RDWC cost?

[MedScience]

I am in the process of building an RDWC based off of Blaze's tutorial, but the cost of the parts seems pretty high. I pieced everything together and it looks like its going to be about $600 either online with shipping or at the local hydro. Does this sound right? For that price I may as well just buy a premade system, but there isnt really anything out there that is comparable that I have found. Any thoughts?

 

[stoneroad]

a few brief words for ya act like you have zero money and shop that way worked for me i built my whole thing you can check my grow for around 600

 

[Haps]

His spec list has a bunch of expensive stuff I saw no need for. Mine was half that for everything.
H

 

[headfortrinity]

You can get your 7 black plastic buckets (one for a controller) from usplastics .com for $3.50 each or $5 from hydro store, irrigation tubing and connectors for 6 buckets ( I like mister landscaper brand) $25, black return tubing $10, 1 large fountain pump $40,1 smaller for return controller $30, reservoir 32 gallon trash can black $15, from lowes, net pots about $8 each maybe less, grommets $.50 plastic straight and tee barb fittings maybe $1 each. DIY Return controller about $50 from aqua hub .com
So about $240 plus tax and possibly shipping for a 6 bucket system.
This is how I built my system but I bought the whole ebb and flow DIY kit from aquahub because I originally was going to run it that way but then I heard about DWC so I added an irrigation setup.
Now ive figured out how to run my RDWC without the return controller using a shallow reservoir and t fitting with a vertical vent on the return line, but you need about an extra 18" of vertical grow space to do it because the water line in the buckets has to be above the top of the reservoir.

 

[MedScience]

Yeah I was just going off getting everything listed, but I really like all the shutoff valves and everything, cutting all that out would definately drop the cost. I suppose I could always add that stuff on later.

 

[headfortrinity]

Yeah I was just going off getting everything listed, but I really like all the shutoff valves and everything, cutting all that out would definately drop the cost. I suppose I could always add that stuff on later.

It would probably be under $600 too.

 

[MedScience]

usplastics has black buckets listed at $5.62 and out of stock. Also have not been able to find black tubing anywhere near that cheap. $60 for 100ft of 3/4", $30 for 1/2". Any places to find this cheaper?

 

[milehighmedical]

It's worth dropping the money. Once built correctly with high quality materials you can sleep much better at night knowing your basement isn't flooding.

That system has much higher quality components than a non-recirculating DWC such as a Water Farm, or even those ebb n flow buckets. It's not as if you don't have to put it all together if you buy a pre-made system, it's just a parts kit, essentially. With lower quality parts.

 

[headfortrinity]

usplastics has black buckets listed at $5.62 and out of stock. Also have not been able to find black tubing anywhere near that cheap. $60 for 100ft of 3/4", $30 for 1/2". Any places to find this cheaper?

black economy bucket

The tubing can be bought at lowes in the pond department, my hydro store had it for a good price.

 

[wastekan]

The black tubing can be had for $30-3/4" and $15-1/2" per 100' from a few online drip irrigation suppliers. Mainline Tubing
I drip irrigate a large vegetable garden where every nickle counts -).

 

[MedScience]

Yes! That site is exactly what I am looking for, thanks.