Blazeoneup's Recirculating Dwc Construction Tutorial!

[phyberoptic]

I have to agree that the return lines on the top at the level you want the bucket water is the way to go, and the male/female unions with the rubber gaskets is the cheapest 100% leakproof solution you're going to find. I'm going to use PVC pipe however and plumb 1 1/2" returns from the buckets to a 3 inch return line to the res. The biggest benifit here is there is no root cloggin of the return line.

Now the real deviation and a solution to the leaky feed lines is to use 1/4 in tubing from the res run back through the return pipe. So the feed lines will enter the bucket also from the top via the return line and will drop down into the bucket so that they touch near the bottom (to avoid any stagnation issues). The 1/4" lines are cheap so running them all full length to the bucket is minimal cost and solves the issue some had with low pressure in the farthest feeds. From the pump I'll run a 1/2 inch nipple to an 8 way dripper manifold and each of the feed lines will connect to the dripper manifold. Because the feed lines terminate at the bottom of each bucket, you can still drain the system from the res as there will be a vacuume created when draining the res. It will just be a bit slower. (Don't know how long it takes to drain the 3 gallons in a bucket through a 1/4 inch tube.

Air tubes in each bucket per the original tutorial, and in the res, cuz you can't put too much air in the water.

BTW.. have a two row 6 bucket system planned. Vegging on an ebb and flow DIY table in my 8" square pots filled with hydroton.

Moving from outdoor soil grows of three huge Skunks recently harvested, and wanting to grow indoors during the winter now.

Ok, flame away on the newbie if you will. Save me from myself if what I've proposed can't work.

-=PO

 

[highonmt]

Not a good idea to run this system perpetualy... Your plants beginning the cycle Won't be able to take the ppm's your feeding your plants that are in their final stage of flowering...

OG,
Thanks for the fantastic tutorial...I've left the dirt behind after 20+years and have just finishing my first month in DWC. I'm using the lucas formula with flora nova series nutes. This system is very easy to use and well worth the effort to build. Growth has been very rapid. My buckets are fitted with a 1/2 threaded pvc ball valve on the drain outlet which allows me to isolate buckets and individually bring clones up to full strength slowly. I plan to use this system for a prepetual harvest to keep me in meds. Here is a pic of my first hydro bubba kush (21days at 18/6) ready to clone and move to the flower half of my room. Both halves have six 5 gal buckets and share a res. 1k mh grow 1khps flower...Thanks again.
HM

 

[Tall Pine]

How is the water being pushed/pulled back into the resevoir? Very interested in building a multi bucket system.

 

[CalcioErba2004]

How is the water being pushed/pulled back into the resevoir? Very interested in building a multi bucket system.

One would have a water pump pumping water through the buckets which are on trays and they sit higher than the reservoir so it drains back and RECIRCULATES back into the buckets through the pump again. Hope this helps!

 

[highonmt]

huh?

huh?

One would have a water pump pumping water through the buckets which are on trays and they sit higher than the reservoir so it drains back and RECIRCULATES back into the buckets through the pump again. Hope this helps!

CE I'd read the first page of this thread before giving advice on it. Water pressure from the water being pumped into the buckets pushes the water from the bottom of the bucket back to the controller. Water wants to find an even level in all the connected buckets. All the buckets and the controller sit on the floor and an elevated res. keeps you nute levels steady..
HM

 

[CalcioErba2004]

CE I'd read the first page of this thread before giving advice on it. Water pressure from the water being pumped into the buckets pushes the water from the bottom of the bucket back to the controller. Water wants to find an even level in all the connected buckets. All the buckets and the controller sit on the floor and an elevated res. keeps you nute levels steady..
HM

Oh so you don't need gravity to work? I was thinking that the buckets had to sit a little higher to get the water to "fall" back into the controller. Didn't know the pressure alone would do it. Thanks for opening my eyes.

 

[highonmt]

Gravity is the force that drives the water back to the controller just not in the same way as drip or E&F.Once running it's very easy to maintain and gives great results...so far.

 

[CalBear4Life]

Has anyone ever made one of these but using pvc instead of the tubing and hydroponic parts that he uses? If so could you please post how you did it? I just don't want to have to worry about leaks. I have read the whole thread but can't seem to figure this out thanks

 

[Greenmopho]

Yo ynot-llat! You need a hole saw that has the regular drill bit i the middle as a guide, otherwise you will just drill all over the place and just crack your bucket!

