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Hydro Showdown: Under Current 6XL vs Bato Bucket - DCxGOO - 2,400Ws

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
opt1c - First off, nice work. I have a few questions regarding the under-current setup that you're running. I'm trying to find the specs for the packages they have, but I'm coming up short. The system looks good I just don't want to buy it if I'll be adding a bunch of redundant parts to my collection. So, my questions are : What comes with the package base line(in terms of stats for the pump/air pump etc). Their video shows the water filter and a chiller - do they come with the setup as well? I've been searching for awhile for this info but haven't found it yet. If you could shed some light on this issue I would appreciate it. Thanks man, peace.


well as far as the specs go the airpump is a danner ap-40; keep in mind mine is the 6 site model and each pump is sized for the system... don't have the specs on the other models... water pump is pretty small; like a 350gph or something; but the original box is buried in the garage and the system only holds 56gals max... i have it topping off with the float valve connected directly to a ro filter hanging in the room plumbed under the house to a manifold on a faucet outside... the ro filter doesn't come with the system... the float valve does.

No chiller included either.

System includes EVERYTHING except the medium, the plants, electricity, and water.. even has extra plumbing options if you are or aren't running a chiller.. drain with ball-valve.. float valve for automatic top-offs.. all the hoses are included as well as a crazy air diffuser for the epicenter(has a membrane that micro diffuses over an 8-9" radius(haven't measured it but that's about what it is; maybe larger)

Basically you are buying the buckets; lids; uniseals; precut pvc lengths; a super fast setup and teardown; and an out of the box ready to go rdwc system that doesn't leak... i think that's where the real value of the money spent is... my time is valuable and there aren't enough hours in the day.. i'm always busy and the under current system doesn't need a babysitter like a lot of other hydro systems :joint:

That's all the help i can be; every systems specs are different as far as the pumps go; i believe some of the large ones have multiple air pumps.. if you google under current current culture you can find the companies website although it's not much help there is contact info and a non 800 contact info(heheh... damn how faded do u got to be to not have a 800 number at the very least; stoner status for sure) and the dealers page is even less help... check a bunch of the websites and none of them have any info either... they're out there though
 

L-Immortal

Member
Well I can tell you first off I deal with some douche bags at my local shop in Oceanside CA so I had to drive up to Fresno and pick up my units (WELL WORTH IT). They are really only in shops in Nor Cal and Oregon. The owner may be one of the coolest cats you ever want to meet and his knowledge is on point I assure your. I can tell you first hand they just moved up to a bigger warehouse because the demand for the system after the San Francisco went thru the roof so you may have a few weeks to wait once your order. They will deliver to any hydro shop they just need to exchange all biz info.

Like OPTC1 said what is you time worth? Not to mention I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks for some good old American ingenuity made right here in the USA.
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
overall would you suggest clones from SR71/Blue sky?

Yes :joint:

They pulled this flavor off the menu for a reason
Added a lot of new flavors so they have some fresh genetics

Also i've helped with some 100+ gardens that were full of nothing but trays of cuts from bluesky all planted at once, all the same strain, all bomb; yeah we're those assholes who get there hella early and clean the place out. :nanana: But we aren't there everyday. They are.

I treat every cut like it has fungus gnats, spider mites, thrips, and pm on principal. While i've gotten some bunk cuts in the past bunk cuts are better than no cuts and if you want to make excuses do it yourself or take the loss for what it is... the more i've gotten cuts from clubs and others the more i realize why all my friends always bug me for my extras... you get out what you put in; $ and convenience vs time and patience
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
Day 58 Update

Day 58 Update

This never gets old....
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to...
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:yeahthats

In the left corner... 6 9x9 small bato-buckets; filled to the brim with rockwool minicubes; being fed House & Garden Nutes with all the fixings; recirculating with 3 minute feedings every 42.0 minutes; loving drained and changed weekly with help from our buddy the shopvac; drinking about 20 of 25 gals every 5-7 days. All R.O. h2o and a coralife 1/10th hp chiller. Under 2 600w bulbs in Radiant6's; stationary.

