you said you use straight tap water? doesn't the chlorine in the tap water kill some of the bacteria that you are trying to keep, I know it does in my fish tank, what about using some fish tank water to start the bacteria,kind of like yeast in bread. or is it the wrong kind?

[BigToke]

Hillbilly – how’s it going dude, let’s brake the ice and get right down to it and get the hands dirty:

doesn't the chlorine in the tap water kill some of the bacteria that you are trying to keep, I know it does in my fish tank, what about using some fish tank water to start the bacteria

the answer to your question is yes & no

let me explain: after filling your Bio-System up with fresh tap-water the chlorine is a bit to high for the Beneficial Bacterium to forum, that is the reason that I encourage people to let the Bio-System set and run 24/7 for two weeks before putting there plants in the system, (depending upon the size of your Bio-System and the amount of fresh air you have circulating in the grow/room,) after the Beneficial Bacterium has colonized throughout the Bio-System what little tap-water with chlorine gets into the system will not effect the Beneficial Bacterium, because that it has already established a foot hold throughout the Bio-System and is deeply colonized in the pores of the lava rock: I have personally overseen Bio-Grows in other grow-ops than mine, I have witnessed as they have done parcel Bio-System flushes plus a complete full flush of the Bio-System (Noobe’s!!! they panic to easy!!) the systems would have failed if it were not for the safe guards that I implemented (8” net-pots) within just 24 hours of refilling the Bio-System back up with fresh tap-water the Beneficial Bacterium were able to overcome the chlorine refill because of the deep colonization within the 8” net-pots and wile that I have NEVER lost a crop or failed to produce great yields, I do believe that it is due to the fact that these singled-cell microorganisms; having a well designed Bio-Bucket System to fall back on helps play a roll in there speedy recover, if the system is designed right, it well provide plenty of oxygen in such a raped pace that the Beneficial Bacterium will be able to overcome most any root-rot dieses. Btw if you are wondering how to tell when your Bio-System has sufficient enough Beneficial Bacterium established or colonized, simply put your fingers into the water to test: by dipping your fingers in the water and rubbing them together, if they fill slick or slimy, you are ready, and if not you are not ready, don’t expect a great deal of slickness just a little will do.
photo:


Now let’s discuss the good and the bad of using plane old tap-water, after that the system has now been established and the Beneficial Bacterium has a foot-hold in the system, let’s look at what happens when a little amount of chlorine-tap-water is added on a daily basis, first the chlorine is going to assist the BB in fitting off the bad fungi (algae) and here’s how it does that, first we need to understand that chlorine manly attacks the multi-cell bacteria such as algae, the Beneficial Bacterium that we are harboring and colonizing is a single-cell bacteria that not only lives in the pores of the lava rock but because of there microscopic size can even penetrate the fibrous roots themselves, thereby the chlorine that is introduced into the Bio-System will attack the multi-celled bacteria first and thereby using up what little chlorine is introduced to the system. Now on the other hand if you use something like H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) in the Bio-System you will be successful in killing all bacteria in the system, hydrogen peroxide will penetrate the lava rocks and the fibrous roots and kill even the roots also!!

I use nothing to jump start my Bio-Buckets, simply fill them up and turn on the fan’s to circulate fresh air in the grow/room, let set for one to two weeks and your ready to go; no need to get complicated with this thing but if you wont I suppose there are products out there that would do the trick for you but most importantly hillbilly remember were not raising fish were growing huge mj plants!! This changes every thing.
Photo:


Chloramines or Chlorine? Different water companies uses different stuff, let’s discuss:

Chloramines?

OVERVIEW
When chlorine is added to a water supply containing certain organics, the formation of halogenated organics occurs. Called "trihalogenated methanes" (THM's) these reaction products are suspected carcinogens and maximum allowable limits in municipal supplies are imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). To reduce the potential for the formation of THM's, many U.S. municipal supplies are converting their chlorine (Cl2) disinfection method to chloramine addition. Chloramines have a low potential to form THM's.

WHAT ARE THEY?
Chloramines are biocides. Like Cl2 they are oxidants and kill bacteria by penetrating their cell walls and disrupting their metabolism. Chloramines are, however, much slower to "react". They remain as residual ("unused") in water being consumed as they come in contact with bacteria or break down over time as a matter of course. As with chlorine, municipalities aim for I to 2 mg/l (ppm) chloramine residual in the potable water supply.

