I
idoreallytry
wow a good tidbit indeed,,peace
My Buckets
- Thread starter Lightning Bug
- Start date
what kind of bulkhead is that, i looked into how to hook pvc pipe directly to the buckets but didnt find much at home depot. please explain how you did that 
and your setup is more than impressive. My system wasnt returning enough water back to the controller so i may be copying you if you dont mind.
and your setup is more than impressive. My system wasnt returning enough water back to the controller so i may be copying you if you dont mind.
what kind of bulkhead is that, i looked into how to hook pvc pipe directly to the buckets but didnt find much at home depot. please explain how you did that
Do a google search on Uniseal. That is what they use in the UC systems and I found them for sale in all sizes on line. It would be amazing to DIY big buckets with the Uniseal.
Peace,
Hey man I appreciate you taking the time to answer me specifically and as detailed as you did. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, things have been real busy around here with school and work.
I agree with you on the stealth factor, I want my op to be so stealth that even If cops raid the place they wont find it, god forbid that ever happens, but you know what i mean.
What about IR protection? I want to insulate, soundproof, and ir block my grow, is there one material like reflectix that combines all these qualties into 1 non-toxic product readily available?
I know what you mean about the fish breeding, A friend I work with is a Lizard/bearded dragon breader I can't believe how much money is involved its nuts.
I am going to build your system as you have outlined it, I am going to use sterilized lava rocks as a medium as Big tokes uses in his bio-buckets to harbor the beneficial bacteria OR sit a bio bag in my rez and go mediumless like you, because I am also lazy in that sense haha
Question, where can one acquire square buckets locally? or do they have to be order (i have no problem ordering stuff online, no fear baby!!!! lol)
Finally, what do you think about instead of using all of the seperate buckets, just use one large rubbermaid container dwc style and just supercharge it with the 1250gph pump and an heavy duty air pump running open lines?
I'm shit scared of leaks, thats why i mention this idea, if I have a leak im screwed, i have people living underneath me. let me know what you think about everything, sorry for all the questions bro, but youre my fucking hero!!! haha be safe man enjoy life live the dream never settle for less your doing gods work right here
I agree with you on the stealth factor, I want my op to be so stealth that even If cops raid the place they wont find it, god forbid that ever happens, but you know what i mean.
What about IR protection? I want to insulate, soundproof, and ir block my grow, is there one material like reflectix that combines all these qualties into 1 non-toxic product readily available?
I know what you mean about the fish breeding, A friend I work with is a Lizard/bearded dragon breader I can't believe how much money is involved its nuts.
I am going to build your system as you have outlined it, I am going to use sterilized lava rocks as a medium as Big tokes uses in his bio-buckets to harbor the beneficial bacteria OR sit a bio bag in my rez and go mediumless like you, because I am also lazy in that sense haha
Question, where can one acquire square buckets locally? or do they have to be order (i have no problem ordering stuff online, no fear baby!!!! lol)
Finally, what do you think about instead of using all of the seperate buckets, just use one large rubbermaid container dwc style and just supercharge it with the 1250gph pump and an heavy duty air pump running open lines?
I'm shit scared of leaks, thats why i mention this idea, if I have a leak im screwed, i have people living underneath me. let me know what you think about everything, sorry for all the questions bro, but youre my fucking hero!!! haha be safe man enjoy life live the dream never settle for less your doing gods work right here
Raphael
Member
Finally, what do you think about instead of using all of the seperate buckets, just use one large rubbermaid container dwc style and just supercharge it with the 1250gph pump and an heavy duty air pump running open lines?
I'm shit scared of leaks, thats why i mention this idea, if I have a leak im screwed, i have people living underneath me. let me know what you think about everything, sorry for all the questions bro, but youre my fucking hero!!! haha be safe man enjoy life live the dream never settle for less your doing gods work right here
The first ever grow I did I used a 20 something gallon rubbermaid with 8 holes cut out of the lid for net pots and I used a submersible pump that were connected to sprayers.
