big plant ppk

[real ting]

i originally built a 3x4 foot frame with a piece of wire fence on the bottom and a loose piece of window screen on that. by keeping the screen loose you can roll the turface back and forth. if you dump a whole bag in it takes longer to screen than if you dump about a gal in at a time.

since then i have built a screen slide 25 ft long and 3 ft wide. i can dump a bag on the top and leave it all week brushing towards the bottom as i pass by once or twice a day. by the end of the week i've got a thoroughly screened load that hopefully has also been washed by some rain. i still wash the hell out of it anyway in a concrete mixing tub with the water running. turn it over with a shovel a few times until it runs clear.

after loading in the container i rinse it one more time.

the clamp you show is exactly the one i was thinking about. once you squeeze it shut with a pair of channel locks it will never come off.

you do be welcome!

editing to give mcfly420 credit for the slide idea. good one!

I dunno if that's gonna fit in my 5x6 foot staging area, haha. I love the idea of the slide, just gonna need some more room to attempt something like that.

I've gone from an 8 gallon volume rez, to a 15 gallon rez, to a 32 gallon rez and now to a 71 gallon rez. I can mix 60 gallons of jacks+ once a month (4 plants), useing 2 gallons a day (max useage) for the last 5 weeks of bloom or so (shouldnt be away then anyway), the 60 gallons will easily last 8 days and if i parrellel in the other 32 gallon rez, longer than I should be away but in veg ???. have alot of hangaround time with these ppks, gonna buy a another, new Harley.

best thread/method there is.

OH, I've started useing the 1/2" rubber waterproof grommets with regular 1/2" black tube. easiest and driest I've ever run. my run is too small for pipe and feeders.

You don't even need to use the barbed fittings? Just push the 1/2" tube right through the grommet? That sounds easy as hell! I like the idea of the bigger res.

 

[real ting]

A redundant setup I can leave for a week and come back to without worryin about is the only way I could possibly grow again and feel safe , so.....

It came down to Blumat maxi`s in coco that I`ve already got in storage since before shutdown , or PPK`s that I`m more comfortable with after seeing Bobbles problems associated with absentee grows......and....

Not to say I`m not confident in Blumats , but rather more comfortable with a timed feed setup that acts like DTW and keeps residual salt buildup at bay in the process of pulse feed/gas exchanges and then back to equilibrium in a topped off main rez that won`t be anything but babyshit simple to manage once a week.....anyways....

That first part is exactly why I bought everything for blumats and never ran the things. Too many people had unexplained runaway blumats, and when the whole point of them (for me) was being able to leave the grow unattended without stressing, it just wasn't an option.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

“

no worries, mate! Thank you! Go ahead on the glossary but I think “plant module” is better than “satellite” nyahh!

It would be nice to get some real engineering drawings and an animated graphic depicting the water movement.

and what about the zillion other questions in there big fella

 

[delta9nxs]

and what about the zillion other questions in there big fella

i thought i answered them all. it's in the quoted area of the same post. look at them and let me know if i missed anything. i've got to got to work for a couple of hours but i'll check in later tonight.

 

[delta9nxs]

".Gotta go check my crab traps and catch a few redfish and speckled trout fer supper......Life is good"

someday you and i will burn one together while eating a self caught seafood dinner.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

I know you normally don't have any air-stones in the system, but if running a wave pulse with a slightly larger volume then necessary pulse res (and even larger bulk res ~100Gal); do you think it might be a good idea to add an air-stone to my bulk res.

Just doesn't seem like it is going to be getting much action... at least not until the plant are larger and sucking down more juice.

 

[Ghudda]

My system leaks pretty badly at the Carlon fittings. I think where the hose meets the foam. Just have gotten it all together and trying to figure out.. Every bucket leaks.

 

[delta9nxs]

My system leaks pretty badly at the Carlon fittings. I think where the hose meets the foam. Just have gotten it all together and trying to figure out.. Every bucket leaks.

the foam ring should be thrown away. the hose should be right up against the hex part and there should be a clamp on it.

also, the o-ring goes on the outside of the bucket or it will leak like hell.

do not tighten the nut too far or it pushes the o-ring out of the area where it seals.

you got a pic?

 

[Ghudda]

I did have a few connections that were too tight and pushed the o- ring into a non-o shape. I tightened most areas, tightened clamps, and the leaking has largely subsided but the foam pieces do remain. Looks like I'll be removing those tomorrow. I'll get some pics up soon. Basically it's a Commander xxl 27gal tote with your 4 way hose splitter, 4 Carlon fittings for return. Almost an exact replica of your first post. 700gph pump.

My upper container is 6.5 gallon little giant feed tub. 1in deeper and few inches less wide than yours.

Don't have oil-dri yet, or plants, or Jr Peters formula. Will be first time grow though hehe.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

I know you normally don't have any air-stones in the system, but if running a wave pulse with a slightly larger volume then necessary pulse res (and even larger bulk res ~100Gal); do you think it might be a good idea to add an air-stone to my bulk res.

