BigTokes ~ "How-To" Of The Bio-Buckets 101

[turbolaser4528]

just read this entire thread GOD DAMN that took a while lol

I'm going to do this setup but as a DWC with 8 inch net pots, an air pump with open lines, and a power head circulating the water. I will also be adding gh subculture-m to help speed up the process and I believe that the airpump will bring in plenty of spores from the air, thus eliminating the need for a res fan Hopefully the plants turn out as good as some of the ones in this thread, although I wish you guys woul dpost more pics of your plants and harvest shots rather than just an empty setup. CMON BUDPORN!!! hahah love you all god bless and happy growing. we are the counter culture and are doings gods work, stay positive WE WILL change the world. in fact we already have..

 

[BudGood]

Turbo, the subculture is totally unnecessary. You and about a million others try to deviate from the plan, yet wonder WHY you fail? Serious, if you want to do this system, build it per instructions. Otherwise, if and when you start having problems, we won't be able to
help, not knowing which deviation is screwing you!

Trust me, the more you deviate, the more problems you're going to have. Just my

 

[Dr. Conjuror]

Hey ~Bud~,

I am glad that you have had success with the Bio-Buckets. I do appreciate the input. I am sure I will have some questions and glad that there are people around that can help when needed. I will start a new thread sometime soon so I do not "hijack" this one.

Yeah I lost my password to my original account as well so I know how you feel.

Dr. Conjuror

 

[BudGood]

No prob, glad to help! I'll keep an eye out for it. Got my water colonizing as we speak...

 

[Seneca]

I am going to try to use the directions to what BigToke has spent so much time laying down here. So it will of course be Oasis or it's a no grow. ;-) I am trying to eliminate variables in the system so I can get all the wonderful help available here. Once I get it tuned in, I will then work on reinventing the wheel.

I thank you again, and hope that you and others will continue to share your experience as you have. It is after all a community thang.

One thing you'll want to spend time planning is layout. When you get that move equipment, PVC lines, PVC drains, valves and pump. The grow area gets crowded quick. Make sure you can walk around the area full, without any acrobatics. In the 2nd 1/2 of flowering things can get a little crazy.

Thats the biggest drawback I found with BBs.

 

[turbolaser4528]

Turbo, the subculture is totally unnecessary. You and about a million others try to deviate from the plan, yet wonder WHY you fail? Serious, if you want to do this system, build it per instructions. Otherwise, if and when you start having problems, we won't be able to
help, not knowing which deviation is screwing you!

Trust me, the more you deviate, the more problems you're going to have. Just my

it may be unnecesary but I dont have time to wait 2 weeks for the water to colonize. I guess I will just start clones in my setup and then by the time they are 2 weeks old the water will be ready.

My question is, will a strong air pump bring enough spores into the res? Rather than using a fan I think this should kill 2 birds with one stone right?

Also, many great advancements have been made by people tweaking other people's creations. To say stick to the one plan is to be close-minded. I understand it will make it easier to identify a problem if there is one, but making the system a little differently shouldn't matter too much imo.


Finally, would a float valve connected to a bucket of water work instead of a cold water line, and just keep refilling it to keep the water level equal?




thanks all and good luck with your bio systems..

 

[BudGood]

My answers to specific items are in bold.

it may be unnecesary but I dont have time to wait 2 weeks for the water to colonize. I guess I will just start clones in my setup and then by the time they are 2 weeks old the water will be ready.

Read one of the earlier posts, I believe by PeteMoss. You can put em in right away, the beneficials will colonize fast. Sometimes, it only takes a few days...Depends on the water exchange rate, and a few other factors. Bottom line, just put em in right away, and blow off the Subculture, it may cause more problems than it's worth, IMHO.

My question is, will a strong air pump bring enough spores into the res? Rather than using a fan I think this should kill 2 birds with one stone right?

I've never used an airpump in a BioBucket system, so I can't answer that definitively, but I know I didn't need anything else than a strong little circular desk fan to blow right onto the waterfall, aerated the hell out of it, and cooled the water to boot.

Also, many great advancements have been made by people tweaking other people's creations. To say stick to the one plan is to be close-minded. I understand it will make it easier to identify a problem if there is one, but making the system a little differently shouldn't matter too much imo.

True, BUT, you're not changing little items. You want to change basic principles of the system. You're going to be running by the seat of your pants, and if problems do arise, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to nail down just what is the problem in your system, savvy? I don't know your level of gardening expertise, I'm assuming you have a bit of experience, but haven't put out loads of crops yet. Basically, it ain't broke, don't try to "fix" it!