The res level would sit around 10 gallons and the spray nozzles were above the res spraying each net pot. So effectively it was a crude aeroponic grow until the roots hit the reservoir and became a dwc.
I used a single 14" airstone with a cheapy air pump. The biggest issue I can see by running everything enclosed is the heat transfer into the reservoir from the lights. If you insulate / reflect the res as well as using a small aquarium chiller you would be good. The next issue would be finding increasingly larger containers to act as the res / controller.
Oh ya, and the leak I've had was when I was using that "leakproof" system. I was a dumbass and the fill indicator line tipped over dumping 10 gallons into the floor and so I told my landlord my aquarium sprung a leak and that was why there was water all over molly's closet in the apt below me.
Fast forward two years. I wake up in the middle of the night to my fire alarm blaring but instead of finding a fire in the grow room I find that the feedline had come disconnected from the control res and had siphoned 20-30 gallons through the floor onto my roommate who was sleeping. The water drained through the hole cut in the ceiling for the fire alarm, shorting it, and activating all the other ones in the house. I spent 20 minutes unplugging screeching alarms.
Leaks will happen no matter what if you're not careful. It is a lot smarter to take some precautionary measures if you have a habit of being forgetful, lol
The first ever grow I did I used a 20 something gallon rubbermaid with 8 holes cut out of the lid for net pots and I used a submersible pump that were connected to sprayers.
The res level would sit around 10 gallons and the spray nozzles were above the res spraying each net pot. So effectively it was a crude aeroponic grow until the roots hit the reservoir and became a dwc.
I used a single 14" airstone with a cheapy air pump. The biggest issue I can see by running everything enclosed is the heat transfer into the reservoir from the lights. If you insulate / reflect the res as well as using a small aquarium chiller you would be good. The next issue would be finding increasingly larger containers to act as the res / controller.
Oh ya, and the leak I've had was when I was using that "leakproof" system. I was a dumbass and the fill indicator line tipped over dumping 10 gallons into the floor and so I told my landlord my aquarium sprung a leak and that was why there was water all over molly's closet in the apt below me.
Fast forward two years. I wake up in the middle of the night to my fire alarm blaring but instead of finding a fire in the grow room I find that the feedline had come disconnected from the control res and had siphoned 20-30 gallons through the floor onto my roommate who was sleeping. The water drained through the hole cut in the ceiling for the fire alarm, shorting it, and activating all the other ones in the house. I spent 20 minutes unplugging screeching alarms.
Leaks will happen no matter what if you're not careful. It is a lot smarter to take some precautionary measures if you have a habit of being forgetful, lol
lol damn dude thats harsh. my ass would have been arrested
i would def use pond liner with a system like this just in case I have any leaks (knocks on wood) it should catch any/all water. that'll give me some piece of mind i was in home depot today checking out pvc and stuff, I just don't know where to get square buckets.........hmm
lol damn dude thats harsh. my ass would have been arrested
i was in home depot today checking out pvc and stuff, I just don't know where to get square buckets.........hmm
Yessir, especially if you're growing in a apartment upstairs!
Pond liner with at least a 6-12" lip going up the wall on all sides might be a bit expensive at first, but the peace of mind you buy will be worth it! 
I've only seen square buckets online, I'm gonna try to source the buckets and lids that are used in the UC system to upgrade my BioBucket setup.
I
idoreallytry
lol damn dude thats harsh. my ass would have been arrested
i was in home depot today checking out pvc and stuff, I just don't know where to get square buckets.........hmm
dude the wifey came running upstairs one night soaking wet from my hydro tub leaking and going thru my hardwood floors right on top of the wife while she was sleeping lol,,she was not a happy camper we switched to soil shortly after that lol,,,peace and good luck
Lightning Bug
Member
what kind of bulkhead is that, i looked into how to hook pvc pipe directly to the buckets but didnt find much at home depot. please explain how you did that
Hey thanks Wolf, the bulkheads are used a lot in aquarium applications, I gave a couple links to some back on like page 2 I think.
