Ive had issues with other designs not allowing me to adjust the ph of the dwc or rdwc system without much hassle, so I came up with this... it also reduces many attachments and I am familliar with building home made Ebb n Flow tables so its along my experience. Let me know what you think or if you see any problems, I want to feed in intervals allowing the roots to get fresh air, it also allows me to turn the pumps off so I can adjust my Ph and PPM in peace with out having to pump my water into another bucket so I dont burn my roots ya know. alright insight into future possible problems let me know cuz im gonna give it a go unless its been done with ultimate doom.
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Idea for a simple RDWC
- Thread starter Mr_Spliff
- Start date
samba
Active member
Why not have the pots with the medium lower down so when you ebb n flow to top up your DWC pots the water would rise so it "wets" the medium at the same time? If you want to go the drip feed way,the runoff from the drips will top up your DWC.
That is IF I understood you right...
I've been thinking of a system like this:
Red=Bucket
Blue=High flood table
Green=Rez
Black=Pump
This way you could have it do many things
EnF, holes in the bottom of buckets
Remove the overflow tube and add drips to pump for dripfeed
DWC, holes in the middle of bucket and airstones
Waterfarm, Add smaller pots in bucket and holes in the middle of bucket and airstones
That is IF I understood you right...
I've been thinking of a system like this:
Red=Bucket
Blue=High flood table
Green=Rez
Black=Pump
This way you could have it do many things
EnF, holes in the bottom of buckets
Remove the overflow tube and add drips to pump for dripfeed
DWC, holes in the middle of bucket and airstones
Waterfarm, Add smaller pots in bucket and holes in the middle of bucket and airstones
I like the simplicity in the drip system with holes in the middle of bucket, but still the water in the buckets would throw off the measurements in the main rez, though probably a small thing to worry about.
Also your draw up of the deep tray ebb n flow is great and simple as well, I like it better, would you suppose an 8 in deep try would work with 3 gal buckets with 4 inch deep pot? 6 in would work to but trying to reduce the amount of medium used for economics.
Ive also been considering smaller mesh pots (more plants for sog method) in the classic ebb n flow with more intervals a day maybe one every hour or two, but with air stones in the tray or even in the pots them selves, what you think? edit: this would eliminate the buckets reducing height of the system as well as the deepness of the tray, I guess it would be like shallow water culture just put a plastic sheet (white on top black on bottom) with X's cut for the plants over the tray and maybe velcro it to the side of the tray and do your best to keep it tight to reduce evaporation.
Also your draw up of the deep tray ebb n flow is great and simple as well, I like it better, would you suppose an 8 in deep try would work with 3 gal buckets with 4 inch deep pot? 6 in would work to but trying to reduce the amount of medium used for economics.
Ive also been considering smaller mesh pots (more plants for sog method) in the classic ebb n flow with more intervals a day maybe one every hour or two, but with air stones in the tray or even in the pots them selves, what you think? edit: this would eliminate the buckets reducing height of the system as well as the deepness of the tray, I guess it would be like shallow water culture just put a plastic sheet (white on top black on bottom) with X's cut for the plants over the tray and maybe velcro it to the side of the tray and do your best to keep it tight to reduce evaporation.
After looking over your diagram . It seems to me that you could eliminate the buckets all together . I like your out of the box thinking . Thanx for sharing Peace jtk707Ive read about letting the water drain in rdwc systems to allow the roots to get super airerated, how long would one want to allow the roots to "dangle" in the buckets or bottom of tray before one would turn the pumps back on, I'd imagine no longer than 15 minutes but thats just my guess maybe even less, like 5 mins, which I need to get a more precise timer.
Edit: Looked over the diagram again, seems like I could remove the buckets, but that would really reduce the size or the root zone, but I would only want a 2 to 3 foot plant so how much time for vegging out the roots would I really have, I know the roots still grow in the begining of flowering but Im not too sure how much, My Goal is to get as big of a root system as fast as I can on a small plant and see what it does, I guess aeroponics is the right way to go for this, but Im not up to all the technical difficulties that it involves, as my other goal is to reduce connection points and chances for leaks as well as being just plain simple to clean. I probably stick to the Ebb n flow style rdwc and cut out the drip system as its seems like much more of a hassle. thanks for all the advice more input for others to come along and see would be great.
Peace out and Mucho Frijoles for everyone.
Edit: Looked over the diagram again, seems like I could remove the buckets, but that would really reduce the size or the root zone, but I would only want a 2 to 3 foot plant so how much time for vegging out the roots would I really have, I know the roots still grow in the begining of flowering but Im not too sure how much, My Goal is to get as big of a root system as fast as I can on a small plant and see what it does, I guess aeroponics is the right way to go for this, but Im not up to all the technical difficulties that it involves, as my other goal is to reduce connection points and chances for leaks as well as being just plain simple to clean. I probably stick to the Ebb n flow style rdwc and cut out the drip system as its seems like much more of a hassle. thanks for all the advice more input for others to come along and see would be great.
Peace out and Mucho Frijoles for everyone.
george j warner
Member
depends how much room you have . if you got room for a tank at the side then you can grow larger plants as there wont be a tank underneath... slightly raised pots from the tank but only so that the tanks top water level is lower than the overflow of the dwc system point ... will do a quick drawing to explain..
is the system i'm doing next
is the system i'm doing next
george j warner
Member
Thats a good idea, but my main concern is to get in the house and have it all set up real quick, take down real quick, with all the connections that setup would require, I might as well build the original rdwc system with the float valve.
Also, with the buckets on a table over the rez, you can turn the pump off and it all drains back in to the rez for easy maintainability of the nutrient solution. The little drain valves would be a big hassle I think. Its nice to not have to spend all day at home or at a single house, in one day bouncing from house to house in different hoods is the goal. I'll prolly ditch the top feed connections and make sure the lips on the table are tall enough for the water level to reach up to at least an inch from the bottom of the mesh pot, the lil bubble popping action might keep the medium sufficient moist between the ebb and flow cycles.
I've only set up a grow house once and learn a lot about time management and that includes labor management as well. I'm sure all the OG's know what I mean about setups being to labor intensive for easy maintainability.
Also, with the buckets on a table over the rez, you can turn the pump off and it all drains back in to the rez for easy maintainability of the nutrient solution. The little drain valves would be a big hassle I think. Its nice to not have to spend all day at home or at a single house, in one day bouncing from house to house in different hoods is the goal. I'll prolly ditch the top feed connections and make sure the lips on the table are tall enough for the water level to reach up to at least an inch from the bottom of the mesh pot, the lil bubble popping action might keep the medium sufficient moist between the ebb and flow cycles.
I've only set up a grow house once and learn a lot about time management and that includes labor management as well. I'm sure all the OG's know what I mean about setups being to labor intensive for easy maintainability.
thats actually what i have goin on at the moment
in this one my roots are still shitty from the liquid karma i WAS using
and it works great i bet i could fit another 6 in that room there in, hmmmm i might just have to do that for my next run
the system i just posted can be broken down in 5 minutes the entire room can be gone in less than 15mins fast enough?
