New setup advice needed

JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
BShillington said:
The Gotham Hydro tents actually come with premade duct ports with drawstrings. Also, if you're worried about light leakage just get some reflective tape, those do wonders.
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Yeah, I was checking those out. They look really good. I've been trying to find one with side ports on the bottom cause I'm going to have my chiller on the side of the tent. I guess with a good enough pump I should be able to push the water around some bends.

When pushing water through a chiller (1/10th hp say), does it retain enough flow to go into a controller at the same level or are these usually set higher so the flow is gravity fed into the controller? Again, I would guess with a good enough pump it would work.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Shit...still can't find square black 5 gallon containers. I want to use 2" pipe but from what I've been reading bulkheads leak on anything larger than 1/2" or so and I'm reading mixed things about uniseals. I could get some totes but I'd really like to have square containers so they don't take up a lot of space.

On this post this guy's using 2" pvc with uniseals which is the way I want to go but I see a towel in a couple pics that leads me to believe he's got leaks.
http://www.420magazine.com/forums/abandoned-journals/188649-danner-s-dwc-uc-white-widow-journal-2013-a.html

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Also, I used to have a Rio 3100 water pump and I loved it. I was planning on getting another for my setup. Would this be powerful enough for this configuration: six buckets > pump > chiller > controller
 
Beezcheeze

Beezcheeze

Well-Known Member
I have square black buckets. 8 and 13 gallon. There in the hydro farm catalog. Call your local hydro store and prefer trough them if you have to. I have 2" uniseals and as long as you use 3" hole saw bit. Screw in to get the center point drilled out. As it catches the teeth of the hole saw go in reverse with the slightest pressure downwards. Try to keep it straight it will want to go crooked at times. Don't drill it out too fast, and don't do it too slow. You'll get it it's easy. I have zero leaks but creating a frame around the outside And lining it wouldnt be a bad idea. My tent has35 gallon spill tray and my res outside the tent will have an overflow tube going to a 40 gallon tub just in case things get clogged up. But I'm not worried about any leaks man. Dry as a bone. Be sure to bevel pvc edges. Take them somewhere and pay to have them done, or I just used a pocketknife gently to round it off, sprayed windex and forced her in. I couodnt get them in before beveling.
 
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Beezcheeze

Beezcheeze

Well-Known Member
I use danar 950 gph pump for my 4 bucket grow. It's perfect. I'd suggest a bit more like 1200 for your setup. Can put a valve inline to adjust flow of need be. My 950 pushes water through my 4 bucket system perfectly. But I wouldn't add more. I calculated it circulates all of the 45 gallons every 15 min. Or something.
* edit I redid the math more like every 3 min. For my setup
 
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JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Beezcheeze said:
Here's my cloner too. Had to go in a 5 gallon tho.
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Very cool. That's how I want to do mine except with 6 buckets.

Beezcheeze said:
As it catches the teeth of the hole saw go in reverse with the slightest pressure downwards. Try to keep it straight it will want to go crooked at times
Click to expand...
That's great advice. I would always take a block of wood and hold it tightly against the back as I drilled while the hole bit. I would keep drilling in the forward direction but I can see how going backwards would be easier. I learned how to do that the hard way after cracking too many containers :-)

Beezcheeze said:
Be sure to bevel pvc edges
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Is that to help the pvc slide into the uniseal? I should be able to do that with my dremmel fairly easily.
 
Beezcheeze

Beezcheeze

Well-Known Member
JSB99 said:
Very cool. That's how I want to do mine except with 6 buckets.



That's great advice. I would always take a block of wood and hold it tightly against the back as I drilled while the hole bit. I would keep drilling in the forward direction but I can see how going backwards would be easier. I learned how to do that the hard way after cracking too many containers :-)



Is that to help the pvc slide into the uniseal? I should be able to do that with my dremmel fairly easily.
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Yup that's how I learned lol. Didn't bother to read on it I learn the hard way only lol. Yes Dremel is perfect a nice rough grinder would work best. My Dremel lockijg and unlocking part where you attach bits stripped out so I was stuck doing it With my knife. Didn't take much just made it half as thin around the edge
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Beezcheeze said:
Yup that's how I learned lol. Didn't bother to read on it I learn the hard way only lol. Yes Dremel is perfect a nice rough grinder would work best. My Dremel lockijg and unlocking part where you attach bits stripped out so I was stuck doing it With my knife. Didn't take much just made it half as thin around the edge
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Can't live without my Dremmel :-) I've gone through a couple dremmel 4000's but every time something stops working Dremmel sends me a new one.

Couldn't find those buckets in the hydrofarm catalog but I did eventually find them here...
https://sunlightsupply.com/shop/bycategory/pots-containers/ez-store-container-buckets-8-and-13-gallon-and-lid

Pricey but I'll pay a little extra to have better chance at controlling leaks.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Used to have an ecoplus commercial air pump (piston pump) and man, that thing was loud. Looking for a much quieter dependable pump for 6 buckets and for the reservoir to de-chlorinate the water. Water's pretty soft up here so I don't know if that's even necessary.

Any suggestions?
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
JSB99 said:
Used to have an ecoplus commercial air pump (piston pump) and man, that thing was loud. Looking for a much quieter dependable pump for 6 buckets and for the reservoir to de-chlorinate the water. Water's pretty soft up here so I don't know if that's even necessary.