Hey man I appreciate you taking the time to answer me specifically and as detailed as you did. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, things have been real busy around here with school and work.
I agree with you on the stealth factor, I want my op to be so stealth that even If cops raid the place they wont find it, god forbid that ever happens, but you know what i mean.
What about IR protection? I want to insulate, soundproof, and ir block my grow, is there one material like reflectix that combines all these qualties into 1 non-toxic product readily available?
I know what you mean about the fish breeding, A friend I work with is a Lizard/bearded dragon breader I can't believe how much money is involved its nuts.
I am going to build your system as you have outlined it, I am going to use sterilized lava rocks as a medium as Big tokes uses in his bio-buckets to harbor the beneficial bacteria OR sit a bio bag in my rez and go mediumless like you, because I am also lazy in that sense haha
Question, where can one acquire square buckets locally? or do they have to be order (i have no problem ordering stuff online, no fear baby!!!! lol)
Finally, what do you think about instead of using all of the seperate buckets, just use one large rubbermaid container dwc style and just supercharge it with the 1250gph pump and an heavy duty air pump running open lines?
I'm shit scared of leaks, thats why i mention this idea, if I have a leak im screwed, i have people living underneath me. let me know what you think about everything, sorry for all the questions bro, but youre my fucking hero!!! haha be safe man enjoy life live the dream never settle for less your doing gods work right here
Hey thanks Turbolaser, yeah finding the buckets is a bitch, online was the only place I found and like Budgood I am very interested in the larger buckets the UC uses, I may look into those as I may be helping a friend build a new system or 2. Yeah I tried rubbermaids for my first grow and I just wasn't happy with them, kind of floppy lol. On the heat signature - I insulated the heck out of everything but didn't look much into the FLIR aspect as I live in a very rural area and if they are looking at me I already f'ed up somewhere else.
^Truer words have never been spoken and your chance of a leak is directly proportional to how important the security situation is LOL. A big box made out of 2x6's and pond liner to set everything in would be a really really good idea. Wish I would have done that.Leaks will happen no matter what if you're not careful. It is a lot smarter to take some precautionary measures if you have a habit of being forgetful, lol
Sorry I been slacking on the updates, been swamped here big time and the little time I did have I spent making Rez & GrindHouse new banners where I won FREE SEEDS!
Check out the REZ one, it's already running and GrindHouse will be up soon.Wow what's the chance that 2 of the 3 breeders I am looking to source genes from ran contests the same week. I knew it was a sign so I had to squeeze that in too with everything else. Big thanks to Rez & Mr & Mrs. Savage, that was really cool of them.
Working on the grow almost all day today, got the aerocloner running with bleach now and scrubbing the room down. I will get some pics before and after I take some cuts, got 6/11 girls so can't complain there. Grow update coming up tonight or tomorrow!
Yessir, especially if you're growing in a apartment upstairs!
I've only seen square buckets online, I'm gonna try to source the buckets and lids that are used in the UC system to upgrade my BioBucket setup.
Let us know what you find, I'm on the hunt as well
talk about sleeping on the couch damnnn haha I hear ya on that one, I can't switch back I'm addicted to hydro and making things more complicated than nature intended them to be and taking huge risks and stressing myself out to get more yield and bigger more beautiful plants o god have mercy why can't I stop?! lol
Hey thanks Turbolaser, yeah finding the buckets is a bitch, online was the only place I found and like Budgood I am very interested in the larger buckets the UC uses, I may look into those as I may be helping a friend build a new system or 2. Yeah I tried rubbermaids for my first grow and I just wasn't happy with them, kind of floppy lol. On the heat signature - I insulated the heck out of everything but didn't look much into the FLIR aspect as I live in a very rural area and if they are looking at me I already f'ed up somewhere else.
