Building 2 40 gallon Reservoirs NEED HELP

[hehateme19]

Hello Everyone.....My name is HEHATEME19 and I have been posting on ICMAG for a little while now.......I have taken a bit of a brake from posting new info lately and for that I apologize. Updates coming......
I have learned so many great things browsing this site...........its crazy........thanks to everyone...........

I need some help though..................

The deal...
I bought (2) 40 gallon containers from a feed store in a town nearbye, and I need to try and find the best way to set them up for DWC gravity feed system (planning on one on top of the other, bottom one with a float valve connected to the top)
They are VERY thick black, and are made for horses to drink out of.
I would like to be able to set up a system where I can have a large valve on the bottom (ball valve pvc type) and run that into some type of (bladder???) system where I can have different valves set up. I want to be able to run some sort of perpetual system (anywhere from 4-????? plants) that I can build upon in the future. With 80 gallons of res possible I want to be able to expandable if possbile.

Best Way?????

DIY Threads or Arcticles?????

Any Advice you Have!!!!!

Thanks Everyone...............

 

[GOONie]

The search button will be your savior. Just read everything you find about it, then you can plan your system out and already know what will fail and what will succeed. Plus you get a plethora of ideas to converge into one super system.

 

[headfortrinity]

I would use e/f fittings for the tubing, I don't trust o rings. Evaporative swamp coolers use float valves, I'll bet you could buy a kit for cheap.
Is your setup going to be like a texas controller or recirculating DWC?

 

[socialist]

80 gallons is a lot of water.

 

[StephenMcTowlie]

Okay, if i'm with you so far, your idea is to have one tank mounted up high as a backup rez and one down low to use as a huge DWC tub? Connected via float valve to keep the bottom tank at a constant level? Or are you using both tanks as reservoirs and using separate buckets as your planters? Separate buckets seems more expandable to me. Also more flexible in that you can move plants around and with two separate rezes you can feed at two different strengths and can run different strains or plants at different stages of growth without any big hassle. Which is good for a perpetual grow, of course. Anyway, good luck and let us know what you come up with.

 

[hehateme19]

Hey everyone thanks for all the input........

Goonie: Yeah Ive been browsing around for a while now. I always try and go to the search first. But also its nice to get some fresh ideas sometimes. Thanks

headfortrinity: Yeah Im thinking about using Ebb and flow tubing for sure, so thanks.....Yeah you can buy float valves at Home Depot for pretty cheap...the ones made for large swamp coolers.

StephenMcTowlie: I was already kinda thinking about running them seperatly, originally I was going to stack them on top of one another but I figure 1 40 gallon res is plenty for say 6 -8 plants. I think now Im leaning more toward setting one up first and trying to figure it out.

Thanks for the input fellas........

 

[hehateme19]

Ok so Ive been doing some serious reading on icmag yesterday and today........ More questions

How the heck does a recirculating dwc work??? I have read blazes tutorial but I am still confused. Im thinking about trying to copy what he has done almost exactley but How should I do it???

I have these 2 40 gallon reservoirs that I bought and now Im thinking I only need to be using one of them right now. What should I use for the controller? Maybe a 18 gallon rubbermaid? Or maybe a 10 gallon rubbermaid.

Why do recirculateing???? Extra help please.

 

[fred_light]

I have some answers.

Why recirculating?
Well I believe the reason some recic is that that way you mix your nutes constantly. So the water won't flux as much as smaller reservoirs. More water to even out things. Also with recirc you get the added benefit of "more" oxygen in the water if done correctly. You can of course get this in a system without recirc, but with recirc it kinda goes with the plan. Add a waterfall.

I will try to explain one way it can work...


<---------------- < water pumped <----------------------|

container 1 ---------- plant bucket---------- container 2 (with pump)

Then you let gravity feed the plant bucket from container 1, since when the waterpump in container 2 will make the water level in container 2 less and therefore water will flow from the plant bucket. That will trigger the water in container 2 to feed the plant bucket since it has a higher water level. Viola. This is one example.