Finally, would a float valve connected to a bucket of water work instead of a cold water line, and just keep refilling it to keep the water level equal?


This is one of the modifications I did, for the reason I wanted to use a 50/50 blend of tap water and RO water. It works, I used a 20 gallon trashcan with a 1/4" line to the float valve. Problem is, in the 2nd half of flowering, keeping up on that trashcan becomes a PITA, sometimes I needed to fill it twice a day, these are THIRSTY bitches! (My area is extremely arid, like a desert). For this next run, I'm going to use tap water, with a filter of some sort before the res, I was considering something similar to what restaurants use to filter their water for coffee and such, just an inline filter basically, to remove at least part of the minerals in the water. If I had it to do all over again, wouldn't even bother with the trashcan. Make sure you find a plastic float, regular ones corrode and can affect your nutes. I found a nice one on Ebay for like 15 shipped, from an RO machine supplier. Look at Bionik Kroniks video, it's the same float in the master bucket.

thanks all and good luck with your bio systems..

Same to you. I hope I didn't come off too harshly, but yours is not the first, and definitely not the last, ideas for making the Bio-Buckets "better". Like I said earlier, this system is definitely NOT broke, rather it works friggin' AWESOME; why try to "fix" it?


Seneca, you are quite correct, in the 2nd half, it becomes a jungle in there. Truly explosive growth! Proper layout is of the utmost importance in this system, I agree.

Hope that helps....

 

[turbolaser4528]

thanks for the responses.

I will chill out with the subculture, just another thing I don't need to spend money on.

Since I dont want to risk a flood I am still making the bio system but just in one 32 gallon rubbermaid. I have a power-head with a venturi intake circulating and aerating the water (its mounted an inch or two above the water line so it wont add head to the water) as well as 6 open lines coming from a 36 watt eco plus commercial air pump. So the water will be bubbling and churning sufficiently I believe, I will run 8 inch net pots filled with red lava rock mount a few inches below the lid, with a float valve connected to a bucket of water so i can keep the water level even.


My most important question to you all is how do you know how much nutes to give the plants? Meaning how do you read the solution to tell you more or less nutes? I always thought ppm up ph down meant add less nutes, but if water is evaporating then this throws this method off. I just cant ever seem to get this part of growing down. I have everything else dialed, I just can't have a grow without some sort of deficiency or nute burn. I am running floranova bloom currently, any help would be greatly appreciated, I need nute management help bigtime. thanks a million, god bless you all!!!!

 

[Dr. Conjuror]

One thing you'll want to spend time planning is layout. When you get that move equipment, PVC lines, PVC drains, valves and pump. The grow area gets crowded quick. Make sure you can walk around the area full, without any acrobatics. In the 2nd 1/2 of flowering things can get a little crazy.

Thats the biggest drawback I found with BBs.

Very good advice, Seneca. Thanks. I believe I will be making a cabinet one meter deep and three meters wide. I am trying to decide if I need access on both of the longest sides or just one of them. I plan to use veg time to control the size of the lovely plants, but I am not sure access on only one side will allow me to do any manicuring needed on the farthest side.

 

[Seneca]

Very good advice, Seneca. Thanks. I believe I will be making a cabinet one meter deep and three meters wide. I am trying to decide if I need access on both of the longest sides or just one of them. I plan to use veg time to control the size of the lovely plants, but I am not sure access on only one side will allow me to do any manicuring needed on the farthest side.

The more access the better. Since Bio-Buckets are mostly fixed into position once setup and filled, having access to both side is very important. I didn't leave myself much room on one side and it's a major hassle





Are you planning on running a single or double row of buckets deep? 1m x 3m is going to get very tight in depth? You might think about expanding to 1.5-2m x 3m, because vertical and horizontal growing space disappears fast, even with good technique.

Post a sketch of your cabinet, I might have some tips. Good luck!

 

[BudGood]

turbolaser, I just go by PPM's, when they drop, I do some math and figure out how much I need to add to make them back where I want them. I use Dutchmaster Gold, stuff is the dogs danglies, along with their Max flowering additive, and their Liquid Light/Penetrator foliar combo. Really works well. I would recommend it to anyone, my yields jumped way up, along with the flavor of the final product being much more tastier.

