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RDWC Getting High With A Little Help From My Friends

Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
Time to switch it up from top feeding coco drip to RDWC.

It is a 5'x9' tent with 3 315 CMH lights and the plan is to put 8 eight gallon buckets in there. Having never done this before the plan is to put it out there and trying to avoid any big mistakes.

All the parts have arrived. The buckets will be connected with 2" pvc and slip bulkheads. The 'epicenter' will be in the middle of the front of the tent with 2" ball valves on each side so that changing out nutrients can be done one side at a time. The thin black line is the pump line and a detour will probably be added so it goes outside the tent to a chiller. A side note, 3 of the buckets came with holes cut on each side. Those three will be the 'epicenter' and the next two.

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E

eebbnflow

Member
Is this an undercurrent system ? I remember when I really wanted one then I found Coco

. Just curious what size chiller are you using ?

And is it hard using a cmh in a tent , I almost bought but didn’t buy one cause I only have 8ft in height . Really interested .
Both my questions are from curiosity. I just sold my chillers )
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
It is a variant of undercurrent. Three of the buckets, all the lids and net pots are UC. The rest is same quality but cheaper price parts. UC stuff is really expensive. The chiller will be a 1/10 or 1/4hp. Haven't decided yet. Leaning towards the smaller one.

I've been very happy with the CMH.
 
E

eebbnflow

Member
I might try one of the CMH out soon , I am still oldskool HPS .

Yea the UC are really really expensive . So are chillers for AC . Both are overpriced IMO

For the chiller I would lean towards the larger one . I under sized a chiller before as AC , I ended up buying an additional 1/2 hp unit to make up for it .
I use a 1/10hp to keep 2x90L side by side nutrient bins cool . each bin has a steel coil it works well but that’s all I can cool . They are outside the room in the dark as well .
Once you add a bit of a heat load the 1/10 will not keep up for you .
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
You gonna submerge the pump/s in the res or go inline with filters? I like the design, looks good.


I'm finally getting back around to working on my system, about to order a couple 2 inch Valterra gate valve\union combos, and 2" banjo 80 mesh y-strainers. They finally came back in stock, been waiting a month!

Welcome to the deep side :)
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
HI DTS, Thanks for the welcome. The pump will be in a filter bag and pump to a tee taking nutes to the end buckets. 3/4" insulated pump line, 350 pump. Had to revise the design to make it fit in 5x9. Those 2 inch Valterra gate valves are nice. I have them in our hot tub and might use that idea if you don't mind. The pump line will have valves and a banjo cam lock disconnect that can connect to the dump line for nute changes.


 
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Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
^ The way you are pulling back to the res, you could tie off another filter bag right around the inside bulk head. Like a vacuum bag it would suck everything right in.

Makes me wanna rethink my design for the 10th time before I blow 65+ bucks on 2 banjos.. Use my control reserviors as the filter bag housing too and pump back to the end of the totes, instead of pull from the totes through filter and pump back to res.. hmm


I was just looking at backwater valves\access sleeves too. they could make a nice water tight yet accessible housing to slip a mesh "filter sock tube" down in..


Ya those valterras look so nice. Easy on the hand im sure, 2 inch ball valves are a pain. Plus its really compact especially with a built in union. I can't find the 2" with the right union for the right price so i'm ordering the 2 inch unibody version instead with a spigot & slip so I can slip my own union right on the spigot end.. for 13.50 you can't go wrong!

There are some nice spa fittings out there that's for sure..
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
The slip gate valves are 13 bucks on amazon. I have bulkheads with slide in (slip) cage strainers that will be placed on the outflow side of each bucket. The ball valves are a PITA @ 2". They are very difficult to twist and could cause leaks with the torquing motion. The unions are something I may do later, but for now, it's one more place to have a leak. Something else to think about is some food grade silicone to put on the bulkhead seals. It preserves the seals and gives a better seal when installed.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
You thought about leaving the control bucket outside? Oh ya how is the AC mod working out? Maybe you could add a second heat exchanger.. hanging up next to it, to chill the nutrients, without buying a chiller..
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
AC works perfect. The 1/4hp chiller sits just outside. There are still some plants to finish up, So it will start with 4 RDWC buckets. There will be gate valves and unions to add the other 4 when the potted plants finish up.










.
 
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Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
Winning? My bulkhead o-rings showed up finally, looks like I need 3/16" thick ones, not the 25 pack of thin 1/16" ones that I accidently ordered. They are so thin they fit inside the threads and not the lip on my conduit fittings lol. Have to wait another week now, unless I can find more rubber washer's ;(

I am super happy with the gate valves and filters that came though!
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
I was thinking the same thing. It looked good on paper, but when it is dry fit together it doesn't optimize the sweet spots where the best light is. Too far apart. Plants are in there finishing up. Plenty of time to work it out.
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
paradoxlost said:
What is the initial EC and the EC of that system by the time the water gets to the last plant?
Click to expand...

I am just finishing the last plants to be grown in coco. Half will be done in 2-3 weeks. Other half 4-5 weeks. The RDWC will be installed at the time. The initial ppm will be around 800ppm and dialed in from there with adjustments on nute mix and ph.
 
Zeez

Zeez

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ICMag Donor
Four out of eight buckets installed with gate valves and unions to connect the other four. Leak checking is next. The four remaining plants are five weeks into bloom and too good to cull for the full install. OGKB 2, Girl Scout Cookies, Scout Breath and a good White Widow.



 
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