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R-DWC system in Finland?

BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
Hi,

It's been a while but now I'm thinking about the possibility of a better setup than my old cabinet. I am looking at R-DWC (Recirculating Deep Water Culture) systems and the very nice Secret Jardin Dark Room II grow tent. Possibly with another smaller tent for mother and clones.

I was considering this complete R-DWC system but it's apparently impossible to find any online shop that is shipping outside the United Kingdom or USA. :dunno:


I could actually build something almost identical to that system if only I could find a source for good quality black buckets and the DWC net pot lids. Okay, I will admit that I haven't done much searching other than online; maybe I should check out Bauhaus? Would they be likely to have the 20 litre buckets with thick black plastic.


I don't mind ordering the lids but I have yet to find a online hydro store that sell them and ships outside of their home country. Apparently there are a lot of hydro stores in the U.K. but none shipping internationally. Unfortunately both the U.K. and U.S. attract VAT and import tax when coming into Finland which is not really desired...

Even though my last grow was quite bad because I had pollen floating around and got quite a lot of seeds, there are still real medical benefits. I have my vaporizer on the way, so I can throw away my (cheap) bong soon. :)

I wish Finland would legalize cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. I think it would improve society in general as it's far better (for everyone, not just the consumer) than alcohol.

:thank you:
 
prowler

prowler

Member
DIY! Do it yourself or suffer multiple headaches and continuous stress.

BTW ain't it a bit silly to be using a black bucket in situation where you'd be concerned bout water being too warm? You want them to be lightproof and rather white or tin foil than black. Cover a white bucket with tin foil tape and you have the best and cheapest.

But the main message is this: If you want to have non leaking connections DO IT YOURSELF. Do not buy shitloads of bulk parts that you do not trust. Think ahead and buy cheap but quality - Bauhaus does not cover this. Look into it before you buy anything.

...and sadly when you live in Finland you just have to get off your ass and go shopping. Local businesses do not have any catalogues in internet.
 
BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
prowler said:
DIY! Do it yourself or suffer multiple headaches and continuous stress.

BTW ain't it a bit silly to be using a black bucket in situation where you'd be concerned bout water being too warm? You want them to be lightproof and rather white or tin foil than black. Cover a white bucket with tin foil tape and you have the best and cheapest.
Click to expand...

You have a good point here... I still wouldn't trust white plastic to be completely lightproof under HPS/MH lights. Black plastic and foil tape is a good idea though.

prowler said:
But the main message is this: If you want to have non leaking connections DO IT YOURSELF. Do not buy shitloads of bulk parts that you do not trust. Think ahead and buy cheap but quality - Bauhaus does not cover this. Look into it before you buy anything.

...and sadly when you live in Finland you just have to get off your ass and go shopping. Local businesses do not have any catalogues in internet.
Click to expand...

I actually did find one online hardware store in Finland which sells the cable glands (muoviset kaapelitiivisteet) and those should be perfect for sealing the bottom hose connection. I just need to add an extra nut and two soft plastic washers. One nut/washer on each side of the bucket wall. The cable gland screws down and locks onto the cable/hose; if they are the type I'm thinking about they are designed for outdoor applications so they are sealing watertight if you tighten them thoroughly.

Maybe I'll find these at the plumbing or electrical sections in Bauhaus or K-Rauta? I can then save myself some shipping and check the sizes in person. I'll try to visit there and look around.

I think Bauhaus will have the good quality buckets; meaning not the cheap flexible plastic household ones, but the ones for construction work etc. I'll have to go and find out! :)

Thanks prowler! :tiphat:
 
teemu shalanie

teemu shalanie

WeeDGamE StannisBaratheoN
Veteran
THink that is an electrical fitting for an outdoor/wet location (electrical connector ), check plumbing section, or order uni-seals online and build your own undercurrent style system,..... or buy from current culture.
good luck :)
TS
 
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BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
teemu shalanie said:
THink that is an electrical fitting for an outdoor/wet location (electrical connector ), check plumbing section, or order uni-seals online and build your own undercurrent style system,..... or buy from current culture.
good luck :)
TS
Click to expand...

Yes, I would test it to ensure it's watertight if I decided to use those... but quite probably I can find something better from the plumbing department.

