Building a UCDWC System, help appreciated.

PetFlora said:

How about a layer of lava rock in the bottom of each tub. If rocks are slightly above level of the water line, as water flows over the top of the jagged rocks, that should create lots of moist air above the water line. Similar to a running river

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I can't see any benefit from doing this as i am running air stones

Soupsah said:

You should leave your inline pump outside of your rez (keep rez cooler, simper to setup, etc.) as well as go 2" pvc on the last buckets or you will get your roots clogged.

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good advice

ok so i re did ur work just as an idea after looking at my tent its 4x4 and ran the pipe through the 8" hole at the bottom for no light leaks and all pipe gose through this port. air stones are marked red with red lines to air pump through 3" port at back of tent. would this work? and what pipes/tubing would it need to run smooth from res to pots then back to pump to res ? im about to go to lowes n shop around?
this was modified to fit my tent with his idea

you might need a slightly bigger pump, but i cant see how it wouldn't work. although you should use 2" PVC between the last two planters instead of the smaller line.

so 2 inch all th way round an 1 inch going back to pump? with a 250 pump

2 inch all around, with 3/4" return. the pump size i am still researching a bit more. i don't want to go with like a 1000ghp and have the back buckets constantly at the lower water level than the buckets closer to the res.

I left a few messages on youtube, waiting to get a response.

Found a great idea.

Going to do the same here but i'll make sure the top of my box is higher than the tote so i can put another board ontop as the Res Lid/ Work surface (being sturdy as hell i bet) and the insulation will keep res temperatures less effected by ambient air temperature. all i need to do is buy a cheap water cooler stand and rip out the internals to make a chiller. and booyah. Colder waters down to 58f will hold more total DO (dissolved oxygen) than warmer waters.

Your water leavel will be the same in all your buckets. You have water entering a bucket at the same rate the water is exiting.. I would for sure go 2 inch all way around.

lol seem like a mees of a job i seen a few pumps dose it matter if they r on the out side cause theres a few power heads that move water verry well and dont cost much i had one in my 125gal tank that mooved water around nicely.
as for cooling your water what about a rad from a car with the fan it be a 12v so u could plug it rite in and would drop the temps for sure (less mess) and cheap lol

so i went to home depot and found some pumps and prices for this build. i think im gonna get #7 for my setup
1) Angelo Décor40 GPH Fountain Pump
$9.99
2)Angelo Décor55 GPH Fountain Pump
$11.99
3)Pond Building Series™100 GPH Pond Pump with Fountain Nozzles
$27.99
4)Angelo Décor110 GPH Fountain Pump
$17.99
5)Angelo Décor150 GPH Fountain Pump
$24.99
6)Angelo Décor180 GPH Fountain Pump
$29.99
7)Angelo DécorContainer Water Garden Kit 200 GPH Pump With Nozzles
$39.99
Angelo Décor300 GPH Fountain Pump
$44.99
9)Angelo Décor400 GPH Fountain / Pond Pump
$49.99
10)Angelo DécorPond Pump - 600 GPH Pro Grade
$59.99
11)Angelo DécorPond Pump - 800 GPH Pro Grade
$79.99
12)Angelo DécorPond Pump - 1000 GPH Pro Grade
$99.99
13)Angelo DécorWaterfall Pump 2500 GPH
$149.99

Maaan Fuuuck i just made a loong reply to try n help u out but i wasnt logged in and if disapeered when i went back....So here it is kinda shortend up... I have built 4 UC systems for myself and friends and theirs a few things you must know before trying to build..

First- 50gal or less total dont go over 350gph watwr pump.. If you go over it will pull your roots through you pvc and into other buckets and even back into your return line... the current is just to strong and it will clog up your return as soon as the roots are long enough.. go with the danner mag drive 250gph ive been using them forever and they are very well built and long lasting...

Second- Get square buckets if your using uniseals.. Round buckets seem to leak sometimes... Get square and you wont have to worry about it... use either 1 1/2" or 2" pvc.. Both work very good for 5 gal buckets..

Third- Air pump, its better to go a little bigger than smaller... More oxygen = better happier roots...

