Sizing buckets for RDWC

[coldcanna]

So I have a couple DWC buckets going along side my soil as an experiment and I'm sold on growing hydroponically in the future. I will be building a 6 bucket RDWC system and will be growing trees vertically, long veg and big plants. Plants will sit in hydroton in 6" net pots. My question is how large should my buckets be for each site, right now I have them vegged 2 months in 5 gallon buckets and its getting pretty tight. Are there 10 gallon buckets out there, or should I upgrade to huge ass rubbermaid totes? The rule in soil is the bigger the pot the bigger the plant, I know hydro is different but I'm wondering what the sweet spot is

 

[stoney917]

Dude best advice is just go with the 27gal black totes with the yellow top from home depot .... 2 month veg = 1lb + plants with little maitnence and some practice.... Also use the larger net pots def make a huge difference ....I hit 17 oz with a 5gal but upkeep was huge pita switched to 27gal filled with bout 20gal and upkeep was almost nuthin.. Really there ain't no sweet spot for buckets it all depends on light and how much time or how many times a day u wanna spend.... Rdwc has its benefits as u got ur Rez but when the plants are drinking 4-6 gal a day when the full the larger the better IMO ... How many lights ya got ? 6 under one light go with 5gal and a larger Rez .... Now if u doin 1 or 2 under a light larger is better ...

 

[coldcanna]

Lighting I'll prob go 3x600 with some type of vertical setup so that ends up at about 300 watts per plant, I have a couple 2k ballasts on the shelf but thats just soo much wattage with so little flexibility. Were you just doing 27 gallon individual DWC buckets? 17 off one plant is quite impressive, what was your setup like on that?

 

[Deftoner]

I had plenty of room in my 3.5 black buckets.

 

[overbudjet]

This is what i use 15gal.

 

[ydijadoit]

What Stoney said... Larger capacity is your friend in DWC, unless you like messing with it, and topping up twice a day. I have run the 27 gal totes for 3 years now. Love 'em!
It sucks that Home Depot and Lowes carry a different brand now, slightly different dimensions, same look.
The old ones I have look like the were engineered by a stoner. The new ones will work fine, though, and are the strongest walled totes I have found.
I use 10" bucket lid netpots, modded slightly to accept a waterfarm kit, so I have top drip, RDWC, I guess you'd call it.
Mine recirculates using homemade airlift pumps, from the res to the first tote.
If you are patient, and like to mess with building things, they can be fabbed from 1/2 pvc pipe, and one 90degree elbow.
I like the airlifters for 3 reasons. No heat from a pump, no clogging, and no risk of a flood from a clogged return somewhere.
You won't get Undercurrent system flowrates, but two of those homemade lifters recirc my 30 gal system in about 2 hours +/-.
Highly recommend using 1/4" soaker hose tubing from Lowes, or Home Depot for airstones. I have yet to clog one, they can be cut and configured to your needs, and a 100' roll is like $6.95, or something. Sink them to the bottom with stainless nuts or bolts, zip tied on.
Insulate! Fiberglass works, so does foam board. Good aluminum HVAC tape will make it go together and stick. I wrap Reflectix bubble wrap around the outside, as well.
Foam pipe sleeve goes over the tubes connecting the totes.
Keeps water temp under 70, most of the time, in a 80 degree room, under 2400w. If I see 70, I drop in a frozen Gatorade bottle, and I'm back at 68.
Check my album for a couple shots of an honest 1 lb plant in one of these totes. (Dinafem Critical Jack). I screwed up and had a ton of popcorn trimming to do, but it weighed in the end.
Haven't made 17 zips from one yet, but maybe someday!
Regards

 

[stoney917]

Well ya ain't gonna get lbers with 600s they will work fine but I would def go with more smaller plants not tryin grow Monsters... Or what I would do is fire up the 2 k and grow 4 ....
Funny bt the 17oz was a single 5 go bucket under 1k needed to be refilled 2-3 times a day 10/11 wk veg chemDxsfv rezdog 11wk flower best ingot ever was 22 out of single 27gal hella less work... I know a few ppl hittin damn close to 2 per bucket they ain't hit it yet but in time I'm sure they will... Check out uc systems they rock to f u got them dials.... For ur wattage a couple of 27gals separate is def the best route....wish I was still growin tres just ain't got the veg time to spare... Good luck brotha

 

[coldcanna]

Hey everybody thanks for the input, looks like 27 gallons is gonna be the ticket. I don't see much of a difference from UC to RDWC beside the location of the feed tube, at the end of the day its about cycling out that water as many times as possibly and keeping your dissolved oxygen up, I'll build something custom for this so that's not a big of a deal.

Stoney- Plant count is so I can stay compliant with the medical rules around here so 6 plants in flower is what its gotta be. I have the equipment to do a bunch of things with lights but I figured that 3x600 would cover more area than 2x1k, maybe I'm mistaken?

 

[DHF]

Hey everybody thanks for the input, looks like 27 gallons is gonna be the ticket. I don't see much of a difference from UC to RDWC beside the location of the feed tube, at the end of the day its about cycling out that water as many times as possibly and keeping your dissolved oxygen up, I'll build something custom for this so that's not a big of a deal.

Stoney- Plant count is so I can stay compliant with the medical rules around here so 6 plants in flower is what its gotta be. I have the equipment to do a bunch of things with lights but I figured that 3x600 would cover more area than 2x1k, maybe I'm mistaken?

As long as you maintain 50 watts per sq ft in a 6 x 6 area with 1800 watts and everything that`s not green including ceilings covered in reflectix/orca/prodex , all things are possible with bare bulbs hangin......

I grew 2 1/2 lb plants in 5 gal buckets for a decade with Krusty buckets and 3400 watts usin 600`s in the corners and 1 KW MH bulbs in the middle of 4 plant 5 light setups......

Big plants are mostly strain dependent with the proper 50/50 sat/ind hybrid that`ll stretch UP as well as out to cover said sideways canopy.....

Posted in your tall plant thread in vert-ville CC......Good luck and....Consider PPK`s for little to no maintenance as well as no chiller for rootzone temp issues....Very few bells and whistles with major sized plants bein pumped out .......

HL 45`s setup comes to mind .....

Peace.....DHF..........

 

[coldcanna]

Good lookin out DHF, I can tell that the PPKs are the next big thing but to this day I haven't been able to wrap my mind around it. People on this website are great I've been posting a ton lately as I will be building my long awaited permanent grow room over the course of the next couple weeks. Also about to flip my current crop so I have about 2 months to construct my hydro system that will hopefully be my method for the future. This freaking website is so addictive.... Every night after work I sit down with the pen and pad and say "tonight I'm gonna sketch out my new setup and space", then I read through The Mag and discover something brand new