bio buckets to dwc ques

[fetanylking]

i was read the bio bucket post and how he never flushes cause of natural bactera and microbes in lava rock if this is so would it make sense for me to implement some lavarocks (about an inch thick) around the bottom of my dwc buckets but not interfering with airstones making flushing not necessary
im not doing this to be lazy but i think having this bacteria could be nothing but beneficial. does this make sense and would, or have any of the dwc growers tried this.

[Guest]

I won't say that this won't work, but some people at CW tried incorporating bio-fields in regular DWC with mixed success. If you are using recirculating DWC, this may work if you make sure that there is plenty of water flow over the bio-field. If you are not using recirculating DWC, I wouldn't recommend trying it. Either way, don't make the switch half-way through a grow. If it doesn't work, you could lose everything.

Keep in mind, for bio-buckets to work properly, you need adequate aeration (either through "waterfall effect" or airstones or water), nutrient solution circulation, low light levels in the nutrient solution, and an adequate home for beneficial bacteria.

One five gallon DWC bubbler is not enough volume in my opinion to contain enough solution for correct circulation. Bio-buckets should be used with recirculating DWC with at least four 5 gallon buckets and a 10 gallon res.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it will take at least two weeks for beneficial bacteria to colonize your nutrient solution. If you already have plants in your system and have been periodically flushing, there isn't enough beneficial bacteria to keep out harmful bacteria. If you fail to replace your nutrient solution halfway through a grow, even after adding a bio-field, you run the risk of root rot.

I highly suggest you finish your current grow and then experiment with bio-buckets. The bio-bucket system is not easy to set up, but if done correctly, it is very low maintenance. Since switching to bio-buckets, I visit my grow once a week to raise lights and add nutrients.