[DeVenT]

Originally Posted by billbob

what sort of 90gal rez you getting? where from?

From Home Depot or Lowes.....90 gal trash can I need a big res cause I went with 17 2 1/2gallon buckets, with 1.25" drain lines from the buckets to a 1.5" main drain line to the controller. I figure on about 45 gallons in the system while it's flooding, 35 or so left in the res, and I'd like to not have to change out the res often. I am planning on adding a float valve to the res after I get it all leveled out so that when it's filling the 2 1/2 buckets, and the res is at it's lowest point, if the water drops below the float, it will just fill with plain water. While the res is full, the float valve will just be up, not letting anything in or out. Should be pretty maintenance free for about a month...execpt to keep an eye on pH occasionally.

[billbob]

Kryptonite - how high do you put the cube? Over the top? Main reason the cube is where it's at: when the water fills and the cube is much higher It does not get wet. Not a problem once the roots develop, but until they are in the clay rock they need wet. My main concern/trouble with this system is the water that is left in the second bucket. To fix this the control bucket is placed a bit lower (and thus it will not flood as high) so it drains more. Also to fix it a hole (air line) was put at the very bottom of the side of the control bucket to allow the 'extra' water to drain back into the res (controll and plants up higher than the res). Please let me know what you or anyone does about that if anything.
thanks for the info

[casey]

built the controller,time to try it out.

Super fantastic thread people!

Can I get your opinion on the 6" net cup bucket lids? Would the roots dry out too much?

I got confused while reading too many variations of buckets and I orderd them intead of the 3.5 gallon buckets to put inside the 5 gallon buckets.

One problem I know will be the amount of water needed to fill the system, But my main concern would be the roots hanging in air????

The advantage would be less rock to deal with.

What do you guys think??

[Budweiser13]

Originally Posted by fredfarts

Super fantastic thread people!

Can I get your opinion on the 6" net cup bucket lids? Would the roots dry out too much?

I got confused while reading too many variations of buckets and I orderd them intead of the 3.5 gallon buckets to put inside the 5 gallon buckets.

One problem I know will be the amount of water needed to fill the system, But my main concern would be the roots hanging in air????

The advantage would be less rock to deal with.

What do you guys think??

I would also like to hear some comments on this as I had the same idea. Instaed of having a bucket ina bucket could you have a bucket with a netpot lid it would also require less hydroton rock.

[Heady NUGs]

The bucket in a bucket idea works great. The plants can easily be pulled from the system for inspection by removing the inner bucket.

A net pot isn't going to provide the root room that a bucket full of hydroton can provide. You could do it with net pots, but there is no reason, it works perfectly as-is.

I did find that if your roots are blocking your drain, you can drill holes up along the sides of the inner bucket/pot. The roots will grow along the sides of the bucket, instead of down near the drain. Using a 3 gallon bucket will help with root clogging problems too.

[EcoNepenthe]

Test run!!! Xcellent. My thanks to kryptonite for this great tutorial and thread. Also to Sgt.Stedenko and packn2puff for their input. The wiring diagram makes it visual, seeing where the wires actually go. Priceless. Packn2puff simplified the process by xplaining the individual functions, which goes a long way in understanding and fixing problems. Great breakdown of the schematics.
My problems:
First problem was receiving the wrong type of relay. DC instead of an AC relay. Had every thing wired. Every time the relays engaged they buzzed. Rechecked wiring…ok. Researched ICMag for any similar problems. Found none. Thought is was me because I had 2 spare relays and they buzzed. Sh*t!!! WTF!!!
While shopping just before Christmas, popped into a radio shack and discovered that the relay comes AC or DC. So I bought a couple AC. By now I am very familiar w/how this relay looks so I got the right one. Plugged in, no buzzing. Kewl!!!
Second problem was the float. They worked opposite of how they were supposed too. Drain only engaged when float was down, as if bucket were empty. Same for the top floats. They only engaged when up. Further research revealed that I needed to reverse the Styrofoam float by removing the plastic c-clip, flipping the Styrofoam, replacing the c-clip. Works perfectly!!!!! Maybe I missed it somewhere in Packn2puff's breakdown. But eventually figured it. So far, test run works like a charm.
Kudos, Kryptonite, a job well done.
Now to setup the buckets. Having a change in thought, instead of the cat litter containers(3.5 –4 gal capacity), going to start out w/2.5 gal containers, leaving room to contain my soil grows. Studying Luca’s threads in prep for this H20 move. Going to use either Foxfarm or Botanicare. Going to be fun and interesting.
Stay safe.
Success w/ya grows.

Eco

Watch em grow!!!

[Kryptonite]

billbob I fill the buckets with leca to the point of where the water rises to, place the RW cube on top and finish filling the buckets. I quit using RW a while ago when I bought an aero cloner. Now I just set the plant in and fill around it.
I also have had a few plants from seed fill the space between the buckets. They were the largest plants in the garden and never suffered from this so I never considered it a problem.
You can also just run a razor blade across the bottom of the first pot trimming off the excess roots. The plants I've done this to in the past as an experiment never skipped a beat.

To fix this the control bucket is placed a bit lower (and thus it will not flood as high) so it drains more. Also to fix it a hole (air line) was put at the very bottom of the side of the control bucket to allow the 'extra' water to drain back into the res (controll and plants up higher than the res). Please let me know what you or anyone does about that if anything.
thanks for the info

Problem fixed!
I keep pieces of 1 X handy. Once the cuts have rooted I place the spacers under each bucket. The only other way I can think of that would solve that problem is to modify the bottom container which unfortunately I don't have the equipment to do.

I don't understand the last part. Never had the problem your describing so I can't really advise on that.

Fredfarts That would be called DWC. If you used that method with ebb and flow I would imagine the roots would suffer damage between floods.

EcoNepenthe: Dank You !
Post #4 gives you the exact part number that Radio Shak uses for those switches.
Post #25 could have solved your float problem.

The system is very forgiving for new users. Don't worry about buying PPM and PH meters and figuring out different fert regimens when first going to ths system.
When I first started using this system I simply used GH 3 part as recommended and changed out the res every 7 to 10 days. I think you will appreciate not having to deal with all the mess of using soil.
Exciting. LOL maybe at first but it actually fairly boring. Fill the res once a week or so and the rest of the time is spent sitting watching plants grow.
But that is why I like this system. Everything else I have going on affords me little time to be playing plant doctor and babying the garden.

All the Best !!!
Stay SAFE Peoples!!

[IdntknowMarlbro]

starting to really love this system
ready to build.

thinking about using bigger rubbermaids for the containers to allow more room for roots. since i decided to go with lava rocks, there cheap.
also going for trees, have only 4 containers per room, 2 flower rooms, 8 total.
thinking a bigger one for a tray and get a slightly smaller one for the lava rocks.

also, found the maxi-jet pumps at petco, and petco is in 49 states.

what about the special timer, can that be found in any store in the states?

prolly going to build my controller next week.

[casey]

so controller size really doesn't matter more like where the switches are placed?