made yet for calculating nutes for a bio system and also the spreedsheet for biulding the system,ect?
Would be real convenient to have

GM

 

[BigToke]

No I’m still working on that ~ until then I’m still here to answer any questions that you might have.

 

[Getawaymonkey!]

How bout this one that doesnt seem to be covered in any great detail, anywhere......

What is the acceptable pH range for a bio system to function properly and serve its great purpose in producing fat nugzz?

ANd some of these could be helpful for someone looking into your system...
In a new cycle...
If you use 50 [email protected] tap water and let it run for about 7 days before introducing plants(if you were in a hurry) ...what pH should you aim for when starting a fresh system before nutes are added? .......aFter nutes?

Or do you even adjust the pH when filling up for the first time...?
whats you initial pH and ppm of your source water? ......
What GH 3part mix (or equiv.)works best for you and how do you apply it?
how long should it take to establish a steady pH ?

Thanks

 

[Getawaymonkey!]

How long does it take for the ben. bacteria to establish in the lava rock recirc system approximately??

 

[BigToke]

If you haven’t already read BigTokes: “Basic Water Chemistry Post” then go-here!!!
Now lets answer a few of your questions: like ~

What is the acceptable pH range for a bio system

I will answer this in two ways ~

1. I have found that the acceptable (pH) range between 7.0 to 6.5 ~ in the “Veg stage” when roots are young and tender.
2. I have found that the acceptable (pH) range between 6.5 to 5.0 ~ in the “Flowering stage” when roots are older and tuffer.
   

if you see your Bio-System go out of these ranges for a day or so, that’s fine ~ but if it goes beyond a weed then add what you need to correct the problem.

There are several reasons way your (pH) would be going up ~ but they all can be traced back to an increased level of bio-carbonates, I’m going to let you in on a little secrete that I found out the hard way ~ if your using tap-water ~ as the bio-carbonate levels get higher and higher your water-company will flush the lines out periodically, they will also issue a warning of “bowl water advisory” if you here this on your radio it would be a good idea to shot-off the tap-water and use spring-water!!

Bottom line is: what type of medium are you using? Did you disinfect the lava rocks before you used them? do you test your tap-water bi-weekly?

do you even adjust the pH when filling up for the first time...?

No and Yes ~ if my (pH) is above 7.0 up or down ~ I will adjust until it is at 7.0 before adding the nutrients to the system.

What GH 3part mix (or equiv.)works best for you and how do you apply it?

I follow whatever the label says ~ although it should be noted that this is the correct way you should add nutrients to your reservoir ~ M—G—B ~ NOT ~ G—M—B.

how long should it take to establish a steady pH ?

After the first two weeks in my system.

How long does it take for the ben. bacteria to establish in the lava rock recirc system approximately??

??~Approximately~?? Depends on two factors ~ one is the mineral factor, there is nothing particular about water it self that attracts the Beneficial Bacterium but I have found that they seem to be more attracted to water with higher minerals than water that has been filtered, that one of the reasons that I recommend tap-water, you will accumulate the {BB} a whole lot faster thus cutting down on the time ~ the next is how much chlorine is in the water.

• High minerals and low chlorine ~ three-days.
• High minerals and high chlorine ~ one-week.
• Low minerals and low chlorine ~ one-week.
• Low minerals and high chlorine ~ two-week.

I have made this list of guide lines as to better help direct those how are interested, these are my recommended safe-zones for the Bio-Bucket Systems