2 bucket RDWC build and grow

Discussion in 'Grow Log Forum' started by greenjah, Aug 16, 2011.

  1. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Wasn't sure if I should put this in the Grow Log or DIY since it is both but here it is.


    also sorry about the links but I still haven't got a computer that lets me copy and paste.


    Ok so Here is my kinda getto but cheap and easy 2 bucket RDWC system I built last night.


    It will require


    3 - 5 gal. buckets


    5 - grommet's for 1/2 in. fittings


    2 - 1/2" tee's


    5 - 1/2" barbed coupler's


    1 - 1/2" barbed elbow


    10 ft. of hose (adjust as needed for how far you want your res. from your bucket's)


    1 - pump (150 gph should be fine, I used a 395gph with a valve to control flow)


    13 - hose clamps


    1 - 1/2" ball valve


    First I drill my wholes for the drain wholes in all 3 buckets. (this size will vary according to the grommets you get, they should know at place of purchase what to use)


    also I suggest getting them at a hydro store as they are thicker then the ones at lowes or home depot and thicker means it will fit to any imperfections better.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    next put your grommet's and fittings into the drain wholes in all 3 buckets


    [​IMG]


    drill the wholes for your air line in the top of the 2 bucket's you will use for the net pots and put the airline through. (I used a 15/64" drill bit for the 1/4" air line so it is a snug fit.)


    [​IMG]


    Next I put the fill wholes in the same 2 you put the airline wholes in that will have the net pot's.


    [​IMG]


    Put the grommets and fittings in those 2 fill wholes. (take the label off first so you dont have to take it apart like I did)


    [​IMG]


    This is what those 2 bucket's will look like. (I shorted myself some 1/2" barbed couplings so i went to the hardware store and got more, that is why the top ones are grey.)


    [​IMG]


    Now cut 2 small pieces of your hose, the length will depend on how far apart you want your bucket's. see next image to see why.


    [​IMG]


    Install them between the bucket's. (don't forget the hose clamps, I do not have clamps on the grey fittings because they were oversized and so tight that I didn't need them)


    [​IMG]


    Now for the resevior bucket that you only put the bottom drain whole in so far.


    Here is the pump with the fittings in it. (usually the pump should come with these fittings.)


    [​IMG]


    Now drill a whole big enough for your hose to go through all the way at the top of the bucket.


    I forgot to take seperate pictures for these steps but you can see the point.


    Next put the pump in the bucket and cut a piece of hose long enough so your 1/2" barbed elbow is even with the top whole in the bucket.


    [​IMG]


    Put your hose that you cut to however far you want your res. from the growbuckets through the top whole and clamp to the elbow.


    [​IMG]


    Now connect everything and put your air stones on.


    [​IMG]


    Now fill with 10 gallons of water, turn it on and look for leakes. Also make sure you are draining as fast as you are filling. (I was not so I installed the ball valve to slow filling)


    If I had used a smaller pump it may have not needed the valve either but that's the pump i had so that's what I used.


    [​IMG]


    When I set up the system I put the grow buckets up on something a couple inches tall so they are higher then the res. so when you drain the res. it will drain the grow bucket's all the way. (you will have to drain the res. and let the buckets drain more to get it all.)
     
  2. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Now for the grow in this system.


    veg is under a 400w MH along side my ones in dirt.


    Flower will be under my 1000w HPS on the light rail.


    nute's - GH 3 part useless formula with tap water and 1/2 Tbs. epsom salts per 5 gal.


    Tap water comes out at 400 to 600 ppm, changes frequently, ph - 8.0 to 8.2


    Here it is in place


    [​IMG]


    lots of bubbles and not a whole lot of flow but its still circulateing. I probably should have used 3/4 for my drain fittings and hoses.


    [​IMG]


    I mixed up 10 gal of week 1 veg formula (400 was the PPM's out the tap at the moment) and put it in the system and let run for an hour or 2 and the PPM's were 870 and the PH was 8.6. I went ahead and added 10 ml. of PH down.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    Checked everything again today and the PH was up at 8.9 and PPM's were a bit lower.


    I had to add 55 ml of PH down on top of the 10 I added yesterday. PH is now 5.9
     
  3. CCrete

    CCrete Mr. Poopyfacepeepeehead

    mods help this thread out a lil by posting the pics, please


    Aaaaand DO WORK son! I love me some Rdwc:thumbs-up: :passsit:
     
  4. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    ha ha, yes please help.


    when I try to copy and past the pic's it puts them in but then when I submit it the pictures disappear and it is only words. sorry for the pain I just really want to get some of my DIY stuff out there and a grow also.
     
  5. virago420

    virago420 Excommunicated

    You used the hyperlink tags instead of the image tags. Thats why theres a link instead of a photo. I dont have mod powers anymore or I would fix you up. You can fix it yourself if you edit the post and put the link to the pictures with the proper tag though.


    Looks good BTW. :thumbs-up: :passsit:
     
  6. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    ok. Im about to have a few drinks with the friends, I quickly tried to fix the first photo but it just put a different link in. at least the picture isn't huge in that one. anyway in the morning I will read the FAQ and see what it has to say about different ways to do it and try to fix it.
     