Let the battle begin... :dueling: I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
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And now... the challenger... in the other corner... The Under Current 6XL from our friends over at Current Culture; plumbed to an oceanic 1/4hp chiller; fed with Dutch Master GOLD series with the addition of PureFlowers Bloom Booster self topping off with R.O. water; ppms kept around 500 by yours truly. Under 2 600w SuperSunII's on a LightMover 3.5.
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Need to tie up some more branches; ohh noezz... they izz too heavy :1help:
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Here's the runt; really a runt of runts
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Yeah; i hate on leds

And here is a pic of my ro unit for the curious; hooks right up to the float valve and is plumbed under the house to a manifold on an outside faucet. No Leaks with the UC system either; uniseals are the bomb; use em for everything now... long as you pick the right hole saw... but i digress
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So there we are... i need a beer and a bowl after throwing all this together; taking pics, scrubbing pics(safety first), uploading pics, and posting pics, is a labor of love; thanks for all the love... as always i'm more than happy to answer questions.... wish i was a better photographer but that second pic of the undercurrent system came out nice... loving the colors... u know what... how bout we see it again...
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yeah... that's that shit... colors are really gonna pop once the flush starts; yeah that's right; the flush hasn't started and we got technicolor :woohoo:

Glad i kept me a mom; wonder what i'll run next... got a dj short flo female from seed; 2 reservoir chemhazexsourd females; one of which stinks(i like them dirty girls); 2 xyz berry females... all from seed and all ready to clone :) I've been putting in work; got some outdoor bout ready as well

Then i got the stable; arcata og bag seed, soma rockbud, soma lavender, unknown ssh, dcxgoo(i feel like a change though), and sr71 purple kush

I got a test run of the flo, berry, and chazexsourd going on with some clones that got sexed, after being grown out to 2ft in veg, in a dr120 under a 400 in my garage :joint: Flo is quick; all i gots to say so far... you'd think it was flipped like a week before the rest but nope... maybe i need to take more pics... it never ends...
 

fireman

Member
Killer looking cut. Nice setup was thinking about pickin up the XL`s but need 8" anad its fucking expensive for 4 *XXXL hoods
 

smokedoja

Member
wow opt1c I'm very impressed, I've been growing in a grow tent, using dwc buckets and the gh 3 part nute but just using the micro and blooom lucas formula... but i just got my medcard and am upgrading bigtime, I'm ordering a under current 12xl, and am going to have 3 1000w radiant 8's hooked up to it... I was going to test out botonicares line until I read this thread and now am most likely about to go with dutch master....

I have a few questions though... If you'd be so kind to lay some knowledge on me...

I've never used an ro unit, been using distilled from the store, and was about to try my tap water which is 250 ppm and 9.0 ph ... I was thinking about ordering that r/o system from current culture but am concerned I dont have the necessary hookups, all I have is a utility sink about 20 ft away

also how difficult is it to change the water in the under current? and how do you do it


and last question is dutch master gold nute and the h&g additive the only nutes you used? and ppms didnt go over 500? like damn the dutch master 3/4 nute program says ppm should be at 1500 from week 7-10

sorry for sounding like a noob just trying to figure shit out
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
Killer looking cut. Nice setup was thinking about pickin up the XL`s but need 8" anad its fucking expensive for 4 *XXXL hoods

actually its the under current system that is the XL... extra space between buckets; the normal systems are too close for growing herb; they more than fill up the extra space so i say if u get an undercurrent get an XL model

as far as hoods go i use super sun II's and radiant 6 ac's... haven't dropped the coin on any magnum hoods... also have 6" fans not 8"s over here
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
wow opt1c I'm very impressed, I've been growing in a grow tent, using dwc buckets and the gh 3 part nute but just using the micro and blooom lucas formula... but i just got my medcard and am upgrading bigtime, I'm ordering a under current 12xl, and am going to have 3 1000w radiant 8's hooked up to it... I was going to test out botonicares line until I read this thread and now am most likely about to go with dutch master....

I have a few questions though... If you'd be so kind to lay some knowledge on me...

