vertical octagon diy parts list and how to guide

[treeguy]

Not sure if u got ur ?s answered yet...i just saw the post. Do not just fill the net cups. Trust me! You MUST fill the entire column with hydroton. Even if u were to get lucky ur yeilds, temp, root rot ect. will set u back so far u might as well have one simple girl setup, not a complicated vert. The couplings used to join the 2 halves together. PVC or ABS will work fine. I would recommend gluing but thats def due to many bad experiences that were out of my hands(hint hint) Use h2o cement! Or risk it ur choice. If ur worried about taking it apart they sell the pcs that connect with a thread male to female=quick disconnect with using cement. Over the threaded pcs obviously u cannot use cement so use the silver h2o proof tape good luck

 

[treeguy]

Oh, and most importantly POND LINER!!!!!!

 

[choch]

Great instructions to get people started on their vertical journey.

I'd probably change the drains a bit at the entrance and build a wheeled cart with two more tubes to roll into the doorway. Use flexible line for the feed and drains to the cart then just wheel it out to one side for plant access. This way you'd be using 360 degrees of the light.

16 tubes makes stoned math easier too - however many ounces you average per tube is how many pounds the system will yield. lol

 

[ericsson]

Hey treeguy!
Thx for the reply - been away for a while, just got back and saw ur post today.
Filling the whole thing with hydroton will be a PITA, but if you say there's a small chance of making it work in a "aero-like-setup" I won't risk it. Does this mean, that every single harvest all the hydroton will have to go out and get sterilized / boiled in water?

I have the system nearly finished - I went for the gray PVC, as no gluing was required (is a male to female connection - one tube goes into the other). As I wrote - not having to use the 2,75" couplings on each connection, the system is much lower then the ABS one that El Bastido build here, which allowed me to increase the amount on PVC "Y's" used, taking it from 56 sites to 84 with a possibility to go for 98 and stay pretty much the same hight as the 56 site ABS system.

Having in mind, that the system won't be taller then 50", I want to go for 4x400W in cooltubes - ya think it'll be good? For the first few run I will use GHSC Big Bang, AMS and The Church. I have 50 fem seeds ready to go for clones, and here a few questions:
- how many mothers should I keep, to get the 84/98 clones every ~9 weeks (I'm counting about a weeks veg [after clones root] in the octagon, and 8 weeks flower?
- about the clones, after they'er rooted (most probably in rockwool), would you say that 1 weeks veg in the octagon will be enough or too long?

I'm also kinda pissed of at myself, because before reading about the Lucas Formula, I bought the full Hesi Hydro line-up, which is:
1 Hesi Hydro Bloom
2 Hesi Hydro Growth
3 Hesi PK 13/14
4 Hesi Power Zyme
5 Hesi Root Complex
6 Hesi Super Vit

So, now that it's done - should I just follow the suggested hydro dosage from the lables and keep an eye on the PH / EC levels?

As for the watering times - would you go for the 1min on / 5min's off as El Bastido mentioned?

Thanks,
Eric

 

[Relentless]

very, very nice instructions!

 

[GardenCaress]

Any1 have an update on this thread? Links of other ones like this? Thanx IC

 

[TexasMonster]

I wonder if putting little misters at the back of each root sight would have improved the performance of this rig. I was trying to see how much floor space that rig took up but I never found it.

 

[_Dude]

Interesting system, but the write-up leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. It isn't at all apparent if the tubes are supposed to be filled with hydroton, or just the net cups, or what. Posters above assume it should be filled with 'ton but that makes no sense because it would be overflowing all over the place from the lower openings. It's written as if we're all plumbers and don't need any detail as to what all these parts are, or where to find them. There's no explanation of how the water is supposed to get to the roots - it looks like your girls will die quick deaths unless you put them in there with lots of roots dangling out far enough to get into the pipe.

So, really kinda just a detailed concept, not a DIY guide or how-to.

And there's no indication of what kind of timer you could use to power the pump. Without a cheap alternative to the CAP the author uses, this system DOES NOT cost 400, but more like 650 (I forget what a CAP controller costs but I think it's got to be AT LEAST 250. Those things are really expensive).