^Truer words have never been spoken and your chance of a leak is directly proportional to how important the security situation is LOL. A big box made out of 2x6's and pond liner to set everything in would be a really really good idea. Wish I would have done that.
Sorry I been slacking on the updates, been swamped here big time and the little time I did have I spent making Rez & GrindHouse new banners where I won FREE SEEDS!
Wow what's the chance that 2 of the 3 breeders I am looking to source genes from ran contests the same week. I knew it was a sign so I had to squeeze that in too with everything else. Big thanks to Rez & Mr & Mrs. Savage, that was really cool of them.
Working on the grow almost all day today, got the aerocloner running with bleach now and scrubbing the room down. I will get some pics before and after I take some cuts, got 6/11 girls so can't complain there. Grow update coming up tonight or tomorrow!
True, I forgot earlier you said you lined the walls with r-19 and crammed the sheet rock on, that's probably good enough anyway.
Yeah rubbermaid's are a little floppy, some of the heavy duty ones aren't too bad though. The brute's are deecent.
As for square buckets, I'm going to check out some stores (home depot, the container store, lowe's, etc.) and try and find some makeshift heavy duty buckets with lids. I'm sure I can find something that'll work and work well. I mean a square plastic container that can hold water and a plant shouldn't be too hard to find. Ill let you guys know if i do find anything.
2x6's and pond liner for sure, either that or ill use heavy duty shower curtains, or Ill get a large plastic container (god damn plastic) that is 3x3x1 and put everything in that.
Congrats on the free genetics, anything from rez or grindhouse should do you well. l8r
Forgive the double post, but I just realized something about this system. Don't you need fresh airflow into each bucket in order to get proper oxygenation? I say this because doesn't the spray head "force" air from inside the bucket into the water, thus oxygenating it? If this is the case, wouldn't the air in the bucket be depleted rather quickly and make for less oxygenation?
I know you've had great results, I was just curious. Like how bigtokes stresses the importance of a fan blowing into the res (yes, I know for the beneficial bacteria also) but also so that the air in your res never gets stagnant and o2 depleted.
You obviously know your stuff and how to keep the water "sweet," I would just like some clarification on this if you don't mind......
lol
I know you've had great results, I was just curious. Like how bigtokes stresses the importance of a fan blowing into the res (yes, I know for the beneficial bacteria also) but also so that the air in your res never gets stagnant and o2 depleted.
You obviously know your stuff and how to keep the water "sweet," I would just like some clarification on this if you don't mind......
lol
I
idoreallytry
good luck finding the tubs i have been looking,,, i never went to a container store i will have to check one out,,, a buddy of mine says lowes has sqaure cement tubs,,, i found 2x3 tubs at Home depot but one end is sloped,,,kind of sux i am going to lowes today to check on square containers,,,i will let u know what i find,,,peace
Wowza,
Thanks mr.LB for great knowledge. I am currently on my first growth and in about 3rd weeks already, your set up is truly amazing and just by reading your post i can tell you are very smart and wordy.
I'll now tag this tread and will keep reading your updates.
Again, thank you so much for great informations.
Thanks mr.LB for great knowledge. I am currently on my first growth and in about 3rd weeks already, your set up is truly amazing and just by reading your post i can tell you are very smart and wordy.
I'll now tag this tread and will keep reading your updates.
Again, thank you so much for great informations.
Lightning Bug
Member
LOL idoreallytry, my wife has put up with a lot of stuff but don't mess with her when she is sleeping. 
I use one of those concrete mixing tubs for my SWC veg setup, interested to see what you guys find for containers.
You are a sharp one turbo, yes I didn't show pics of the bucket lids (I will get u some tonight) but each lid has a 1" (I think) PVC elbow inserted into a hole in the lid to promote air exchange in the buckets.
