Snype's RDWC Construction Tutorial For 250 Watts - 7,600 Watts!

[Drop That Sound]

You can slather the neoprene washers up with 100% silicone I, it will be semi permanent though (but denatured alcohol is the release agent for silicon), and kind of defeats the purpose of the seals in the first place but should stop the leaks.

I made a simple press system using 2 small hole-less travel sized irons to flatten buckets now and able to use one cheap o-ring per side with my male/female electrical fitting bulkheads.

Basically just take the 2 irons with parchment paper wrapped around them, reach down in the bucket and squeeze till it gets soft, then clamp it so it stays flat as it hardens.

 

[Loc Dog]

I found this tool, that says vegetable oil is not good for neoprene -

http://www.customadvanced.com/chemical-resistance-chart.html?chemical=Vegetable+Oils&rubber=CR

Water should be between 66 and 72 degree's. Below 66 and the plants slow growth, thinking winter is coming, and the higher over 72 you go, the less oxygen the water can hold.

I need to go back to HD and get this. Silicone is best, but do not want to use sealer -

http://www.homedepot.com/p/WD-40-SPECIALIST-11-oz-Specialist-Silicone-300012/204500174

 

[be4meliz]

WTF happened to Snipe? Major contributer and head of thread. Any contact? 1 thread said he was banned!Really?

 

[Drop That Sound]

Loc: less oxygen means more anaerobic bacteria can thrive as well, your damned if you do and damned if you don't. I have no idea why some people have problems and some don't. Ive never had root rot since I been doing dwc, and use like 4-5 different nutrients and a load of different supplements.

I think it has to do with your main source of water, i use de-chlorinated tap water that is 35 ppms so real close to RO. Snype uses bleach and has great results but then again who knows it might just be his water supply before even adding bleach.. some people follow his method to the T and still fail.

It seems that everyone that has problems uses either RO or contaminated water of some sort.


bef4meliz: snype is here https://www.instagram.com/elitecannagivers/?hl=en he still checks in on the thread according to one of his posts. Who wouldn't right its a masterpiece of a thread, I would look a few times a week.. Sup snype! Ya it does seem like the best people here disappear at some point.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Here is a good silicone sealant http://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-2-8-oz-Silicone-Aquarium-Sealant-00688/100128841?MERCH=REC-_-PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-202038072-_-100128841-_-N

 

[Loc Dog]

Still up in the air about lubricant. Vegetable oil is moderate to severe reactivity, Olive oil is mild to moderate. Silicone oil is best, but would take a number of days to get it shipped. Will use it for second tent. The 100% silicone sealant would be great, but want to avoid a sealant, and it takes 48 hours to cure. I need to move plants in ASAP, actually about 5 days ago. I am draining the system at moment, and will just work on leaking connections.

Is a very minor leak going to fix itself?? I mean like a little wet by connection, but no puddling after 48 hours. I would hope that the fertilizer or some minor particles floating in water would block it. Also using half well water for first water. It is 250 PPM, heavy in calcium and iron.

 

[Loc Dog]

Update - Using a little olive oil seemed to make worse. The gaskets distort incredibly and squish out. My suggestions, and what I will do in future -

For the gaskets, when ordering them, get them much wider, so they are more stable or use a solid washer on inside, and just use gasket outside.

Finally have the one bucket that caused problems fixed. Had to very slowly tighten, and jam gasket in with fingernail, as it tried to squeeze out. Really think a solid washer should be on inside, with gasket outside, or maybe both inside, with washer against the lock nut, or whatever they call it.

 

[dreaded]

If gasket is squishing out, I believe it is to tight. I ran into this problem.
Also, buckets do stop leaking, I don't know why or how, but mine was leaking and stopped suddenly (weight or pressure of water).
I wouldn't lubricate gasket neither.

