plumpm0nkey
Member
so the drainage keeping up with the feed is the problem
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Blazeoneup's Recirculating Dwc Construction Tutorial!
- Thread starter blazeoneup
- Start date
plumpm0nkey
Member
alright, i will go back to the original plans, I wana do it right and not take shortcuts, Thank you! 
Pretty much plumpmonkey. What will happen is the front bucket will be basically recieving 3 feeds, Because everything pumped into bucket 2-3 have to flow back through bucket 1 before making it to the controller this will cause the problem. Yeah man that shortcut is one that could be the difference in a problem free run and a run full of problems.
MID TOWN
Active member
"In your situation I would connect to the feedline just as you described, Run line from pump in controller to the chiller and then from the chiller on to the buckets. CONTROLLER---CHILLER----BUCKETS."
The problem with that is your usin a 750-900gph pump for the chiller and that's gonna cause leaks and/or too much flow to keep up with the drains.
The problem with that is your usin a 750-900gph pump for the chiller and that's gonna cause leaks and/or too much flow to keep up with the drains.
kovenant
Member
Blaze -> thanks for the advice mate. still have a few questions (sorry!) i have two problems with this solution.
1) i've used rockwool for this go-around... so i guess im just 'stuck' to doing it with the rockwool and things will be "slowed down" and probably wont get the best yield/return from this grow. i can deal with that, as long as it WILL work. if not, what can i do with these guys... i obviously cant seperate them from the rockwool - the roots are grown all through it and back again.
2) for future grows... i have a 2x4' tray that fits exactly into the closet for the veg room. 2x4' holds about 15-20 clones in rockwool just fine with a bit of room to grow. if i had them in 6" nets i dont think they would fit in the tray! not to mention my DWC bucket setup is using 8" netpot bucket lids because i could not get 6". are you suggesting (and/or would it work) to use 6" (or even 4") netpots (without the bucket lid... just net pots) with hydroton and then when its time to put into the buckets... but the smaller net pot into the 8" pot on the bucket? or is it possible to remove the vegged clones from teh 4-6" net pots without destroying the roots (im thinking the roots would mostly be wrapped up in hydroton while sitting in the e&b tray... and not shooting out of the net pots - since they dont shoot out of the rockwool into the heat/light either.)
sorry, if that is unclear. let me know what you think or if im not explaining it well.
thanks again!
Yes I know from experience you can easily remove the plants from the 4-6" net cups pulling most if not all the hydroton rocks with the plant. I done this several times in the past worked great. For now I suggest just putting 2-3" of hydroton in the net cup then set your rockwool cubes on top the hydroton and fill around/over the cube with the rest of the hydroton. That will work fine in itself and you could always do it like that but I just stay away from rockwool.
Although this is different in the sense that it is not a Bio-bucket spray drip it works pretty well. It's a modeling of what you have and the Waterfarm MOd that Heath did.
Not meaning to hyjack at all....you system looks very nice. After three attemps I found that for a real circulation that gives my buckets 20 nutrietion changes an hour and anything put in the controller reaches the furthest bucket in line in under 5 seconds, was to make sure my return piping was no less the 5 times the diameter of the feed volume. Remember that water with any preassure build aginst water on a natural flow so you could end up with back flow and buckets topping over(water) Also I have a friend that just about made the same as you did and his drains were always getting plugged with roots.
Here's 2 pics to give an idea.
During Construction
About 10 Days ago
Again I am not meaning to hyjack this thread...if anyone has a comment or question IM me and we can start a thread based on that.
Not meaning to hyjack at all....you system looks very nice. After three attemps I found that for a real circulation that gives my buckets 20 nutrietion changes an hour and anything put in the controller reaches the furthest bucket in line in under 5 seconds, was to make sure my return piping was no less the 5 times the diameter of the feed volume. Remember that water with any preassure build aginst water on a natural flow so you could end up with back flow and buckets topping over(water) Also I have a friend that just about made the same as you did and his drains were always getting plugged with roots.
Here's 2 pics to give an idea.
During Construction
About 10 Days ago
Again I am not meaning to hyjack this thread...if anyone has a comment or question IM me and we can start a thread based on that.
kovenant
Member
good to hear. i was getting worried
let me recap how i should proceed so you can tell me if im on the right track. most of what you said is near to what i was planning out in my head as well - so here is:
going to lay 2-3" of hydroton down in the base of the bucket lid/netpots... set the rockwool on top of it (creating a border of hydroton so the rockwool doesnt get wet and stay soaked by the recirculating water) and then cover the sides and a bit over the top of the rockwool with hydroton. should i have the water bubbling just underneath the netpot when i transplant? water should be bubbling just beneath the rockwool cube so it doesnt absorb water, right? if not, where should i have the water sit?
also, should i top-feed with light manual watering for the first couple/few days to help keep the rockwool (and roots) from totally drying out, and to promote the roots growing and reaching down? or will having the water level at a certain area be fine and allow the roots to grow down?