Fourth- run your nutes at 1/4 strength of what the companies schedule is... I use Dutch Master Gold A+B and DM Zone and never go over 850ppms even at peak flowering... Zone keeps your roots healthy and white..

Fifth- This is the most important one.... GET A WATER CHILLER!!! Your roots will get rot and be mush without one... You may be able to sneak by without one during winter bringing in cold winter air but when summer time/spring rolls around you will be screwed... Note that your water pump and air pump heats up your water more than you might think... If you want to be sucsessful in your grow get a chiller for real... This cant be said enough... It is the best insurance policy ever, like Allstate i garuantee it...

If you have any questions ill be around here and their but most of my time is spent over at the farm in the UC thread... I wish u the best... And GET A CHILLER!!!

also 58 degree water is way to low... it will cause extremely slow growth you want to be between 62 at the lowest and 68 at the highest

awesome help man thank for the pointers verr helpful

babyhughie said:

Maaan Fuuuck i just made a loong reply to try n help u out but i wasnt logged in and if disapeered when i went back....So here it is kinda shortend up... I have built 4 UC systems for myself and friends and theirs a few things you must know before trying to build..

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Dude, THANK YOU. this was such a bitch to find information on, especially good information....

Ok going to try to find square 5 gallon buckets, are uni-seals a good choice or is there a better option?

Should i have a valve on my return line to slow the pump down? and what size of return line should i run from the 2" in the back (in this pic)?

Also what kind of line should of run off the back 2" PVC? a thick black semi-flexible hose or PVC?

How should i pick out a res? (higher than square buckets? wider?)

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T29S6x8yMDs/UQAq1opn22I/AAAAAAAABCY/CBq9NHzfNJ8/s1443/ucdwcv3.jpg

69Bandit said:

I can't see any benefit from doing this as i am running air stones

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I hear you, but IMHO, fast flowing water over rocks will replace air stones, as the fast moving water flows over rocks causing turbulence will be creating air (and more, like energy).

I have been thinking how to incorporate it into mine, but I top feed and it's only a few ounces per each plant, which drains back to the rez. So... anyone?

PetFlora said:

I hear you, but IMHO, fast flowing water over rocks will replace air stones, as the fast moving water flows over rocks causing turbulence will be creating air (and more, like energy).

I have been thinking how to incorporate it into mine, but I top feed and it's only a few ounces per each plant, which drains back to the rez. So... anyone?

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UC doesn't run that fast, i am thinking that would work really good in a NFT system. could put the NFT Tubes on a higher angle and run a slightly larger pump...

then again i don't have alot of knowledge about NFT type systems


I am working on a final version of the UC System.


also petflora, I made an order online for air pots and nutes etc etc. phoned them after two weeks cause it hadnt shipped yet and they said they couldn't get air pots. so i asked if i could get 6" netpots and hydroton etc. buddy said he would talk to his shipping manager and find out (since it was from the US to canada) and two weeks later (yesterday) it shipped. so i have no idea if i have air pots or net pots coming... lol

if its net pots, then i am going UCDWC. air pots... i'll adapt your F&D system to work with my 5.2 gal air pots.

^^ what prevents it from running faster? Supercharge that mofo. I THINK it will be worth it...

PetFlora said:

^^ what prevents it from running faster? Supercharge that mofo. I THINK it will be worth it...

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Faster is most likely not better, problems arise when running higher pressures like leaks or floods and it might even damage roots.

Rather keep my roots in the same bucket with air stone bubbles bathing the roots and just enough water movement to keep the heavier elements circulating.

petflora if you dont have experience building or running a diy UC keep your ideas to yourself...No offense but the UC a pretty complex system and if you try to supercharge your system or over think things you will run into problems... I thought originally running a bigger return pump would be better but man was i wrong.. Itll cause roots to clog up your return lines with the quickness... luckilly i had installed a shut off valve for my return line so i just closed that up halfway so no problems would exist... i had a 1100gph water pump for 8-8gal buckets and 1 8gal rez...also your idea for the rocks in the bottom would fail because the rocks would be pulled into the return line and clog it up... This sumtimes still happens with hydroton slipping through the net pots... i clean out my return after every run..