 

[Drop That Sound]

If I had a leak on anything ( gas line on a car, plumbing under the sink, foam gasket on a round bucket, etc) I would lose sleep or be haunted by it in my dreams. But if it is so slow that it only drips like 5-10 times per day I would just set a tray under it and let it evaporate into the air like a humidifier, until I could finish the run and seal it up right. I splash water all over the floor all the time anyway, just my thoughts..

 

[Drop That Sound]

Maybe instead of oil, you could use your thickest slimiest bottle of nutes or some other supplement that the cap always dries up on, that way it will harden up if it dries and also time release feed the plants on the part that doesn't completely dry. Take GH rapid start for example that shit forms a crust that I have to break through every time I open the cap, that seems to leak without it.

Otherwise globbing some silicone on the outside of the leak might be your only option right now, hit it with some heat to quick dry it, and use denatured alcohol after the run to scrape it off clean from the bulkhead and replace the bucket with one that has new holes drilled out.

 

[Loc Dog]

Maybe instead of oil, you could use your thickest slimiest bottle of nutes or some other supplement that the cap always dries up on, that way it will harden up if it dries and also time release feed the plants on the part that doesn't completely dry. Take GH rapid start for example that shit forms a crust that I have to break through every time I open the cap, that seems to leak without it.

Otherwise globbing some silicone on the outside of the leak might be your only option right now, hit it with some heat to quick dry it, and use denatured alcohol after the run to scrape it off clean from the bulkhead and replace the bucket with one that has new holes drilled out.

I got it done, by slowly tightening, and jamming the gasket in, at spots where it tried to push out. The lube actually seemed to make it worse. Have one more tent to do, but not rushing since it is not needed for another month. Might look for solid washers, to go between nut and washer.

 

[Loc Dog]

Snype positions his air pumps on top of buckets. I would prefer to have them on floor. The are the quiet General Hydroponics air pumps. Is there any danger of water siphoning back into them if left on floor? It is in a tent, so kind of tight on space. The middle of the tent has a bar running across it, making placement of a bucket difficult.

Another question I have is about up potting. Is it OK to start in small net pots, then dump and move to larger net pots, or is it really bad to upset the roots that much?

Otherwise I will have to buy more 6" net pot lids for 5 gallon buckets. Would prefer not to use so much square footage for seedling through early veg.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Snype positions his air pumps on top of buckets. I would prefer to have them on floor. The are the quiet General Hydroponics air pumps. Is there any danger of water siphoning back into them if left on floor? It is in a tent, so kind of tight on space. The middle of the tent has a bar running across it, making placement of a bucket difficult.

Another question I have is about up potting. Is it OK to start in small net pots, then dump and move to larger net pots, or is it really bad to upset the roots that much?

Otherwise I will have to buy more 6" net pot lids for 5 gallon buckets. Would prefer not to use so much square footage for seedling through early veg.

Loc: Ya I wouldn't want them on the buckets, ever left a back massager on your back for too long and felt that uncomfortable feeling that results?

I have grown 2 pound trees in 3.75 inch net pots, so big they actually split the netpot wide open lol. As long as you got a scrog holding them up I would go for small pots and save on medium as well. Also you can allow more solution in the system because smaller pots are shorter. And the roots come out quicker and hit the solution faster. And they are cheaper, just cut a hole in a cheap bucket lid.

^ 6 inch is cool too but why people use bigger than that in a dwc and use up tones of rooms in there buckets unless they don't scrog is beyond me...

 

[Loc Dog]

Loc: Ya I wouldn't want them on the buckets, ever left a back massager on your back for too long and felt that uncomfortable feeling that results?

I have grown 2 pound trees in 3.75 inch net pots, so big they actually split the netpot wide open lol. As long as you got a scrog holding them up I would go for small pots and save on medium as well. Also you can allow more solution in the system because smaller pots are shorter. And the roots come out quicker and hit the solution faster. And they are cheaper, just cut a hole in a cheap bucket lid.