Current Culture's systems look amazing! Expensive, but they look very high quality and easily expandable. I think they have a good reputation, too.

To be honest nowadays I would rather spend a bit more on a good ready-made system than the time and effort to DIY. I will DIY if it's required, though.
 
BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
I thought about it some more, and the Current Culture systems actually look pretty simple when you break it down into the components...

picture.php


I'm pretty sure I could DIY that for a lot less than purchasing from Current Culture... CC also appear to be a US-only company, too.

The only difficult to source component would be the Uni-Seals. PVC pipe and fittings should be easy.

I wonder whether the Uni-Seals work on curved surfaces such as a round bucket, or only flat surfaces on square buckets.
 
BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
Thanks Ski. :) Good to find more hydro stores in Europe. :)

I'll check out that system, but I think the CC system is superior. I would have to make that DIY though...

I found a source for Uni-Seals shipping worldwide. The rest of the parts I think can be found walking around the local shops.
 
prowler

prowler

Member
No bro! Say no to GHE Waterpack except if you're going to create heath style high flow undercurrent or otherwise be ready to improve it. The trouble with that thing is that water do not flow through the system with adequate rate so even if your rez has optimum conditions that does not mean that each bucket has. So you'll have to maintain them separately anyway. So basically you have all kinds of extra shit lying in your grow space when you could do the same with only 4 waterfarms.

Heath runs waterfarms pimped to run as high flow undercurrent. Means basically that he uses those in the same manner as Budding Grower is going to. Would be interesting to test em out but you need to grow some serious trees to maximize efficiency and usually we lack the space or operational environment.

Supporting 100% your efforts on doing it yourself. There is all kinds of instructions here on icmag too. Take a peek also at heaths topic. He is saying that the more flow there is the better the results will be and runs his setup with 1.2 EC and constant >1g/w - everytime.
 
BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
Ski said:
What is the site for the uni-seals?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Aquatic Eco-Systems, Inc. based in the US, however their FAQ page says:
Can I place an international order on your website?
Certainly! Add the products you want to your shopping cart, create an account or log in and complete the checkout process. We will calculate freight costs and contact you for approval before we ship.
Click to expand...

I cannot say what the shipping costs would total but if all you're ordering are Uniseals they would probably fit in a padded envelope to be sent by normal post rather than DHL/UPS/...
 
BuddingGrower

BuddingGrower

Member
prowler said:
No bro! Say no to GHE Waterpack except if you're going to create heath style high flow undercurrent or otherwise be ready to improve it. The trouble with that thing is that water do not flow through the system with adequate rate so even if your rez has optimum conditions that does not mean that each bucket has. So you'll have to maintain them separately anyway. So basically you have all kinds of extra shit lying in your grow space when you could do the same with only 4 waterfarms.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. The entire point of going for a recirculating or under-current (Current Culture) system is so that I don't need to deal with each bucket separately. It's a real pain.

I would love to have constant-monitoring EC and pH probes in the "main" bucket. This is the left most bucket on the "UC4XL" picture I linked previously. Even better would be an automatic nutrient dosing system but they are very expensive. I'll probably stick with my cheap EC and pH probes and manually adding the nutrients.

Current Culture also have a float valve in the main bucket which can be attached to a larger water reservoir. I would most probably do this because plants in DWC can really drink!

I think that given that the Current Culture systems are not sold in Europe my best choice is to build my own copy. I might save some money, I might lose some.

I have already found places to purchase suitable water and air pumps in Finland and the are not too expensive. I am just quietly building my shopping list.
prowler said:
Heath runs waterfarms pimped to run as high flow undercurrent. Means basically that he uses those in the same manner as Budding Grower is going to. Would be interesting to test em out but you need to grow some serious trees to maximize efficiency and usually we lack the space or operational environment.
Click to expand...
Yes I know this feeling. I am very space limited too.
prowler said:
Supporting 100% your efforts on doing it yourself. There is all kinds of instructions here on icmag too. Take a peek also at heaths topic. He is saying that the more flow there is the better the results will be and runs his setup with 1.2 EC and constant >1g/w - everytime.
Click to expand...
Could you link heaths topic? I found some but I didn't go through them all yet to find the posts about his modified Waterfarms.

Current Culture's videos basically say the same thing regarding water flow rates and lower EC.
 
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