Welcome redspaghetti, thanks for the kind words, I like to think I am smart but I do plenty of stupid stoner shit like everyone else LOL and often search for the forest with all those trees in way.
For instance, turbolaser brings up a very good point about gas exchange. Pity I didn't consider this when building my aerocloner. It has been sitting for going on 2 years in my veg room, still running and I haven't touched it. Plenty of water still covering the pump after all this time.
I checked on it from time to time but just wanted to see how long it would go. Obviously there is no gas exchange at all going on since the water didn't evaporate. DUH no fresh air, no wonder my cloning results were sporadic. I didn't clean it often enough either and just kept adding cuts to it like a dumbass, I am sure the clones used all of the 02 up and there was nothing but C02 inside the tub. I am adding an airstone and a gas exchange elbow to this unit tonight when I take cuts, it is scrubbed clean so hopefully I will get good results and this time I intend to clean it after every use like everyone advises.
Another dumbass move - I kept wondering why my AK47s kept stretching, those leaves curling up like I showed earlier is the plants attempting to conserve moisture, heat and low RH are usually the causes and I ASSUMED that the fan was drying them out since it was more evident on the plants in the fan's path.
Now these soil plants are just sitting under a 400W MH in a spare bedroom with no ventilation, not an ideal setup but I have done this before with no probs. I was looking at the stretchy plants when I realized how hot it was in there and then I discovered the AC vent in that bedroom was closed!
Since I opened the AC vent it has stayed a steady 85 F at the tops and they immediately started growing with normal node lengths.
The heat stress caused one of the plants to hermi but it is growing out of it. There also seems to be one auto-flowering male that just keeps flowering, the brute busted a nut all over my virgin girls faces.
I saw the powder on some leaves and was like WTF? PM in veg with this low humidity? Then I saw the busted pollen sacs. I will be chopping this male tonight as I don't want to use this AF pollen in my F2 seedrun. I will be making F2s to search thru for the coveted cherry pheno.
Anyway, got 6 good ladies to take cuts from and one still hasn't showed sex. The one that hermi'd from the heat will be dropped but would have been lady #7. The wife needed the camera today so I got some quick group shots to show how they are doing.
The TB runt is in the front in these pics and just isn't doing much, don't know why I haven't chopped it yet. I am going to slice them up and load up the cloner tonight and I will get some more pics then.
Here's that horny autoflowering male:
I use one of those concrete mixing tubs for my SWC veg setup, interested to see what you guys find for containers.
You are a sharp one turbo, yes I didn't show pics of the bucket lids (I will get u some tonight) but each lid has a 1" (I think) PVC elbow inserted into a hole in the lid to promote air exchange in the buckets.
Welcome redspaghetti, thanks for the kind words, I like to think I am smart but I do plenty of stupid stoner shit like everyone else LOL and often search for the forest with all those trees in way.
For instance, turbolaser brings up a very good point about gas exchange. Pity I didn't consider this when building my aerocloner. It has been sitting for going on 2 years in my veg room, still running and I haven't touched it. Plenty of water still covering the pump after all this time.
I checked on it from time to time but just wanted to see how long it would go. Obviously there is no gas exchange at all going on since the water didn't evaporate. DUH no fresh air, no wonder my cloning results were sporadic. I didn't clean it often enough either and just kept adding cuts to it like a dumbass, I am sure the clones used all of the 02 up and there was nothing but C02 inside the tub. I am adding an airstone and a gas exchange elbow to this unit tonight when I take cuts, it is scrubbed clean so hopefully I will get good results and this time I intend to clean it after every use like everyone advises.
Another dumbass move - I kept wondering why my AK47s kept stretching, those leaves curling up like I showed earlier is the plants attempting to conserve moisture, heat and low RH are usually the causes and I ASSUMED that the fan was drying them out since it was more evident on the plants in the fan's path.