There are though loads of things to consider after this. If there is more water in the system than container 1 can hold you run the risk of over filling it when you turn the pump on. You can fix this with a hole on the top of container 1 with a hose to container 2, when water reaches this level it will flow back to container 2.

Okay, so far so good. But what happens if the pipe from bucket to container 2 is filled with roots or some other shit? Well, the level in container 1 will be much higher then usual. And if the hose to plant bucket is not clogged you will fill plant bucket to the same level as container 1. That's when you learn to mop a floor, while you cry over your drowned plants...

How can this be prevented? Well, that's where the flow valve comes into play. If the water level of container 1 is controlled with a valve that will close when the level in it is the same as the max you can accept in plant bucket you can't drown her. But you need a container above container 1 that will refill it when the valve drops below a certain point.

Something like: http://www.horticulturesource.com/float-valve-1-2-brass-fitting-p5051/ will do the job.

Keep reading and searching the site. There are many ways to do this. Some work better than others, some are cheaper equipmentwise than others. Anyway, do test runs before you put to real use

Did this make sense?

 

[Mickymouse]

Ok so Ive been doing some serious reading on icmag yesterday and today........ More questions

How the heck does a recirculating dwc work??? I have read blazes tutorial but I am still confused. Im thinking about trying to copy what he has done almost exactley but How should I do it???

I have these 2 40 gallon reservoirs that I bought and now Im thinking I only need to be using one of them right now. What should I use for the controller? Maybe a 18 gallon rubbermaid? Or maybe a 10 gallon rubbermaid.

Why do recirculateing???? Extra help please.

With recirculateing All the buckets and controler are one water system.When you check water in controler its the same in all buckets.40 gal reservior way to big.Have enough in each bucket .Save nutes that way.Think of recirculateing you have 2 buckets a hose between bottom.Take a cup of water from one bucket pour it in other.One will never fill one will never empty.now add as many buckets as you want.This is RDWC.Might to beable to use the 2 40 gals for a flood and drain if the shape is right.

 

[hehateme19]

MickeyMouse: Why not a 40 gallon res???? I was checking out blazeoneups tutorial on recirculating dwc and he uses a 45 gallon res running into a smaller control unit. I was thinking about taking back my 40 gallon tubs and getting a really thick trash can. What do you think Also Ill run a controler as well.

What do you think??

 

[headfortrinity]

Have you seen the storebought bucket systems with the e/f controller?
I built a similar system to that but I made my own controller bucket and only use it to control the water level by pumping back into the res. It's similar to blazes setup but the water flows from the res to the buckets then returns to the controller which once it reaches the set level pumps back into the res. I went this route because I change the nute regiment weekly and don't want to end up with a reservoir half full of unused nutes.

 

[headfortrinity]

Here's the link to the controller I built. It works great and when you modify it for rdwc you don't need a timer.
http://www.aquahub.com/store/diygbuildebb.html

 

[hehateme19]

Headfortrinity: do you have any pics of your setup??? I went to that link you posted (thanks for that by the way) and took a quick peek at the diagrams but not very smart am I so if you had some pics I would really appreciate it.

Also how many buckets and what size are you running? How large of a res and controller are you using?????

 

[headfortrinity]

I'm only using 6 5 gal buckets and a 45 gallon brute trash can for a res. I only fill the res half full but I could run 12 or more buckets off that size res. I used a 5 gallon bucket for a controller, but you can use whatever you want because in this setup the controller only regulates the water level.
How it works is the water is pumped out of the res directly to the buckets, then the return flow goes into the controller, once the buckets and the controller are filled to the preset level then the pump in the controller bucket comes on and pumps the excess water back into the main res. It's alot like blaze's setup just more complicated and expensive, I prefer this way because the system is using all of the water involved instead of some of the water being used and then added to by the reserve reservoir.
I'll get some pics of my controller tonight. Here is the system that I tried to copy http://store.homegrown-hydroponics.com/12siebbflbus.html
I just reconfigured the e/f controller to be a water level controller. Blaze's setup is alot cheaper to make and probably works just as well, but I wanted to be able to run as e/f or RDWC.