THEIR CHEMISTRY
Chloramines are typically generated on-site by the addition of ammonia (NH3) to water containing free C12 (HOCl or OCl depending upon the pH of the water). The optimum reaction pH is on the alkaline side, pH 8.4 (i.e., NH3 (aq) + HOCI NH2Cl + H2O) Three forms of chloramine can result as well as undesirable but unavoidable interference reactions.
Organic chloramines cannot be distinguished from the other forms of chloramines with standard methods of chloramine analysis.
Chloramines are not highly disassociated (in other words only minimally ionic). That fact and their low molecular weight make them difficult to remove via RO. The monochloramine form is the best biocide, and as is noted, is the dominant specie at pH 7 and greater. Since slightly alkaline waters are less corrosive, municipalities in many cases maintain the monochloramine form and reduce corrosion potential at the same time. Note that at these alkaline pH's, chlorine exists as the hypochlorite ion (OCl) which has a higher oxidative potential than hypochlorous acid (HOCl), but is 80 to 100 times less effective as a disinfectant.
In Conclusion: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), loves this stuff and they say it’s more safer for the environment, which mines it’s not as strong as chlorine, which is better for you, so to answer you question: Yes I thank you will be ok with your treated water.

Btw my water plant treats there water with chlorine, and that’s what my float valve it connected to, just plan old tap-water, and they do just fine.

Ps…….if you must have further proof of people using plain old tap-water look no further than my grow……..I have not begin to touch the surface of the benefits of using tap-water in the Bio-Buckets and on the other hand to use tap-water in any other system I may not recommend.

[pistillwhipped]

Big Toke.......You oughta be a teacher!

[sunnyside]

Hey Pistill....he is a teacher! I just hope he doesnt get mad at us for talkin in class. lol

[BigToke]

pistillwhipped – Thanks for the kind words.

Sunnyside – LOL!!!

For those of you how might still be reading this thread I have just made a very important up-date in the Reservoir Section.

[Roaddog]

BigToke!
I'm Roaddog. Nice to meet you!
This is great work you are doing.
I am currently about to harvest my first soil grow in 25 years and it has been fantastic. I am learning SO much from you, and others like you.

Thank You!

I am about to start my 1st ever hydro grow in 2 waterfarms I purchased,
and I know that if I get the principles down pat it will be great!

I can already tell that Bio-Buckets and your system are in my future
and i look foward to posting back and forth with you.

I will probably do 2 12 bucket systems in a basement.
Or maybe 2- 4 bucket to get the first grow under my belt, and then expand.

Good Karma to you all.

This website is awsome!!!

[BigToke]

How’s it going Roaddog good to meet you, glad you like the Bio-Buckets it is a fantastic hydro system to grow in, the Bio-Buckets is the first hydro system that I have every built or grown in, only one piece of advice for ya, build as many as you have room to hold because you will be amazed!! The Bio-System is so of low maintenance that you will only need to spend 5 to 10 minuets every other day and that’s only to raise your lights from the rapped growth, and bump-up your nutrients. When the time come give me a buzz and I’ll see if I can’t help ya, until then good luck with your grow and stay safe.

[So Quick]

Bio Buckets sounds so good together...sorta rolls off your tongue...BiO b-u-c-k-e-t....your doin an excellent job here Big!! *gives big a football smack on the ass*

SQ

[Ron Gotti]

hey bigtoke, how is everything goin fella? I have been reading everything on every forum for the past six months trying to figure out what system i'm goin to start with and I have to say that you make a good case for the bio bucket. I have a couple questions for you and hopefully you can help me out. I plan on growing in the low plant numbers so originally kbs growing was what i was looking at, but i have decided to mix and match some of the things that i think would work for me and this is what i came up with. I will be doing a bio bucket grow with vertical hanging lights and high wattage, the way i figure it, i should be able to pull a yield on par with a kbs system per tree with a lot less maintenence which is something that is important to me. Am i wrong in assuming this? I know you don't like to discuss yield but i recall you only using somewhere in the range of 3-4000 watts. I will be using a 6 bucket setup with 5000 watts, configured somewhat like the way that hurtback had his original design setup but with a little more spacing. I have 12 foot ceilings so the area has plenty of room, the room will be supplied with ac to keep the temps down, i vented the central ac directly into the room. I know there are some loose ends that still need to be tied up but this is my basic plan. And as you know, you are the foremost authority on this type of setup so i figured i would run it by ya to see what you thought and any and all advice would be appreciated. I look forward to seeing your reply as i'm going to be getting up and running within the month. One of my main goals is to be able to pull atleast 1lb off of each plant, I await your wisdom, peace.

[BigToke]

SQ -- you are to @!%&* funny dude lol, there are lot’s of good thing’s that I have in store for the Bio-Buckets in this new year.

Ron Gotti -- It looks like this is your first post here at IC so I think a welcome is in order, now that that’s out of the way, it sounds as thou you have been doing your home work, but I am a little confused what exactly your after so maybe you could brake it down a little more for me, and btw the KBS and the Bio-Buckets do not operate in the same manner, you did not machine any thing about the Beneficial Bacterium do you plain on utilizing there benefit to the system? But as far as getting 1lb per plant that’s pretty ambitious if you ask me, but I guess that would depend on the growers ability’s and skills as a grower, you know what mine. If your looking for a system that you can push to the max with the leased amount of maintenance the Bio-Buckets are for you, if designed right the BB system will perform above and beyond what you could imagine.

Ps…….if you would still like my help, brake it down for me.