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Snype's RDWC Construction Tutorial For 250 Watts - 7,600 Watts!

Snype

Active member
Veteran
I used 3/4 inch pvc to connect my buckets together ,will this be enough of a passage way for undercurrent use??

Maybe on 4 buckets with smaller plants but it's just a matter of time before you have problems. Personally I wouldn't go less than 1.5" and I wish I could fit 2" on my buckets.
 
was trying to figure out how much per gallon

was trying to figure out how much per gallon

Been reading and im building a six spot was trying to figure out how much per gallon you ran for the rdwc and can't seen to get anything to grow with the gh in a food table not sure why any tips gonna try the gh in rdwc like you did all help is greatly greatly appreciated
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
Been reading and im building a six spot was trying to figure out how much per gallon you ran for the rdwc and can't seen to get anything to grow with the gh in a food table not sure why any tips gonna try the gh in rdwc like you did all help is greatly greatly appreciated

I think you are talking about a flood table? I think you are looking for a nutrient formula but I really don't know cause your writing is a little confusing. My basic feeding formula per Gallon for most fat leaf plants is:

For VEG:
4 mL GH Micro
6 mL GH Bloom

For Flower:
6 mL GH Micro
9 mL GH Bloom
0.5 Grams of Kool Bloom Powder (at day 12)

All this is pH'd to 5.8

I always stay in a range of 5.8 - 6.2 for hydroton

Rockwool is more tricky because the medium itself can be higher than what you are feeding it. Depending on how big your rockwool is, you may have to lower your pH below 5.8 to keep the medium itself in the same range above like hydroton (5.8 - 6.2)

In RDWC, you don't want your medium to sit in the solution so it is best to hand water until the roots go into the solution themselves. This is why I have a VEG-A process for 9 days before they go into the RDWC. You can read my RDWC thread for information on that.

If you have any questions for me, please ask away. Try to be as clear as you can. Maybe english isn't your primary language.
 
sorry about the first post i was doing it from my phone. I am from michigan tho lol. what im trying to do is veg in the table the move to the rdwc but from some reason i have slow growth in the table and i am even trying to veg a few in dwc and they are growing slow also. the ones i have in the rdwc now dont seem to be growing all that great and i was basically wanting to try to use your doses to see if they worked for me because mine arent working. i use the grow and i see that you dont use that at all. i was trying to put a picture up but not quite sure how to do in this thing here but i have had the same problem the last two grows in the rdwc and they just dont flourish. are those the numbers you use through out the whole flowering stage? would like to have one good grow seems to be frustrating me. this is the first time with the gh and not sure where to start. i veg up t5s and flower under 4 1000s. my plants just are doing much
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
sorry about the first post i was doing it from my phone. I am from michigan tho lol. what im trying to do is veg in the table the move to the rdwc but from some reason i have slow growth in the table and i am even trying to veg a few in dwc and they are growing slow also. the ones i have in the rdwc now dont seem to be growing all that great and i was basically wanting to try to use your doses to see if they worked for me because mine arent working. i use the grow and i see that you dont use that at all. i was trying to put a picture up but not quite sure how to do in this thing here but i have had the same problem the last two grows in the rdwc and they just dont flourish. are those the numbers you use through out the whole flowering stage? would like to have one good grow seems to be frustrating me. this is the first time with the gh and not sure where to start. i veg up t5s and flower under 4 1000s. my plants just are doing much
Questions:
1. What strain are you growing?

2. What medium and method did you use to root your cuttings? (If you used a medium, what size medium did you use?

3. Your VEG plants on the table, are the pots hanging in the air, or do the pots sit on the tray?

4. For your VEG stage, how often are you flooding the tray and for how long are you flooding each time? (Be as specific as possible)

5. Are you 100% sure your pH meter is working properly?

6. How many days did it take for your cuttings to root?

7. How do your roots look? (white, brown, slime?)

8. What size light are you using in VEG and how many plants are under that light?

9. What exact formula are you using for your nutrients? Please state how much per gallon of every product you are using for VEG.