I've never used an ro unit, been using distilled from the store, and was about to try my tap water which is 250 ppm and 9.0 ph ... I was thinking about ordering that r/o system from current culture but am concerned I dont have the necessary hookups, all I have is a utility sink about 20 ft away

also how difficult is it to change the water in the under current? and how do you do it


and last question is dutch master gold nute and the h&g additive the only nutes you used? and ppms didnt go over 500? like damn the dutch master 3/4 nute program says ppm should be at 1500 from week 7-10

sorry for sounding like a noob just trying to figure shit out

For the RO unit all it needs is a normal 3/4" faucet hookup... you can probably get a splitter for the faucet so you can hook it up and still use the faucet... i'm using a manifold on an outside faucet i have my outdoor drip hooked up to; but i had it hooked up to the cold water tap in my garage for like a washer waterline.... then it just runs the water from the tap through a 1/4" hose... i just got a bunch of dripline, 1/4" hose, and ran it the length i needed.... it has 1 1/4" line going in with fresh water... and then two 1/4" lines going out; one for waste and the other for pure... the pure water connects to the float valve in epicenter

There is a drain you can hook up a standard garden hose to on the bottom of the eipicenter for draining... i've never needed to drain my system during this grow as i'm adding back pure RO water

All i used was dutch master gold line and the pure flowers bloom booster made by higrocorp... the uc recommends that you run your nutes at 1/3-2/3 strength; obviously i went on the lower side... they were bumped up to about 750ppms during week 5-6ish but i've just let them fall ever since... they are falling really slowly as well as the plants finish up; used to fall faster during the grow; would get down to 150-200ppms in the systems; plants are all fine despite the defs u'd think would appear... i just didn't want to risk burning the roots with nutes; can really stunt the progress of a plant in dwc... also stay away from the grow part of the gh 3part... its very hot and will burn roots; use a lucas formula instead... 8ml micro 16ml bloom or something like that; i forget the non coco ratio though.... i have no problems using fewer nutes and not more; especially when you compare costs over time.

Using RO water allows me not to need to mess with the PH with UP and Down products... nutes + ro water = balance
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
naw the bulkheads are uniseals... 2" pvc goes into the sides of the buckets; just looks like a rubber ring with a 2" pvc pipe going through the side of the bucket... i'll snap a pic when i get a chance... uniseals really set the under current apart for any other system out there... fast assembly, tear down, and no leaks.... uniseals are not cheap though, especially the big ones
 

L-Immortal

Member
ok opt1c lets get down to the brass tax. If I told you tomorrow you had to choose one system and one only which and why? Or is this a bit to soon?
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
no estimate; first time with this strain and these systems... i ran the batos before with the setup at the start of the thread; 24 bucket sog under 2 600s but half of the clones i got were bunk so the weight was way off. We'll see; these don't seem bunk, although they're the best 12 of 24 clones and of that 2 are still runts.

Getting near the chop; they've been going for 69 days; last week they've been flushing with water only.

Normally i hang the plants whole and then wait to trim until they've dried and cured in brown paper bags but the leaves have so many trichs i think i'm going to do an initial trim right after the chop and make me some bubble :)

i'll take some pics but they're so coated with trichs it makes the white widow i grew previously look downright tame in comparison

It'll be interesting to see what weight each system puts out; should be close... the batos are crowded against the wall and i haven't even really been able to get at 2 of 6 plants but they're just raging; got a little burned with the shooting powder; don't think i'll be using that again; just need to find a good pk booster that plays nice with the H&G line.. don't want to use my pure flowers bloombooster cuz that stuff is worth its weight in gold when it comes to the under current
 

opt1c

Well-known member
Veteran
Update at day 69; they'll probably be chopped tomorrow or the next day :joint:

Bato Buckets up first...
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I'll upload pics from the under current in a bit
 
Nice nice!! Beautiful my friend, beautiful!!

Do you get some purpling on the flower ends that the light hits direct?

How much Pure Flowers do you add (ppm wise) and what week? Also would you modify it if you ran it in a run to waste? Do you back down your nutrients when you use it?

I am thinking 30-50ppm mid week 6 for 5-7 days, maybe every other feeding. Correct me if I am wrong.

I have a bottle and have never used it, and really want to hear from folks who have got it dialed how they use it. Seems like you gots it down.
 

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