 

[_Dude]

On the other hand, this system is very very very interesting food for thought. It looks like you'd need to veg them first in some kind of aeroponic or spray system to get lots of roots dangling from the net pots. That, or add some kind of sprayer to each site. I don't what the best way to do that would be.

 

[BigGuns90]

Good thread, ill be watchin

 

[Bob Smith]

Interesting system, but the write-up leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. It isn't at all apparent if the tubes are supposed to be filled with hydroton, or just the net cups, or what. Posters above assume it should be filled with 'ton but that makes no sense because it would be overflowing all over the place from the lower openings. It's written as if we're all plumbers and don't need any detail as to what all these parts are, or where to find them. There's no explanation of how the water is supposed to get to the roots - it looks like your girls will die quick deaths unless you put them in there with lots of roots dangling out far enough to get into the pipe.

So, really kinda just a detailed concept, not a DIY guide or how-to.

And there's no indication of what kind of timer you could use to power the pump. Without a cheap alternative to the CAP the author uses, this system DOES NOT cost 400, but more like 650 (I forget what a CAP controller costs but I think it's got to be AT LEAST 250. Those things are really expensive).

Not sure how this DIY could be much more detailed, honestly - did you want him to come over and build it for you?

You can either fill the tubes with hydroton and do DTW or leave them empty and run recirculating (I'm running recirculating).

And no, even if filled with hydroton it doesn't overflow from the openings - that's what a short cycle timer is for.

I'm not a plumber (and I'm mildly retarded) and I was able to find everything I needed at Home Depot in the plumbing aisle - what exactly were you looking for and couldn't find?

The water gets to the roots exactly as the DIY says, utilizing tees and 1/2" tubing paired with a strong pump (see video demonstration).

With 3" wyes, the netpot bottom sticks out into the column, so roots as long as you think are not necessary.

I bought a CAP Timer and it was about $85 for the fully adjustable one (on/off down to the second) - you can buy simple one on/four off timers off of Ebay for $20, or you could buy a $5 timer and modify it yourself.

Anyways, I made a couple of mods to the original design - used 22.5 elbows as opposed to the 45 elbows, which makes for a much more rounded structure, and also let me have 15 sides (one for access) vs. 14 sides if I had used 45s.

Also used 4" vs. 3" PVC because of the extra root space (and because it let me stay <100 plants) - ran me another $1K+, but I think it's a good modification.

Went 6 plants per column instead of 4, for a total of 90 plants (6x15).

Also split the feed pump into a tee for even water flow throughout; those are the only two mods that come to mind.

It's 7' from tip to tip, but 5.5' from edge of wye to edge of wye.

Trust me! You MUST fill the entire column with hydroton. Even if u were to get lucky ur yeilds, temp, root rot ect. will set u back so far u might as well have one simple girl setup, not a complicated vert.

Yeah, I don't think that's correct - get yourself a chiller and you'll be fine - I'm not cleaning that much medium each harvest.

This system is excellent. There are many different ways to build it. The top feed part of the system is the best part. It works very well, with a small pump. Unlike the cage or cube that requires a 1200 gph or higher pump to even function.

I think you'd be surprised at how large a pump it requires, depending on how large you make it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLsQGDcTevs

EDIT: I've since upgraded the return pump to the same 1/6HP pump as the feed.

 

[stagehand099]

Hey Bob Smith...that colo is awesome. Are you planning to do a growshow in it here on ICMag? I would really like to follow along as I'm planning to build one after the first of the year.

A couple of questions: Is the outside diameter 7'? What do you plan to use lighting-wise? What strain(s)? Thanks.

stagehand

 

[Bob Smith]

Not sure if I'll do a journal here (on a couple of other sites, but it's pretty easy to copy and paste so I probably will), but if I do I'll post a link to it in this thread.

Yes, the "true" outside diameter is 7' from edge to edge, but take away 9" on either side to get from the outside to the tip of the wye, so 7' - 1.5' = 5.5' working diameter - comes out to about 28" from the tip of the wye to the start of the cooltube (vertitube 4L600, from Octagon Hydroponics).

http://octagonhydroponics.com/grow-lighting-vertical-systems.html

Obviously with that cooltube I'll be running 4 600s (dimmable digital ballasts), two dual arcs and two HPS.