  7. ResinRubber

    ResinRubber Civilly disobedient/Mod

    There ya go.
     
  8. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    thank you. I guess the girl friend is keepin my buddy in so no drinks for me.:bs:


    I am trying to search the FAQ and I have searched how to add pictures to post, pictures to post, post pictures, add pictures, and many more and it tells me no matches are found and the forum usage link dosn't help either. I know I've seen different ways to put up pic's before but I cant find them now. Damn this Ubuntu, I think it dosn't let me use the site like windows did.
     
  9. virago420

    virago420 Excommunicated

  10. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Ok lets try it that way. These are just a couple of pictures of the advancements I made to make a smaller room in my old flower room for a better seal to help with smell and co2 usage


    The room inside the room


    [​IMG]


    this is the new veg area witch used to be part of the flower room but is now just outside the new room


    [​IMG]


    Awsome it worked, now I don't have to bug you mods to help. and thank you virago for the link, that's the one I remember seeing in the past but couldn't find again. tomorrow I will change those horribly giant pictures to normal size, and I'll put up an update in a few days. and of coarse any critisizim or sudgestions are welcome.
     
  11. blah blah boy

    blah blah boy Harvested Fat Sticky Bud

    I like it :thumbs-up:


    I too had to install a ball valve on my 18 bucket. keep something on the top of the buckets to reflect heat. IMO
     
  12. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    I will definetly do that, I noticed that the black is absorbing a lot of heat, they are getting a slow start to shading the buckets, due to the heat lately they took a long time to root in the cloner and got pretty yellow so are not taking off as quick as they were in my previous DWC systems.
     
  13. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    Well on to week 2 mix. I did it a bit different then I have been with my DWC's. I have started to add the ph down with the water on the day of the drain and fill. I added the 1 tbs. of epsom salts and 50 ml PH down and it was at 6.4. Next day I added the nute's and it took it up to 7.4. Today I have added 20 more ML of PH down and it brought it to 5.9. Next week I will bring the water to 5.5 on the drain and fill day. (I am doing it this way because the water on its own is very high PH and then I add the nute's and it goes even higher and I dont like having the PH above 8.0 for 2 days.) And it is what Usless sudgested as an alternative.


    Here is the Blue Dream at 1 week, looking much better after the harsh cloning conditions.


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    And the King Kush


    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]


    I also sprayed them for them damn Mites yaesterday, I hate those things.
     
  14. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    added nutes 2 days ago and added the 20 ml PH down yesterday and the PH was up to 6.4 today. I added another 10 ml of PH down and it is at 6.0. If things go like my DWC's usually did it will stay consistent for the week now, I will add more tomorrow to take it to 5.8 but the fluctuation should be evened off.
     
  15. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    So even after PHing down to 5.5 with tap water then adding nutes the next day your PH is still rising?


    Whats your plan moving foward?


    1. Add tap


    Add Nutes


    Add Ph down


    or


    2. Add tap


    Add PH to 5.5


    Add nutes


    The reason I ask is because my ressy is due Saturday and trying to figure out what my best bet is. It looks like I have the same issue as you. Was PHing to 5.5 any better? Did you use more/less ph down in your opinion?


    Thanks, looking good by the way
     
  16. MrAstro

    MrAstro R.I.P

    They're lookin' healthy :thumbs-up:
     
  17. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    I didnt go all the way to 5.5 this time, i will on the next change though, I will be doing no. 2 of your choices nippie.


    Thx MrA they are growing like crazy now that they got there green back, the big plants in the greenhouse where i got the clones from are doing great, the king kush has black or dark purple buds, hope mine dose that indoors.
     
  18. nippie

    nippie preachin' and pimpin'

    hows your ph?


    just dropped mine this morning in plain water and shoot back up this afternnon
     
  19. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    creeping up a little but for the most part it has stableized it took a couple days to creep up to 6.4 and I just added 10 ml of ph down, that will probly put it to 6.0 and I will be emptying and filling with water adjusted to 5.5 tomorrow then adding the nutes on tuesday. I will post some pictures again the blue dream is growing like a weed.
     
  20. greenjah

    greenjah A Fat Sticky Bud

    well I have started to have water temp problems, probly cause the industrial air pump puts out pretty hot air, so I took an old dehumidifier that was in the house when I got it and turned it into a chiller.


    here is the dehumidifier with the top off


    [​IMG]


    here I took the cooling end that takes the water out of the air and very carefully bent the tubing so it looked like this.


    [​IMG]


    It will sit like this in a cooler


    [​IMG]


    I went to the hardware store and got 2 sections of 3/8 ID copper tube,(A heater core from a car that has been washed out very good would be ideal but I dont have one right now). I bent the tube and attached the 2 sections with flexible hose so 1 section will go below the cooling coil and 1 will go above.


    [​IMG]


    and here it is, I cant find the top so I put a piece of the styrophome polyshield over the top witch is not shown.


    [​IMG]


    it has been on for about a half hour and the temp in the nutrient resy went from 79 to 76. I will see how long it takes to get the water to 70 and set a timer on the dehumidifier - new chiller to try to keep the temps stable between 68 and 74, lets hope it is possible.
     

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