Now these soil plants are just sitting under a 400W MH in a spare bedroom with no ventilation, not an ideal setup but I have done this before with no probs. I was looking at the stretchy plants when I realized how hot it was in there and then I discovered the AC vent in that bedroom was closed!
Since I opened the AC vent it has stayed a steady 85 F at the tops and they immediately started growing with normal node lengths.
The heat stress caused one of the plants to hermi but it is growing out of it. There also seems to be one auto-flowering male that just keeps flowering, the brute busted a nut all over my virgin girls faces.
I saw the powder on some leaves and was like WTF? PM in veg with this low humidity? Then I saw the busted pollen sacs. I will be chopping this male tonight as I don't want to use this AF pollen in my F2 seedrun. I will be making F2s to search thru for the coveted cherry pheno.
Anyway, got 6 good ladies to take cuts from and one still hasn't showed sex. The one that hermi'd from the heat will be dropped but would have been lady #7. The wife needed the camera today so I got some quick group shots to show how they are doing.
The TB runt is in the front in these pics and just isn't doing much, don't know why I haven't chopped it yet. I am going to slice them up and load up the cloner tonight and I will get some more pics then.
Here's that horny autoflowering male:
haha thanks. I'm glad I helped you remember about the air exchange, may your cloning go smoothly....and not dry out and die like a few of mine did ha cant let the rapid rooter plugs dry or your fuckeddd 
Nice plants btw, isn't 85 at the tops a bit warm? I'd get a fan blowing over the tops 85 seems high to me.
Do you think just the 1"pvc elbow is enough as far as air exchange is concerned? I might be over engineering shit but what about a small intake and exhaust fan on each bucket? I know I know, what a pain in the ass that would be, but it would provide a shit ton more air circulation to your buckets, and thus provide a shit ton more oxygen to your plants. The crazy thing is It'd be like 30 seperate mini bio-bucket systems, but all linked together and working together...wow, yeah im def stoned does that makes sense or na? :kitty:
I'm kind of playing off your idea to have a separate "waterfall" in each bucket, and treating each one like the control bucket in big tokes system (he just has a waterfall and an intake + exhaust fan) which would in essence drastically increase oxygenation and make colonization by beneficial bacterium happen more rapidly. Let me know what you think if you did in fact make it through my incoherent ramble, your opinion is highly valued, especially since you designed and built this system yourself.
peace
o yeah any pics of the plants in the system like you said? like neoprene collar and bucket shot, you know what i mean ? thnx
Nice plants btw, isn't 85 at the tops a bit warm? I'd get a fan blowing over the tops 85 seems high to me.
Do you think just the 1"pvc elbow is enough as far as air exchange is concerned? I might be over engineering shit but what about a small intake and exhaust fan on each bucket? I know I know, what a pain in the ass that would be, but it would provide a shit ton more air circulation to your buckets, and thus provide a shit ton more oxygen to your plants. The crazy thing is It'd be like 30 seperate mini bio-bucket systems, but all linked together and working together...wow, yeah im def stoned does that makes sense or na? :kitty:
I'm kind of playing off your idea to have a separate "waterfall" in each bucket, and treating each one like the control bucket in big tokes system (he just has a waterfall and an intake + exhaust fan) which would in essence drastically increase oxygenation and make colonization by beneficial bacterium happen more rapidly. Let me know what you think if you did in fact make it through my incoherent ramble, your opinion is highly valued, especially since you designed and built this system yourself.
peace
o yeah any pics of the plants in the system like you said? like neoprene collar and bucket shot, you know what i mean ? thnx
ItsAllOver
Devil's Advocate
Nice. I learned a lot scanning through this thread to this point and tagged.
If anyone finds links to similar systems please do share, or pm them to lightning bug as I'm sure he would be interested in seeing them as well, and of course it should be left to his discretion if he wants said links in this thread or not.
cheers
cheers
I
idoreallytry
looks nice in there bro glad u got ur problem figured out,,,peace