Seneca, I hear that. On my setup I only have access to one side, really becomes a bitch getting in there in later flowering. I have about as much access on the one side, as you have on your "small" side.

 

[turbolaser4528]

great info awesome setups guys. Also, with the bio buckets ppms are lower than with regular hydro setups correct?

Right now I have 6 bubbledust plants at 250 ppm and its slowly dropping, there are in week 2-3 of veg under a ufo led light in 5 inch net pots. They will be transfered to 8 inch net pots filled with lava rocks underneath a digi 600w hps, what ppm #'s do you guys usually run in the bio systems? thnx

 

[BudGood]

I've went all the way to 2500 with no bad effects, but I usually run it at 1500 ppm.

 

[turbolaser4528]

I've went all the way to 2500 with no bad effects, but I usually run it at 1500 ppm.

on a .7 conversion? this seems reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllly high. I'm using floranova bloom, another guy in this thread said he never went above 1000, and because the bb make nutrient delivery more efficient you don't need as much. but idk

 

[BudGood]

I did it on mistake, growroom work is not to be done drunk! One of the good parts about beneficials is they protect the plant from so many things. Thats why bio-buckets are awesome, it's really hard to screw it up if you've built it correctly.

 

[Dr. Conjuror]

The more access the better. Since Bio-Buckets are mostly fixed into position once setup and filled, having access to both side is very important. I didn't leave myself much room on one side and it's a major hassle

Are you planning on running a single or double row of buckets deep? 1m x 3m is going to get very tight in depth? You might think about expanding to 1.5-2m x 3m, because vertical and horizontal growing space disappears fast, even with good technique.

Post a sketch of your cabinet, I might have some tips. Good luck!

I essentially am making a cabinet. It will have to be semi-stealthy and I am unsure of my eventual residence's floor plan. It will be two rows of nine buckets. One of the longest sides may have to be against a wall. But currently I think I can have access on both of the longest sides.

I have been busy with my father's recent passing, so I apologize for the delay in response time. When time frees up a bit, I will post a sketch.

I like your set-up, and your growth is quite impressive. How long do you veg before going into the flower cycle? Looks like you do a bit of tying, which I expect to be the norm for the system.

And as always I appreciate the input. Cheers.

 

[punkp88]

Help with the monitoring the toxic levels in bio buckets

Help with the monitoring the toxic levels in bio buckets

Hey,
First big respect for Big tokes for this design its pretty awesome.

I'm excited to be working on my first Bio bucket system.

I need some help and information from experienced users of the bio bucket system.

Quote Big toke

The purpose of nutrient solution management is to avoid any unhealthy solution condition, waiting for plants to show signs of nutrient stress defeats that goal. Instead of using the plants as guinea pigs, we use indicators in the solution that will alert us to approaching potential problems so that we can avoid those problems thus insuring uninterrupted plant health for the life of the solution.

I want to try and keep all the elements under control and I want to monitor the solution very closely.
I need to know what chemical levels are acceptable in the bio buckets.

For example if the ammonia levels get too high you're going to get airy buds

Ive read that nitrate toxicity can disrupt the plants

If someone can please tell us your experiences.
Us inexperienced user would love to know what to watch out for.

The acceptable levels of each toxicity
How to prevent them
(experienced mistakes and how they happened would be great)
How you can fix the problem
Can these problems be fixed with aquarium supplies??
Or does the solution need to be drained

How can we test the soloution to see if we have enough BB
Big toke says 50,000 how do we test that

Also what is the best height to have the plant above the water line?
Ive read lots of variations on this

Im going to use canna nutes
flores a and b
cannazym
Rhizotonic
PK 13/14

Any thoughts on these nutes would be great
stick with them all or drop any, I know rhizotonic sends the ph way up
I know that using too much additives in this system will really mess things up.

Thanks
Punkp

 

[Kal-El]

I would just run base nute til you know what you are doing.
You are asking questions that really don't even come into play here.
Oh and my name is not cranberry.

 

[punkp88]

I would just run base nute til you know what you are doing.
You are asking questions that really don't even come into play here.
Oh and my name is not cranberry.

sorry dude
thats the flaws with copy and paste
no disrespect
thanks for the feedback
P

 

[Kal-El]

just build them puppies first.
i always used tap water.
never even measure ph, system works great unless you are in the southwest us.
the key to everything running weel is water temps at 68F and enough water circulating through the buckets.

if ya get stuck just pm me, been using bio buckets for 5+ years and they rock!