Buckets

[Father Time]

G'day;

i am going to have a go at Hydro at long last,so after reading a lot of threads and speaking to many folk about their sucess's i have realise i have forgotten to ask one question.

what colour Buckets?
i have seen bouth white and black and red and green,i seem to remember someware i read the the darker the coulour was better but have seen some impressive grows from white buckets!

reason is, i have access to white buckets here at home but, i would have to drive over 400km's to have access to a hydro shop!
Kindest Regards,Father Time.

 

[mrwags]

Black buckets Father. The ones that came with mine were white but having ocd like I do I lined all of them with duck tape just to make sure no light got in. So save the drive and get the white one's roll a fatty and get out the quack tape and get to lining.


Mr.Wags

 

[Father Time]

hehehe,
imwas just trying to get into chat and se if you where in ther to ask ya,couldn't get in so was just heading to Pm you and a couple of others.hehehe

ok,i have access to 15lt buckets (3gallon i think) so will it be ok to just sit one inide the other and drill holes in the bottom ?

i'll continue the rest of the bombardment of questions in the Pm's.hahahaha

Kindest Regards,FT

 

[Dr. D]

Black is the likelly choice but as long as no light can get through the buckets it doesnt really matter...peace
btw father what sort of system will you be runinng?

 

[pilsbury]

Use black plastic and rap around the white buckets.

 

[Father Time]

Thanks for the "Heads- up" guys!

Dr.D,
not really sure just yet mate! hahaha.

i think i'll go the same as 00420 & So-quick,dunno what its called but seems the easiest for my old brain to try to cope with.

am still trying to read all the posts!
Kindest Regards,FT hehehehe.

 

[dociron]

I'm glad to see you rebound brother......
Let's grow,,
and those questions?
Trust me, there's plenty of folk that need to ask the same ones,
keep it in public, ok?
imo, only private and security issues should be handled in PMs.
Just my 2 cents.
I'm glad to see ya back up to the grow...........

Take Care Brother..............doc

 

[Guest]

15 liters is around 4 gallons.. you wanted to do ebb and flow buckets? like krusty buckets? or dwc buckets? recirculating dwc?? im gonna assume krusty or ebb and flow buckets.... just tape around the white buckets to keep it dark around the roots... have you checked out.. i think krypto had a diy for these...

 

[Guest]

by the way father time... i've never seen an grow thread on outdoor hydro.. i think it would be a cool idea.. being down under and all.. warm weather.. well.. location depending.. but yeah... maybe a greenhouse.. just an idea...

 

[Father Time]

Doc,(ironman)
will keep it in the forums mate.

well after last weeks setbacks, it took a good week to come good but i am back.

this will take a while to finish have got the new room half built,and will start on the buckets as well,no use finishing one job and starting another,may as well have a few unfinished Jobs on the go at the same time!
hahahaha.

Cannable,
what a great idea !!
i will do exactually that when i get room up and running,just run it under the sun instead!

thanks for the advice and intrust fellas.
Kindest regards,FT

 

[Father Time]

Ok,

So after being encouraged to air these questions (most will be dumb ) here goes ...

# will this be enough holes in the bottom for the grow bucket?

# the holes are 10mm (a wisker under 1/2inch) is this to big ?



# when its sitting inside the other bucket it has 3 inces between it's bottom and the bottom of the outta bucket,is this enough?


# i have fitted a drain fitting (1/2inch) to outta bucket it's sitting about 1/2inch off the exact bottom of bucket,is this to high,if it is than i'll just drill the next one's lower?






Kind Regards,FT

 

[Guest]

Hi Father Time,
I used to grow in a system that was similar to what your setting up, it worked very well, but was a bit high maintanance for me. I like the metod I use now the best.
There seems to be plenty of holes, and they aren't too big, I don't think.
What are you using for medium? Hydroton?
If you are using hydroton, you might wanna make your holes bigger and line the bottom of the inner pot with, plastic fly screen to stop 'em falling through.
I found that hydoton blocked holes around that size perfectly, cutting off all drainage.
Oh yeah, an' I used white buckets with this system and had no probs at all.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Father Time]

Tim-Tim,
thanks mate for droping in,
Yes plan to use hydtoron as the grow medimum,and consider the screen cut as soon as i hit the " Submit Reply" button!

i was wondering about the buckets seeing the nutes (i would assume) just flow/drain through the grow medimun and gravity feed straight back to the res.(i think)

hahaha, i actually have no fucking idea how this system is supposed to work,just makeing it as i go,and hopeing for directions from all you blokes.hahahaha.
Kindest Regards,FT

 

[Guest]

i was wondering about the buckets seeing the nutes (i would assume) just flow/drain through the grow medimun and gravity feed straight back to the res.(i think)

Thats the way it happens, ya just gotta get the buckets above the res.
I made a frame out of Qube-lok alluminium, and had another one with a frame made from scrap 4"x2".
Its a pretty simple system to set-up, if you wanna know anything else, just ask.

 

[Father Time]

15 liters is around 4 gallons.. you wanted to do ebb and flow buckets? like krusty buckets? or dwc buckets? recirculating dwc?? im gonna assume krusty or ebb and flow buckets.... just tape around the white buckets to keep it dark around the roots... have you checked out.. i think krypto had a diy for these...

Mate.
i got be honest,i have no idea what so ever what the hell krusty buckets or dwc buckets recirculating dwc even means. hahahahaha

i'm sure i;m about to find out in a big way!
Kindest regards,FT

 

[Father Time]

so this is wher i am at presently.

is this pot any good to use, i am thinking about running a bubbler system (this of corse might change) but i am wondering if i where to go with a bubbler,would the sides of the pot be to restrictive to the water droplets,seeing as it not a basket configeration.



the pot fitted to lid,it will sit 51/2 inches into the main bucket,









pot sits 51/2 inches into the main Bucket that is itself 12 inches deep.




i do have a large compressor pump here, it runs 16 lines on the outlet,and is 160w.








so thats where i am up to in the this project,any mistakes i have made and changes that are needed as well as comments are very welcome!
Kindest Regards,FT

 

[Guest]

The pot will probably work just fine since the bubbles come from below the pot anyway. You could take a soldering iron & melt some holes in the sides down toward the bottom just in case.

However, that is an awfully big pot for the bucket. Since you want to keep the water level below the level of the pot to prevent rot, this won't leave you much room for holding nute solution. A smaller pot would need less medium and leave a lot more room for the roots to grow down into the nute solution.

 

[Father Time]

i was not wanting to go to a smaller pot's ,due to being worried about plants not getting big enough in the small pot.???

i have obviously seen good returns from the smaller pots,how much room is the norm i see grow treads wher folks have got 20lt buckets with big baskets in them surely this would be restricitve?

Kindest regards,FT

 

[Guest]

The roots grow out of the pot and down into the bucket. The pot size really has nothing to do with plant size, the bucket has a lot more to do with it. All you really need the pot for is to hold the plant until the roots are big enough to grow down into the water.

I grow in buckets with no pots at all. I cut a hole in the lid and use a strip of closed cell styrofoam to support the plant (foam pipe insulation works good, so do pool noodles).

 

[mrwags]

i was not wanting to go to a smaller pot's ,due to being worried about plants not getting big enough in the small pot.???

i have obviously seen good returns from the smaller pots,how much room is the norm i see grow treads wher folks have got 20lt buckets with big baskets in them surely this would be restricitve?

Kindest regards,FT

Father,

My buckets are only 2 1/2 gallons. The last run the White Widows were over 6 foot tall when stood up and I had no problem with then running out of room for roots. But I would drill more holes in the bottom. My 2 cents

Mr.Wags