 

[Greenmopho]

Yo blaze one, serious thank yous for this btw! I'm building your system for a medical warehouse space! I plan on using 16 buckets per controller, with a 55-gal food grade drum as the reservoir. In your word document on your tutorial that I followed to a tee, you were missing a couple parts, but I figured it out. I am using 2" air stones instead, but basically your design. Now, the reservoir really just acts as a reserve, and you are just recirculating what is between the buckets and the controller, until the controller gets low, correct? I already built a 6 bucket prototype, with the float valve, but didn't bother using a reservoir for only 6 buckets, still works good. Now, obviously you keep airstones in each bucket, but do you also put any the controller and/or the reservoir? I plan on putting airstones in my 55-gal res, seems like a must! Not sure about the controller. Also, I plan on putting a valve on the feed line from the res to the controller, in addition to the float valve, that way I can get some kind of control over the water level in the buckets. I want to just put the reservoir on cinder blocks, seems like a sturdy and secure way to do it. I'll be building 6 systems of 16 plants each, so 6 controllers and 6 reservoirs. That way I can have different strains going and be able to flush. Now I noticed when I tried to demo it to a friend, that even with a pump, you cant drain it completely, without actually lifting the bucket and pouring out whats left? How does that effect when you flush? Do you just flush once to get most of it out, and let whatever is left dilute (probably give your around 300ppms still floating about) and then flush again to get it all out after a few days? Seems like the way to go. Also, what about using an organic line of nutes in this system, I've been told they gunk up a bit, and you can get pythium from lack of oxygenation. I usually use GH Flora 3-part, but I'm talking about either the GH Organic Line, BioThrive or whatever it is, or the Botanicare Pro whatever stuff? Anyone used organics on one of these systems?

 

[overgrow00]

I built this system recently and like most encountered leaks where the 1/4" barbs meet the 1/2" intake line. I tried silicone a number of different ways with more or less success. Finally i just bought some 1/2"-1/4" reducer barbs... 10 pack for $6 plus shipping... Why not include reducer barbs in this tutorial?

 

[sgtpepper]

nice tute dude. very helpful...
running something a little similar.

 

[EdIsOnnOsIdE]

I built this system recently and like most encountered leaks where the 1/4" barbs meet the 1/2" intake line. I tried silicone a number of different ways with more or less success. Finally i just bought some 1/2"-1/4" reducer barbs... 10 pack for $6 plus shipping... Why not include reducer barbs in this tutorial?

Where did you get those reducer barbs? Thanks

 

[Turkey]

I

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=31812&catid=454&clickid=searchresults

 

[Greenmopho]

Anyone got advice on the best way to veg your plants to get em ready for the buckets? The plants do awesome once they are in the buckets, but I'm doing a multiroom setup, and my current vegging system just isn't working for me.

Also, I'm thinking of changing this system and just going back to rockwool cubes, setup on top of the hydroton in the net lid on the bucket, and doing a drip into the rockwool from my feed line, instead of into the bucket. I've seen pics of this, anyone got any clues?

 

[Greenmopho]

Best thing to do is root clones before putting them into the system. I root my clones/seedlings in a dome under floros in rapid rooters until the roots show through and then i put them into 6" net cups with hydroton in an ebb and flow table and veg them for a week or two until they establish a nice root network. I then pull them out of the ebb and flow table and put them into the system. If you dont have access to ebb and flow or a seperate area to pre-veg, i would root the clones in a dome under floros in the oasis cubes. Once the roots show through, you can put the rooted clones into the system and raise the water level in the buckets so that the water is keeping the little roots moist. Once the roots grow down out of the net cups, you can lower the water level.

It isnt a great idea to root clones in the system. Much easier to root them in a dome under floros first and then put them into the system.

I've been doing exactly this! The RR plugs to do bettter than the rockwool plugs, but still having issues vegging!!!! HELP, here is my thread on this!!!!

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=152991

 

[THCforus]

Awesome tutorial Blaze, I cant thank you enough for this. I'm always looking for good DWC info and this is by far the best set up I've seen yet. Very informative and thorough.

 

[SlevinK]

Awesome tutorial...!!

 

[alflud]

Hey Blazeoneup - this is an awesome tutorial man. Thanks for making it available to us I have one question and it might be silly but I'm just wondering is it completely necessary to rig this sort of system with both a set of feed lines and and a set of return lines? I mean, wouldn't the one feed operate as a fill and a drain line if it was at the bottom of the plant buckets? What I'm thinking is that as the drain pump in the controller starts to pump and the level there starts to drop that gravity will push the mix from the plant buckets back to the controller whatever way it can. I know some pumps don't allow for backflow but these lines aren't connected directly to a pump, are they? So the mix ought to be able to flow back to the controller bucket through the feed line is what I'm thinking and that would not only cut out a whole heap of work but also the system would flood and drain quicker. Could someone clear this up for me? I'm a hydro noob and I'm just trying to be clear about how these systems operate before I go fiddling about with anything

 

[PuReKnOwLeDgE]

There is no flood and drain in this system. The pump pumps nutrients from the controller through the feedtubes in to the buckets. The buckets all remain at the same level if you have a level floor,, the nutrients return back to the controller from the bottom of the bucket through the return line. This allows the water to be recirculated not flood and drain, the purpose of rerculating effciently is so you can add in a chiller after the water pump to maintain water temps, and also to maintain stable nutrient solution throughout the entire system.