hazydreams
Active member
Ive kept a wrap on this for a while and for good reason. I'm not the type to build something and show everyone how easy it is, before things are worked out and properly tested. Ive hit some snags with this set up, and ill be the first one to point them out during this post.
Rational: I came to this site after being on overgrow some 7 years ago, and saw this micro grow in a square foot thread. then i looked around and saw big toke was on here and well i remember him from the OG days. I also noticed some others that had migrated this way. i figured id set up shop and give it a run to see if i can smash the square foot record with one plant, and it was gonna be built my way.
The method to the start of madness: I prefer RDWC as a method. I have grown Bio Buckets as well as swc/nft systems with great sucess. In this instance i wanted it all and it had to be small. real small. like three plants in three square feet. with a shit load of light over them. it had to be portable, reliable and some what stealth, and thus begins the journey.
I took a trip to Lowes and found a closet on sale for the rubber maid variety.The size you ask? 40" wide X 55" high X 15" Deep. Already had two compartments, one with a double door and one with a single. sweet.
I chose to go with square buckets, trust me the decison was made after years of trying to seal a curved surface (round bucket) to a straight cylinder (barb) and it always f-ing leaks over time, if you bump it, look at it wrong or just dont talk to it nice. screw that FLAT surfaces and DIY BULK HEAD FITTINGS ensure 0 leaks. I have zero tolerence to leaks and its a pet peev of mine.
these first few are of the veg system.
Reservoir for the veg system. total capacity is 15 gallons +-1 gallon. That white bulb in the supply line is a one way check valve. Theres also a venturi that's hard to see thats attached to the air pump with a one way check valve to pump air up into the bucket. The pump is an old 400 gph walmart special. she runs great. an upgrade is coming, you can never have too much turn over in RDWC.
Bucket on top of the reservoir stacked system was the only alternative. the flexible hose to barbs are reinforced with pipe clamps, all though not shown remember NO LEAKS. keep saying it and it will happen. this is a good shot of the DIY bulkhead in the bucket.
This shot is of the feed hose that runs into the bucket. that little o ring works wonders. this is a electrical connector from lowes contractor isle. again this was a test fit shot and the worm drive clamps were not installed.
This is a shot of the back of the box showing how i ran the plumbing. 1 1/2 inch pvc, The buckets are connected inside with a rubber fernco fitting and pipe clamps on the inside fo access.
This is the end product minus the aluminum heat sheilds and lava rock in the net pot. That bulb is a 400 watter and in that small space i had it down to 82 degrees with the door shut. at bucket lid height. the ventalation fan i decided to use was a Dayton 235cfm 6 " axial. its hooked up to a speedster at roughly half power now as im only running a 250 watt MH. after experimentation i found no difference in adding more wattage on plant growth, i mean come on people im bumping 250 watts in a 13"x13" foot print. thats way overkill.
Veg system lessons learned. Your gonna need a chiller no matter what when cramming 5 pounds of sh*t in a 1 pound bag. Read that again if your even going to try to attempt this setup. In running several crops through i noticed that even with aquasheild applied at the specified rate you are going to accumulate some level of rot due to water temps being high. The only way to ensure this is with the chiller and i have paid the price in low yeilds because of fighting that nasty b*stard off. I have 1- 1/10th hp chiller cooling both the flower and the veg system at the same time. ill post a sketch of how it was done if any one is interested it wasnt too hard.
In veg i used a small 1 foot square screen to train the plant to a scrog'd hedge. My variety right now is a durban which is a sativa, i know its not the best choice but i must make due with whats at hand.
If you have any questions or comments feel free. Ive always taken any help i can get.
But for now that'll do for tonight. Ill post up the flower system, itll take a while to explain that one.
to all. happy tokin
Rational: I came to this site after being on overgrow some 7 years ago, and saw this micro grow in a square foot thread. then i looked around and saw big toke was on here and well i remember him from the OG days. I also noticed some others that had migrated this way. i figured id set up shop and give it a run to see if i can smash the square foot record with one plant, and it was gonna be built my way.
The method to the start of madness: I prefer RDWC as a method. I have grown Bio Buckets as well as swc/nft systems with great sucess. In this instance i wanted it all and it had to be small. real small. like three plants in three square feet. with a shit load of light over them. it had to be portable, reliable and some what stealth, and thus begins the journey.
I took a trip to Lowes and found a closet on sale for the rubber maid variety.The size you ask? 40" wide X 55" high X 15" Deep. Already had two compartments, one with a double door and one with a single. sweet.
I chose to go with square buckets, trust me the decison was made after years of trying to seal a curved surface (round bucket) to a straight cylinder (barb) and it always f-ing leaks over time, if you bump it, look at it wrong or just dont talk to it nice. screw that FLAT surfaces and DIY BULK HEAD FITTINGS ensure 0 leaks. I have zero tolerence to leaks and its a pet peev of mine.
these first few are of the veg system.
Reservoir for the veg system. total capacity is 15 gallons +-1 gallon. That white bulb in the supply line is a one way check valve. Theres also a venturi that's hard to see thats attached to the air pump with a one way check valve to pump air up into the bucket. The pump is an old 400 gph walmart special. she runs great. an upgrade is coming, you can never have too much turn over in RDWC.
Bucket on top of the reservoir stacked system was the only alternative. the flexible hose to barbs are reinforced with pipe clamps, all though not shown remember NO LEAKS. keep saying it and it will happen. this is a good shot of the DIY bulkhead in the bucket.
This shot is of the feed hose that runs into the bucket. that little o ring works wonders. this is a electrical connector from lowes contractor isle. again this was a test fit shot and the worm drive clamps were not installed.
This is a shot of the back of the box showing how i ran the plumbing. 1 1/2 inch pvc, The buckets are connected inside with a rubber fernco fitting and pipe clamps on the inside fo access.
This is the end product minus the aluminum heat sheilds and lava rock in the net pot. That bulb is a 400 watter and in that small space i had it down to 82 degrees with the door shut. at bucket lid height. the ventalation fan i decided to use was a Dayton 235cfm 6 " axial. its hooked up to a speedster at roughly half power now as im only running a 250 watt MH. after experimentation i found no difference in adding more wattage on plant growth, i mean come on people im bumping 250 watts in a 13"x13" foot print. thats way overkill.
Veg system lessons learned. Your gonna need a chiller no matter what when cramming 5 pounds of sh*t in a 1 pound bag. Read that again if your even going to try to attempt this setup. In running several crops through i noticed that even with aquasheild applied at the specified rate you are going to accumulate some level of rot due to water temps being high. The only way to ensure this is with the chiller and i have paid the price in low yeilds because of fighting that nasty b*stard off. I have 1- 1/10th hp chiller cooling both the flower and the veg system at the same time. ill post a sketch of how it was done if any one is interested it wasnt too hard.
In veg i used a small 1 foot square screen to train the plant to a scrog'd hedge. My variety right now is a durban which is a sativa, i know its not the best choice but i must make due with whats at hand.
If you have any questions or comments feel free. Ive always taken any help i can get.
But for now that'll do for tonight. Ill post up the flower system, itll take a while to explain that one.
to all. happy tokin