Any suggestions?
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Air Force Pro looks pretty good. Not sure what size I should get though
 
dbkick

dbkick

Well-Known Member
hydrologic small boy or tall boy to filter the chlorine IF your city isn't using chloramine. I know it's not a air pump but it will filter chlorine .
probably take two general hydroponics 4 outlet dual diaphragm pumps and they aren't real cheap but def quiet.
 
B

BShillington

Member
JSB99 said:
Yeah, I was checking those out. They look really good. I've been trying to find one with side ports on the bottom cause I'm going to have my chiller on the side of the tent. I guess with a good enough pump I should be able to push the water around some bends.

When pushing water through a chiller (1/10th hp say), does it retain enough flow to go into a controller at the same level or are these usually set higher so the flow is gravity fed into the controller? Again, I would guess with a good enough pump it would work.
Click to expand...
Actually the 4x8 tent I bought actually had a lower side vent that I routed my plumping through. Didn't have to worry about pumping water up. As for flow, if the water gets moving, it'll keep moving. As in if the pump can make the water flow forwards, unless you have a leak it's going to keep going.
 
Beezcheeze

Beezcheeze

Well-Known Member
i used the square 8 gallon buckets wth food top lids from hydro farm because I want to drill 3" net pots for the top. I'll be cloning my plants in 2" net pots with foam inserts which can be popped directly into my rdwc system into the 3" net pots. Just a small amount of clay pebbles is all you need. From my research and from what I tried this time it seems like in this style of hydropinics less medium is better for what I'm doing. I'm doing a 5 gallon rdwc in my 2x4 veg tent with 3.5 gallon buckets and 1.5" maybe 1" uniseals. I'll use the lids from my square buckets that will sit on top of the 3.5 gal buckets(round). That way when it comes time to move them to my flower tent I just pop the whole lid on the bigger buckets it's meant for. If I didn't do this I coudlnt get the 3" net pots out cause the roots. Zip tie your net pots to the lids for support. I'm also going to put small eyelets on the top of the lids probably 20 going all around the 2" hole. I'll use these to start my training during veg, then scrog in flower tent
 
B

BShillington

Member
Only dechlorinate if you're running bennies, otherwise there will always be a chance of pythium infection which isn't fun.

As for the air pumps, you can always get a small one for each bucket - much more resilient if one fails and the smaller they are the less sound they make.

One last tip - go with the smallest mesh pot you can get away with. It just means you have less grow media to deal with i.e. wash or throw out. The roots will be hanging out anyway.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
BShillington said:
Only dechlorinate if you're running bennies, otherwise there will always be a chance of pythium infection which isn't fun.

As for the air pumps, you can always get a small one for each bucket - much more resilient if one fails and the smaller they are the less sound they make.

One last tip - go with the smallest mesh pot you can get away with. It just means you have less grow media to deal with i.e. wash or throw out. The roots will be hanging out anyway.
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Gotcha. Not sure what you mean by "bennies", but I have heard a little chlorination is okay to kill off fungus and stuff. Interesting idea about the multiple pumps but I'm not too worried about the sound and if the pump dies I can run up the road to my local hydro shop and get a replacement quickly. I do like redundancy though. As a former senior software engineer/database developer that was always in mind :-)
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
Beezcheeze said:
i used the square 8 gallon buckets wth food top lids from hydro farm because I want to drill 3" net pots for the top. I'll be cloning my plants in 2" net pots with foam inserts which can be popped directly into my rdwc system into the 3" net pots. Just a small amount of clay pebbles is all you need. From my research and from what I tried this time it seems like in this style of hydropinics less medium is better for what I'm doing. I'm doing a 5 gallon rdwc in my 2x4 veg tent with 3.5 gallon buckets and 1.5" maybe 1" uniseals. I'll use the lids from my square buckets that will sit on top of the 3.5 gal buckets(round). That way when it comes time to move them to my flower tent I just pop the whole lid on the bigger buckets it's meant for. If I didn't do this I coudlnt get the 3" net pots out cause the roots. Zip tie your net pots to the lids for support. I'm also going to put small eyelets on the top of the lids probably 20 going all around the 2" hole. I'll use these to start my training during veg, then scrog in flower tent
Click to expand...
So do you just grow them out with the neoprene inserts or do you take them off once established? I'll be using those for cloning as well and it does sound a lot easier.
 
JSB99

JSB99

Well-Known Member
I've built so many cloners and I'm kind of tired of it. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive quality cloner? Only need 12 at most.
 
B

BShillington

Member
JSB99 said:
Gotcha. Not sure what you mean by "bennies", but I have heard a little chlorination is okay to kill off fungus and stuff. Interesting idea about the multiple pumps but I'm not too worried about the sound and if the pump dies I can run up the road to my local hydro shop and get a replacement quickly. I do like redundancy though. As a former senior software engineer/database developer that was always in mind :-)
Click to expand...
Beneficial bacteria/fungi. If you don't run a water chiller then you would want to run bennies to keep the harmful fungi like pythium away.

Google Heisenberg Tea for more on that. You can brew a batch with "Myco Madness" and maybe some ancient forest /w some molasses and an aerated bucket.

As for cloners, never built one myself. Just took cuttings, dipped them in gel and plugged them in a little root cube. Roots would pop out the bottom in a few days under light /w a humidome. Always considered building a cloner but never got to it and it didn't really matter in the end.
 
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