thnx in advance!
let me recap how i should proceed so you can tell me if im on the right track. most of what you said is near to what i was planning out in my head as well - so here is:
going to lay 2-3" of hydroton down in the base of the bucket lid/netpots... set the rockwool on top of it (creating a border of hydroton so the rockwool doesnt get wet and stay soaked by the recirculating water) and then cover the sides and a bit over the top of the rockwool with hydroton. should i have the water bubbling just underneath the netpot when i transplant? water should be bubbling just beneath the rockwool cube so it doesnt absorb water, right? if not, where should i have the water sit?
also, should i top-feed with light manual watering for the first couple/few days to help keep the rockwool (and roots) from totally drying out, and to promote the roots growing and reaching down? or will having the water level at a certain area be fine and allow the roots to grow down?
thnx in advance!
plumpm0nkey
Member
hey kovenant, im pretty much right with you in my process. i started assembling the buckets with the drain line . ill toss some pics up in a sec of what i got. Actually ill start a thread of the build for anyone interested. Do you have Aim or messenger? so i can chat with you about what your doing and such? thanks! my aim/messenger is plumpm0nkey. or i should just post some more to hit my limit.
kovenant
Member
you have over 50 posts, you should be able to pm - if that's what you were talking about.
i cant IM from work - which is where im mostly online at... but we can definately keep in contact through here. if you start a thread of your grow - give me the link or throw it in your signature. id be interested to follow your grow as well.
i just found out my water chiller wont be here till monday. im pissed. mostly upset with the local hydro company for claiming due dates and sluffing them off. i had to call myself (before driving down there, thank god... not far, but a good 20 mins) to find out it didnt arrive today.
i will be in LA this weekend. i may just pick one up there.
i cant IM from work - which is where im mostly online at... but we can definately keep in contact through here. if you start a thread of your grow - give me the link or throw it in your signature. id be interested to follow your grow as well.
i just found out my water chiller wont be here till monday. im pissed. mostly upset with the local hydro company for claiming due dates and sluffing them off. i had to call myself (before driving down there, thank god... not far, but a good 20 mins) to find out it didnt arrive today.
i will be in LA this weekend. i may just pick one up there.
plumpm0nkey
Member
ok i started a thread
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=63457
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=63457
kovenant
Member
quick question:
for pre-vegging in trays: rooted clones going into 6" net pots with hydroton, sitting in ebb & flow tray.
how often do you water? in rockwool i got away with once a day or every other day... with no rockwool to store moisture and in hydroton instead (which dries so quick) do i need to set a timer to water ever 15 or 30 minutes?
thnx
for pre-vegging in trays: rooted clones going into 6" net pots with hydroton, sitting in ebb & flow tray.
how often do you water? in rockwool i got away with once a day or every other day... with no rockwool to store moisture and in hydroton instead (which dries so quick) do i need to set a timer to water ever 15 or 30 minutes?
thnx
plumpm0nkey
Member
i have my clones in a tray that i keep water in about 1/4 the way up to the RW. i add fresh water in avery other day and nute and root 66 to feed. The root 66 is great to get them ready for the buckets. the roots are really long and thriving in that solution. ive been foliar spraying with my hydro guys neem solution with coconut based agent to help spread the spray on the leaves and not bead up. so i dont have any bug probs. I think i might foilar speed to help the groth aswell.
plumpm0nkey
Member
nah i drain it every week and add fresh water with my nutes & root 66. During the week i add more water that is sucked up.
kovenant
Member
so your tray is plugged and you have water sitting in it for a week - adding water to keep it 1/4 up the side of the rockwool as water evaporates... then drain once a week for a fresh solution? i didnt realize it was okay to have roots sitting in a solution like that, especially non-circulating. if i did that, the temps of my water in the pre-veg tray would probably be like 80F
plumpm0nkey
Member
Yeah , the roots are doin fine, i add them in the buckets today hopefully
Second post for me yay, anyways Blaze tried to download the doc file from the second link posted but it has come up with that its password protected I have pretty much set up my own doc file anyway including some great question and answer through out this thread but I would love a version with full size pictures if at all possible could you re-do it ( if a hassle dont worry) Thanks.
plumpm0nkey
Member
i have the doc file, but he said the password was his handle i think
help, I have been using the advanced nutes according to the nute calculator on their website and ph around 5.5 I am up to week 2. I was having a temp problem with water bering 78 F, but I corrected that problem 7 days ago and now have water temps of 68f. I would get white roots to grow into the solution but they have browned and died. I have new white roots growing and have removed the dead browning roots. What caused the roots to brown and die. I think I may have mixed the nutes too strong.would this cause roots to brown and die? I also thought the high temps up to last week maybe caused all the old roots to die off? but why would they grow white and strong then die a week later. anyone with some insight or advice would be much appreciated. I will go load the volcano and wait for a reply.