Just doesn't seem like it is going to be getting much action... at least not until the plant are larger and sucking down more juice.

i know heath was anti air stones for many reasons including infections and heat (both of which arent a big deal in PPKs)

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

i thought i answered them all. it's in the quoted area of the same post. look at them and let me know if i missed anything. i've got to got to work for a couple of hours but i'll check in later tonight.

you answered everything perfectly and i just didnt see it.
sorry mate.

 

[delta9nxs]

I know you normally don't have any air-stones in the system, but if running a wave pulse with a slightly larger volume then necessary pulse res (and even larger bulk res ~100Gal); do you think it might be a good idea to add an air-stone to my bulk res.

Just doesn't seem like it is going to be getting much action... at least not until the plant are larger and sucking down more juice.

with jacks, if your reservoir is larger than a certain volume in relation to the turnover rate, you may get a little surface precipitation. if so, a small air stone is not a bad thing. or just an open line with big bubbles.

with my new oversize res i'm seeing a little so i'll be putting one in there. i've got a little cheap 7 dollar one from wally's that i'll probably hook up today.

funny thing is i never get it at all in the 44 gal volume tanks with fresh solution.

 

[delta9nxs]

I did have a few connections that were too tight and pushed the o- ring into a non-o shape. I tightened most areas, tightened clamps, and the leaking has largely subsided but the foam pieces do remain. Looks like I'll be removing those tomorrow. I'll get some pics up soon. Basically it's a Commander xxl 27gal tote with your 4 way hose splitter, 4 Carlon fittings for return. Almost an exact replica of your first post. 700gph pump.

My upper container is 6.5 gallon little giant feed tub. 1in deeper and few inches less wide than yours.

Don't have oil-dri yet, or plants, or Jr Peters formula. Will be first time grow though hehe.

your first cannabis grow ever? please start a thread!

 

[Ghudda]

Oh, I will when I get to it!

 

[forkup]

I'm looking forward to that Ghudda. I don't think you could have chosen any better method for a first grow. Sounds like you're gonna do it up right to

 

[Snook]

I dunno if that's gonna fit in my 5x6 foot staging area, haha. I love the idea of the slide, just gonna need some more room to attempt something like that.



You don't even need to use the barbed fittings? Just push the 1/2" tube right through the grommet? That sounds easy as hell! I like the idea of the bigger res.

Very true, the barbed fittings give me piece of mind. why? idono. and dont get rid of those tire valves, turnem around and point first, they fit right inside 1/2" fittings, to stop, if you find it necessary, the flow between the control/pulse rez(s) and individual PPK rez(s). I used them to test water tightness of the fittings in the new control/pulse rez b4 filling the PPKs.

 

[delta9nxs]

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Very true, the barbed fittings give me piece of mind. why? idono. and dont get rid of those tire valves, turnem around and point first, they fit right inside 1/2" fittings, to stop, if you find it necessary, the flow between the control/pulse rez(s) and individual PPK rez(s). I used them to test water tightness of the fittings in the new control/pulse rez b4 filling the PPKs.

i still use intact tire valves as goof plugs to plug up old tire valve holes in buckets that i have re-plumbed.

and as a temporary plug for cleaning my lower buckets in place. plug the fitting from the inside, scrub it and pick it up and dump it. then back in place and let it flood again.

 

[DaveTheNewbie]

heres a question regarding multi media
im not talking about mixing mediums (a la chow mix)
but if you have layers of different mediums, is that going to fuck things up as far as wicking and PWT moving and all that good stuff?
the example i was thinking of was filling the tailpiece with perlite and then filling the rest of the top bucket with coco.
Will this interfere with wicking water up or removing the PWT? Will the change in medium make a hydrophobic layer?

 

[noyd666]

could toweling or absorbent wick cloth be used just as wick ? leading up into the meadium?

 

[real ting]

heres a question regarding multi media
im not talking about mixing mediums (a la chow mix)
but if you have layers of different mediums, is that going to fuck things up as far as wicking and PWT moving and all that good stuff?
the example i was thinking of was filling the tailpiece with perlite and then filling the rest of the top bucket with coco.
Will this interfere with wicking water up or removing the PWT? Will the change in medium make a hydrophobic layer?

I did just this, but the coco layer was a coco/perlite 2/1 mix and then straight perlite at the bottom 1" with perlite tails. I did it to try and help drainage, when I tested the coco/perlite filled tails they just didn't flow at all. It didn't interfere with the pwt, but the coco still compressed in some tubs after about a month of root growth, and then they didn't drain right, causing root problems and in one plant it killed most the leaves and stalled it out completely. In these tubs the water would just sit in the bottom couple inches. The first couple weeks they just exploded, I had roots growing out of the top of the coco. The ones that weren't affected were insane. I'm switching to turface this round.