Going to go with that for a run or two, then might put two 1Ks in the middle (they fit in the vertitube), or might put 4 1Ks in the tube and run them off of a flip-flop.

First run is going to be Super Skunk and Ice because that's what I have lying around - they're rooting in my EZ 120 right now and should go in the system late next week (broke a section of the 4L600 so I'm having a replacement delivered next Wednesday).

If you're serious about planning to build one, PM me for a link to a lengthy thread at another website where me and another guy built them together - I'd say it's almost required reading if you're serious about it - save yourself from making the same mistakes we did.

Still trying to figure out how to incorporate a screen into the system - shooting for ~16-18" radius for the screen - my radius is larger than it'd be with a single 600 because of the effects of line source vs. point source light.

EDIT: obviously the pics with the lights is for demonstration only; 14K AC couldn't keep up with them bare bulbed so had to order the vertitube.

 

[phunkfarm]

know why the wye lips are cut?

know why the wye lips are cut?

unnecessary right?

 

[Bob Smith]

Phunk, long time no talk - how goes it?

 

[Ravi Singh]

Phunk (this is Bob, just changed my screen name for security reasons), I'm changing my system over to an HP aero (aka "TAG") drain to waste setup...........just thought I'd letcha know.

Check in here or at the other site when you've got a minute, would love to see your progress....

 

[Carboy]

TAG

TAG

Phunk (this is Bob, just changed my screen name for security reasons), I'm changing my system over to an HP aero (aka "TAG") drain to waste setup...........just thought I'd letcha know.

Check in here or at the other site when you've got a minute, would love to see your progress....

Would you explain your TAG conversion a little more?
thanks CB

 

[Ravi Singh]

150PSI pump (cuts in at 115PSI, and the shutoff is adjustable from 140-160PSI, so I'm going to set it at 140PSI).
4.4 gallon accumulator tank (rated to 150PSI).
CAP 110V adjustable super short cycle timer (not sure what the letters are, and that's only going to hold me over until my adjustable 12V industrial timer gets here in a month - that can cycle to increments of a second)
4 1/4" 110V solenoids (again, these are just holdover parts until I get the timer - have (4) 12V 3/8" solenoids that I will use once the industrial timer gets here)
(30) 1GPH misters, obviously two per column (might go more if necessary, time will telll)
Pressure relief valve set at 150PSI
20 Micron inline filter
A shitload of John Guest fittings, high pressure tubing, etc.

Um, that's about it off of the top of my head...............did you have any specific questions? I just learned all this shit a week ago and have been doing non-stop research ever since (was drinking hard last week and went online and bought all the shit above without really thinking about it or planning, and before I really knew what any of it was).

Feel like I've got a pretty good handle for how to set it up now, though.........time will tell, will be setup within the week.

Switching out the 110V to 12V when the timer gets here because then I'll be immune from power outages as the timer and solenoids will run off of a 12V battery...........the pump will only run a couple of minutes every few hours (in theory), so I felt safe keeping that on 110V (power is never out for more than an hour - only had one outage in two years).

 

[Carboy]

Um, that's about it off of the top of my head...............did you have any specific questions?

Not any particular question. Be nice to see you put it all together.
Good luck and thanks for the run down.

 

[DHF]

"Drinkin and Thinkin".........You go Rabbi Shankar.........

Fortune favors the prepared...but......Been guilty of impaired online purchases my damn self on more than one occasion......

At least yours will be put ta use right away.......I remember findin a deal on coco bales few yrs back outta Sri Lanka and orderin pallets and pallets of that shit........needless ta say I still got some.........Was cheap though.....LOL.....

Waitin over here on my bucket fer thisun ta kick off Broski.....Hook an old fart up so I can grow vicariously through your dialed shit.......

Lemme know when yas kick da thread off......I`m sure you`re ready as long as it`s been since this thing`s been in the works.......Good luck my buddy and.....

Handle it BS/RS......DHF............