55G Tote Aero/Dwc

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-55-Gal-Storage-Tote-in-Black-HDX55GONLINE-4/205597365

We’re all familiar with the aero-cloner, double stack tote aero, aero dwc, fencepost aero/NFT, etc

Has anyone grown aero/dwc in large containers with larger plant numbers? I’m looking at these 55gal heavy duty totes. 45”Lx20”W.

The larger reservoir should keep water temps lower, correct?

How many plants would be the max in this setup, assuming a short veg period for the clones then right to 12/12? The squares on the lid are either 4-5 inches apart depending on whether you measure adjacent or diagonal.

I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’m assuming there’s a reason I haven’t seen anything like this before. I just need someone to poke some holes in my idea

Granthony said:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-55-Gal-Storage-Tote-in-Black-HDX55GONLINE-4/205597365

We’re all familiar with the aero-cloner, double stack tote aero, aero dwc, fencepost aero/NFT, etc

Has anyone grown aero/dwc in large containers with larger plant numbers? I’m looking at these 55gal heavy duty totes. 45”Lx20”W.

The larger reservoir should keep water temps lower, correct?

How many plants would be the max in this setup, assuming a short veg period for the clones then right to 12/12? The squares on the lid are either 4-5 inches apart depending on whether you measure adjacent or diagonal.

I’m just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks. I’m assuming there’s a reason I haven’t seen anything like this before. I just need someone to poke some holes in my idea

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I did 45 gallon totes thinking the same things and it was aweful. Super prone to root issues and expensive on the nutes. For me, when i did hydro, 5 gallon dwc was king.

growingforfun said:

I did 45 gallon totes thinking the same things and it was aweful. Super prone to root issues and expensive on the nutes. For me, when i did hydro, 5 gallon dwc was king.

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Was your grow straight dwc or aero?

I’m partial to the aero/dwc setup. I’ve done it on a very small scale before but I’m trying to ramp it up

Granthony said:

Was your grow straight dwc or aero?

I’m partial to the aero/dwc setup. I’ve done it on a very small scale before but I’m trying to ramp it up

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I mean... it was the nute change cost and root issues that make me say this wasmt a good call for me. There were so many bubbles and air pump action it was insane. Im sure it could have been done better, but for me a 5 gal bucket was 1000x easier. I litterally couldnt make the big totes work, while the rest of my shit was easy street.

growingforfun said:

I mean... it was the nute change cost and root issues that make me say this wasmt a good call for me. There were so many bubbles and air pump action it was insane. Im sure it could have been done better, but for me a 5 gal bucket was 1000x easier. I litterally couldnt make the big totes work, while the rest of my shit was easy street.

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Sounds like you’ve been down that path. I’ll look into doing the 5-gal. How crazy is the maintenance if you have multiple buckets not on a single RDWC rez? I want to have them at different stages of growth so they’ll need different nute strengths

Granthony said:

Sounds like you’ve been down that path. I’ll look into doing the 5-gal. How crazy is the maintenance if you have multiple buckets not on a single RDWC rez? I want to have them at different stages of growth so they’ll need different mute strengths

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I did a 8 site hydro farm, worked well but i didnt like it as much as the 5 gallon single site dwc. Like you say, diff plants like diff nutes. In my case even some clones drank faster or slower or wanted more or less nutes. A res is great but at the same time hands on garden time is important too.

growingforfun said:

I did a 8 site hydro farm, worked well but i didnt like it as much as the 5 gallon single site dwc. Like you say, diff plants like diff nutes. In my case even some clones drank faster or slower or wanted more or less nutes. A res is great but at the same time hands on garden time is important too.

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You keep moms in soil or hydro? Or do you just take your clones from veg plants?

Granthony said:

You keep moms in soil or hydro? Or do you just take your clones from veg plants?

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At the time i had soil moms. Now i do all soil, just easier for me because nothing can go wrong am lose a crop. But at this point im fine to take clone a few weeks into flower no problem too so its not as big a deal as i used to think as far as that goes.

Here's a set up I developed and used to veg my current crops. It works great but the mist heads clog occasionally: a pre-filter would resolve that.

I combine a 305 gph low pressure pump with high pressure aero mist heads

I recommend to start seedlings/clones in a small veg version then transfer the best to the 55

You could grow 3 nice plants in the 55

Make sure to get a big tent so you can walk around the 55 to trim, defol, etc

hth

PS I sent you a PM

five gal. dwc buckets all at different time makes huge plants waiting to go in flower tent. what works for me is no res.change in veg stopped the root problems i just add water and mega crop as needed as plants grow in veg.

Terry385 said:

five gal. dwc buckets all at different time makes huge plants waiting to go in flower tent. what works for me is no res.change in veg stopped the root problems i just add water and mega crop as needed as plants grow in veg.View attachment 4128467 View attachment 4128468

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Seems like a perfect way to do perpetual since everything is so easy to move. You could put a 5-gal into flower once a week and harvest a plant every week if you wanted to.

have 7 plants to fit in tent they are a week apart want more like every 3 weeks but not going to happen growing fast as hell in veg. "Megacrop" some really good nutrient

Terry385 said:

have 7 plants to fit in tent they are a week apart want more like every 3 weeks but not going to happen growing fast as hell in veg. "Megacrop" some really good nutrient

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How’s it compare to Botanicare? I’m always wary about changing teams

it's super easy to use one part dry nutrient i go by ppm. weight it out what it say check ppm now i know how much to add to keep plants happy, each week gets more. i tried free sample and liked it. only botanicare i use is RHIZO BLAST in cloner works great