10. What size pots are you using for VEG?

11. What medium are you using in VEG? (be specific as to the size of any cubes you are using)

12. What is the humidity in your VEG space?
 
Last edited:

Stonefree69

Veg & Flower Station keeper
Veteran
Maybe on 4 buckets with smaller plants but it's just a matter of time before you have problems. Personally I wouldn't go less than 1.5" and I wish I could fit 2" on my buckets.
I'm eventually going to go with 3" in my flower room with Igloo coolers. UC eventually went to 3" pipe for a reason, some even use 4". The 12.5 & 17.5 gallon coolers are only about $60 each online. Igloo Maxcold coolers "Holds ice up to 5 days in 90 deg. heat" so they insulate well. They most likey use polyurethane. Vacuum insulation the best (like a thermos) but I think panels are expensive. And neoprene/Reflectix insulation on piping. I'll keep the 5 gallon size with 1.5 inch pipe for vegging up to 9 weeks. Might even swap those out for Igloo coolers too later on.
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
I'm eventually going to go with 3" in my flower room with Igloo coolers. UC eventually went to 3" pipe for a reason, some even use 4". The 12.5 & 17.5 gallon coolers are only about $60 each online. Igloo Maxcold coolers "Holds ice up to 5 days in 90 deg. heat" so they insulate well. They most likey use polyurethane. Vacuum insulation the best (like a thermos) but I think panels are expensive. And neoprene/Reflectix insulation on piping. I'll keep the 5 gallon size with 1.5 inch pipe for vegging up to 9 weeks. Might even swap those out for Igloo coolers too later on.

I completely agree if you are trying for half pound plants and up. The systems in the tutorial is for less than 8 oz plants. Please show us your design when you get it going. I've also been experimenting with larger pipes and much bigger plants.
 
Strains are pure power plant,superglue and zombia rasta
Home made ez cloner
8" net pots on tray with clay balls
Now I started out every 6hrs
The meter is cal weekly
Clones take 10-14 for good roots
Roots are white
Veg lights are T5 6 bulb
GH flora 8/8/8 4x4 table with 40 gal Rez
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
Strains are pure power plant,superglue and zombia rasta
Home made ez cloner
8" net pots on tray with clay balls
Now I started out every 6hrs
The meter is cal weekly
Clones take 10-14 for good roots
Roots are white
Veg lights are T5 6 bulb
GH flora 8/8/8 4x4 table with 40 gal Rez

That's a lot of nutrients for little clones. I only use 4 mL Micro and 6 mL Bloom. I use less than half of the nutrients that you use. That could be 1 of your problems. I also find that hanging pots are better for root development than pots sitting on trays. Plants sitting in solution on a tray for too long can hinder root growth. You say now you flood every 6 hours but you don't state how you were flooding when you had problems. You are going to have to keep data of all of your variables and find what works best for you. You're pots are much bigger than mine and I flood my 5" pots every 6 hours for the first 4 days. Maybe with your size pot I would be flooding every 8 hours but I don't use your pot size. It all comes done to running tests until you figure out what works best. If you were using my methods, you wouldn't have to figure anything out.
 
just to make sure i got this

(flood table) veg 4/6
(rdwc) bloom 6/9 .5 gram powdered kool bloom at day 12

does it remain 6/9 throughout all of flower and you keep adding the kool bloom after day 12? sorry for so many questions just tired of things going wrong no matter what i try

thanks
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
just to make sure i got this

(flood table) veg 4/6
(rdwc) bloom 6/9 .5 gram powdered kool bloom at day 12

does it remain 6/9 throughout all of flower and you keep adding the kool bloom after day 12? sorry for so many questions just tired of things going wrong no matter what i try

thanks

That's my basic formula. All plants are different though and so are your conditions compared to mine. If you look at my RDWC Guide (Part 1), you will see all my data and what I add. As long as your PPM's are going down from day to day is what you are looking for, then you can add back nutes to the REZ. You want to see your plants eating when you look at your meter after topping off your REZ.
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
i noticed in that you used liquid kool bloom and now your using the powdered is there no difference in the two

thanks lee

This subject is a little complicated for me to answer right now because I'm still testing with the 2 Kool Blooms in RDWC. Whatever formula that I used at that time in the data (RDWC Part 1), is the one that I can be comfortable giving out for now. There is a difference in the two of them.

What I can say is that in soil, I don't use the liquid anymore and only use the powder. If that ends up happening in RDWC, I will let you know in my part 2 tutorial.
 

bluntthirty

New member
Hey Snype,
I have a question that I don't believe has been asked or answered here;
What is the approximate footprint of your systems, specifically the six-site and 12-site versions? Would there be anything problems you can think of in building an eight-site version?
This is because I think the space I have in mind may not be long enough for the 12-site, but the six-site would result in wasted space and lost potential. I am trying to plan an efficient setup for a space that I will have available to me in the near future. I suspect that an eight-site version would be the correct length for my available space.

