RDWC Build.... So far so good

hicountry1 said:

DWC is deep water culture meaning the plant roots are submerged in water, RDWC means recirculating deep water culture where several plant sites share a common water source that circulates through the system.

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the system i have is 16 pots with a header tank the same size as my pots. All connected together in 4x4 rows. the header pot has a pump, pumping water round for top feed. What system does that make mine?

Does your system only feed the buckets? Do they drain in any way? How are the buckets connected together?

hicountry1 said:

Man, bought the 3" unseals and I think I really screwed myself. They require a 4" holesaw and after cutting such a big hole the bucket now lacks the strength to allow the pipe through. Also w such a big hole the uniseal does not evenly fit because of the round shape of the buckets. Any advice or back to the drawing board for me?

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Best advice I received was to bevel the edges of the pvc, so they slip into the uniseals easier. I just used an old grinder and took off the sharp edge. Even the 2" seals stick out from the buckets a little, I flipped my buckets upside down and put one side against the wall, then started at an angle and pushed up and in, and they went in pretty easy. I also just used windex for a lubricant to help get them in there.

blackforest said:

Does your system only feed the buckets? Do they drain in any way? How are the buckets connected together?

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The buckets are connected by a 25mm pipe at the bottom of the bucket with a 25mm pipe at high level to prevent flooding. The pump from my header pot takes water from the system and top feeds.
they do not drain in anyway.

coopersheldon said:

The buckets are connected by a 25mm pipe at the bottom of the bucket with a 25mm pipe at high level to prevent flooding. The pump from my header pot takes water from the system and top feeds.
they do not drain in anyway.

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Yes, that is a RDWC system more or less because all the pots are sharing the same water. Mine for example is considered an undercurrent RDWC system. There are a couple kinds, but if they are sharing water then it's basically 'recirculating' from my understanding.

So I went to MX for a week and put the system on auto pilot, came back and everything was perfect. I did upgrade to a 32gal reservoir right before I left, and I'm glad I did. The girls were going into week 7 of flower, and apparently they were thirsty because they drank about 25 gallons over 7 days! I was a little nervous because the float valve stuck one time before a few weeks ago and the rez was not topping off the system, but there were no problems and everything worked great. Going to change the water out tonight and start a 1 week flush. Frost factor is unreal, smells crazy sour dank.

blackforest said:

So I went to MX for a week and put the system on auto pilot, came back and everything was perfect. I did upgrade to a 32gal reservoir right before I left, and I'm glad I did. The girls were going into week 7 of flower, and apparently they were thirsty because they drank about 25 gallons over 7 days! I was a little nervous because the float valve stuck one time before a few weeks ago and the rez was not topping off the system, but there were no problems and everything worked great. Going to change the water out tonight and start a 1 week flush. Frost factor is unreal, smells crazy sour dank.

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Got any photos man? sounds lovely

coopersheldon said:

Got any photos man? sounds lovely

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Just started trimming tonight, will put up some pics tomorrow for sure. Had to quit cause I was getting nauseous from the sour dank smell, it's pretty over powering!
Here was my office for the week while in MX and some awesome *cough* mota. Was about 3/4 an oz for like thirty bucks. Pretty crappy, but seedless, and I could not finish it all. I'm sure I could have got it cheaper, but why bother when it's practically delivered w/ a pacifico too.

Turned out really good. Still drying, and smelling great. I'll defiantly be doing the same system again, was very easy, cheap to maintain, and was on autopilot w/ simple GH Lucas formula. Very happy with the results.

Nice work! Looks delicious will you be doing same strain again or trying something new?

Finally got my system set up w the 2" uniseals, tried all of your tricks but was still a struggle getting 5 in a row Here's a pic of the buckets and the girls. Using Botanicare KIND this run and am super stoked, their base is a 4-0-0 and bloom is a 0-6-6 so using those in the same fashion as Lucas formula. So far so good, good luck on your next run!

hicountry1 said:

Nice work! Looks delicious will you be doing same strain again or trying something new?

Finally got my system set up w the 2" uniseals, tried all of your tricks but was still a struggle getting 5 in a row Here's a pic of the buckets and the girls. Using Botanicare KIND this run and am super stoked, their base is a 4-0-0 and bloom is a 0-6-6 so using those in the same fashion as Lucas formula. So far so good, good luck on your next run!

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That looks sick man! I'm glad you were able to get the system up and running well. I'm sure you will yield very well. I got 21oz out of my harvest of 6 plants which I thought was pretty good since 4 were vegged for 2 weeks and the other 2 were not vegged at all. I absolutely love Blue Power, this pheno is especially dank. I'm a veteran smoker and this had me blazed hardcore yesterday on the slopes! Next run will be something different because the blue power mom's are not ready for clones yet and I'm ready to flip the switch on a new batch. I'm going to do 6 in soil only because they are already 2 months old and ready now. With this system I need to setup another 6 site for veg. Good luck to all rdwc growers out there!

blackforest said:

Just started trimming tonight, will put up some pics tomorrow for sure. Had to quit cause I was getting nauseous from the sour dank smell, it's pretty over powering!
Here was my office for the week while in MX and some awesome *cough* mota. Was about 3/4 an oz for like thirty bucks. Pretty crappy, but seedless, and I could not finish it all. I'm sure I could have got it cheaper, but why bother when it's practically delivered w/ a pacifico too.

View attachment 3338048 View attachment 3338049 View attachment 3338054View attachment 3338051

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Nice! Cabo? Mazatlan? Vallarta? Actually looks like La Paz upon closer inspection. Ahh, the old Mexi schwag....it looks a lot better than the shit I used to get back in the 90s, that's for sure. Sensi from Mexi wasn't even a possibility back in those days...lol.

hicountry1 said:

Nice work! Looks delicious will you be doing same strain again or trying something new?

Finally got my system set up w the 2" uniseals, tried all of your tricks but was still a struggle getting 5 in a row Here's a pic of the buckets and the girls. Using Botanicare KIND this run and am super stoked, their base is a 4-0-0 and bloom is a 0-6-6 so using those in the same fashion as Lucas formula. So far so good, good luck on your next run!

View attachment 3340193 View attachment 3340194

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how long did you veg those bad boys?

coopersheldon said:

how long did you veg those bad boys?

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50 days clone to flower, excited to see how they do!

Started a journal to document my progress if anyone is interested

https://www.rollitup.org/Journal/Entry/undercurrent-rdwc-w-750-gavitas.30987/

hey man this is awsome! im thinking of doing a two bucket 5 gal system with the one res.. im just confused on how to set up the res to connect to the two dwc buckets i have. ill do some research on the rdwc.