^ 6 inch is cool too but why people use bigger than that in a dwc and use up tones of rooms in there buckets unless they don't scrog is beyond me...

The GH air pumps are isolated from the bottom plate with rubber shock absorbers, which is what makes them so quiet. Instead of on bucket in middle of tent, am going to try 1 bucket at each end, outside of tent. I have to scrog due to height, and growing GG4.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Gotcha, thought you meant the container buckets with a plant in it, I do that sometimes with little pumps on a single DWC bucket but not for long. You can actually just set the pumps on the ground and use little anti-siphon check valves that only allow the air to go one way. If you have a walmart or other super store or a pet store they will have them in the aquarium isle for a few bucks a pack.

or order a bunch for 5-6 bucks https://www.amazon.com/Pawfly-Aquar...-spons&keywords=non+return+check+valves&psc=1

 

[Drop That Sound]

And yes re-potting will just waste a bunch of time, better to establish in one pot. The more roots down in the solution and also getting misted by the bubbles popping the better. A bigger pot just takes up more room and shields the roots even longer from the aeroponic action you get from the bubbles. I transfer usually transfer the 3.75 inch netcups from the veg container right into the flower containers being careful not to cut of roots in the small holes.

I haven't got to fire up my new aero nft 5x5 fence post sleeve veg system yet but if the roots get to bushy before going into the rdwc buckets I might have to make sleeves around the net cups or something.

 

[Loc Dog]

Dropthatsound, that was a great idea!!!! To avoid damaging roots, and stunting, will use one lid, mark out perfectly, and cut hole for a 6" netpot, then use that as template for the others.

I will move rockwool cubes straight to flood and drain, till roots are coming out, then move that to the lids with hole, on RDWC buckets.

 

[Loc Dog]

I am just about to start running plants in the system I made. I need advice on whether to go sterile or live reservoir.

If sterile, how do you know how much bleach to add. Also is it bad to let water touch the hydroton? If so, how far should water be under the basket? Is an ORP/Redux meter needed?

I have hydroguard, great white, and all the stuff to make heisenberg tea. Would really like to go live reservoir, since myc is great for the plants.

 

[Loc Dog]

Anyone have suggestions on cooling the water, cheaply. I know of using frozen water bottles, and will have to do that for now. What about cheap water chiller. Money is important, but using low amounts of electricity, is also very important. Was wondering about insulating the buckets some how, since inside the tent must be the problem, since it is in basement, and water is around 77F. Been using cooltubes, and exhausting to living area, to cut down on heating bill.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Loc: you might as well just come up this way and kick it lol, but anyway here go's.

Cheapest way I know of is to take a free or cheap but functional 30 pint dehumidifier, crack open the case, and very carefully unhook and bend the copper tubing and the evaporator (cold) coil down into a bucket. Some people like to just dunk it directly in the hydro system res, but it will leach contaminates.

So instead you drop a pump into the bucket with the coil, hook it to a digital thermostat, and run another hose from your new icey res into a stainless steel coil (like the ones for brewing). Then you set that coil in the res along with the digi temp controllers prope (stc-1000 around 15 bucks). Depending on the type of dehumidifier you may need to modify some of the wiring.

Instead of spending $50+ on one stainless immersion wort chiller coil, I suppose you could buy a length of high grade tubing and bend it yourself, or hack off a bunch of 1 ft pieces from a 10-12 ft ss pipe or, and use more tubing to connect them together, so they all sit in the control res.. or even make a seperate bucket with all the tubing to be the dedicated heat exchange bucket to spare room in the control bucket.

There is some info and guides out there.. Just search for "dehumidifier into chiller", or "window AC chiller mod", you can also use a window banger but the dehuey is a little bit easier.

If you already have an old dehumidifier or find a cheap one, and careful about it enough, you could pull off a decent chiller for around 100 bucks and save quite a bit! If it burns out go buy another one for 20 bucks and so on and so forth