I also want to thank you for your contributions to the community through your extremely detailed data logging and tutorials. I feel I have gained a lot by reading your threads and what you have to say, so :thank you:


B30
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
Hey Snype,
I have a question that I don't believe has been asked or answered here;
What is the approximate footprint of your systems, specifically the six-site and 12-site versions? Would there be anything problems you can think of in building an eight-site version?
This is because I think the space I have in mind may not be long enough for the 12-site, but the six-site would result in wasted space and lost potential. I am trying to plan an efficient setup for a space that I will have available to me in the near future. I suspect that an eight-site version would be the correct length for my available space.

I also want to thank you for your contributions to the community through your extremely detailed data logging and tutorials. I feel I have gained a lot by reading your threads and what you have to say, so :thank you:


B30

The footprint of the 12 site system is slightly less than 9 feet x 33 inches which includes the controller/epicenter. Without the controller it is less than 8 feet in length.

The 6 site system is roughly 5 feet x 33 inches which includes the controller/epicenter.

There is no problem at all building an 8 bucket version and if you did, I would probably use a Danner Model 5 Inline Pump.

I'm glad that you have learned a lot from my threads. I believe that I have many more educational threads that will possibly be more detailed in the future. Stay tuned...
 

Stonefree69

Veg & Flower Station keeper
Veteran
The footprint of the 12 site system is slightly less than 9 feet x 33 inches which includes the controller/epicenter. Without the controller it is less than 8 feet in length.

The 6 site system is roughly 5 feet x 33 inches which includes the controller/epicenter.
That's the Goldilocks zone for me too. :tiphat::ying:
 

Apollo11

Member
Hi Snype,

I was reading over your thread and there are a few things im foggy about.

1. When and why would I want to use the red shut off valves?

2. The blue lines I drew, is this how the water flows in the system?

3. I see you only use coated tomato cages, is this because the other ones rust?

4. Do you use air stones?

5. With the air pump and the waterfall in the epicenter bucket, would you say this system is loud?

6. How many sites would you recommend for a 600w?

7. How long do you think the plants could survive if a power outage were to occur?

Great thread you have, very detailed and informative!

2edzasi.jpg


25s4s2o.jpg
 

Snype

Active member
Veteran
Hi Snype,

I was reading over your thread and there are a few things im foggy about.

1. When and why would I want to use the red shut off valves?

2. The blue lines I drew, is this how the water flows in the system?

3. I see you only use coated tomato cages, is this because the other ones rust?

4. Do you use air stones?

5. With the air pump and the waterfall in the epicenter bucket, would you say this system is loud?

6. How many sites would you recommend for a 600w?

7. How long do you think the plants could survive if a power outage were to occur?

Great thread you have, very detailed and informative!

View Image

View Image

1. If the pump brakes, you need to clean the Y-Filter and things of this nature.

2. Yes, that is how the water flows in the system.

3. No, it is because I am a very colorful guy and love lots of colors. Use whatever cages work for you.

4. I use an air stone in each bucket except the controller. Somewhere in this thread it says that.

5. It depends what you consider as loud. I don't think it is loud but certain people who I set up think it's loud.

6. For a 600 Watt, I would either use 4 or 6 buckets depending how big you want to grow the plants.

7. Just like fish, all plants are different. Some plants can survive in low dissolved oxygen environments and some plants can't. I really can't speak for how long your plants would last with no power. If you are worried about losing power, get a car battery and an inverter at home depot and you can make a back up power if your power goes out to at least just run the pumps.
 

Apollo11

Member
1. If the pump brakes, you need to clean the Y-Filter and things of this nature.

2. Yes, that is how the water flows in the system.

3. No, it is because I am a very colorful guy and love lots of colors. Use whatever cages work for you.

4. I use an air stone in each bucket except the controller. Somewhere in this thread it says that.

5. It depends what you consider as loud. I don't think it is loud but certain people who I set up think it's loud.

6. For a 600 Watt, I would either use 4 or 6 buckets depending how big you want to grow the plants.

7. Just like fish, all plants are different. Some plants can survive in low dissolved oxygen environments and some plants can't. I really can't speak for how long your plants would last with no power. If you are worried about losing power, get a car battery and an inverter at home depot and you can make a back up power if your power goes out to at least just run the pumps.

Thanks for the quick reply.

4. I used the thread search and couldnt anything with the term "air stone". What type do you use?

8. I notice your system doesnt have a chiller, have you had issues with dissolved oxygen from the pump heating up the water?
 
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