BornGreen1987
Well-Known Member
Hey Growers,
It's been a long time coming but I'm back on the horse.
I wanted to try something different this time and after doing a lot of research decided to do an RDWC system with a waterfall return. As you can see it's a 6 3.5 gallon bucket system with a 5 gallon Res. I went with 3.5s because I don't have much vertical space. They're in 6 inch net pots with grow stones as the media. I thought about going with Hydroton but I heard they have a lot of dust and need to be soaked in pHed water for 24 hours so I decided to go with the growstones. Airstones in each bucket. The Res is kept outside of the tent as it's an attic and I'm hoping the winter will help control water temp. Seeds were sprouted in growplugs under a CFL until about 3" tall then recently transplanted to netpots.
1" passive lines on the bottom, 3/4" return line with a 500 GPH pump.
The lights are Cree CXB3590s, 5 3500K, 3 6500K mounted on circular pin heatsinks on a custom frame. The driver can run at 1400 mA but I installed a 50K Ohm Potentiometer which dims them to about half of their full capacity. After a while I'll disconnect the potentiometer and let them run at 100%. May throw a 600w or 1000w MH/HPS in there at some point depending on how they grow.
Still working on wrangling the rats nest of wires but expect to be able to do that soon.
Strains are mostly local from a guy in RI who does a lot of breeding. Giving them a shot to see how they work out.
Res pHed to 5.8 with enough Neptune's Harvest, Europonics Fossil Fuel, and I believe Botanicare Pure Blend to bring the EC to ~450 uS. Res temps are a little high, around 72 and already considering a chiller.
Plants aren't looking great right now but I expect them to come around once the roots hit the buckets. One problem I'm facing is the water isn't completely level in all buckets so the water is already touching the bottom of some of the net pots. Hoping this doesn't confuse the roots and they still grow out the bottom.
Lessons learned:
- Growstones give off a hell of a lot of dust as well
- Poly pipe does not like to make 90 degree angles, use barbed elbows
- Leaking is something you should expect, buy lots of hose clamps
- Space out lights and plants accordingly. I made 6' COB bars but the lights don't line up with the plants so the light isn't concentrated at the time being.
- Don't pH water for growplugs
- Always check craigslist before buying something new.
Hope some of you will hang around and give me tips as I move forward. This is my first Hydro experience so any and all advice is appreciated.
Peace.
It's been a long time coming but I'm back on the horse.
I wanted to try something different this time and after doing a lot of research decided to do an RDWC system with a waterfall return. As you can see it's a 6 3.5 gallon bucket system with a 5 gallon Res. I went with 3.5s because I don't have much vertical space. They're in 6 inch net pots with grow stones as the media. I thought about going with Hydroton but I heard they have a lot of dust and need to be soaked in pHed water for 24 hours so I decided to go with the growstones. Airstones in each bucket. The Res is kept outside of the tent as it's an attic and I'm hoping the winter will help control water temp. Seeds were sprouted in growplugs under a CFL until about 3" tall then recently transplanted to netpots.
1" passive lines on the bottom, 3/4" return line with a 500 GPH pump.
The lights are Cree CXB3590s, 5 3500K, 3 6500K mounted on circular pin heatsinks on a custom frame. The driver can run at 1400 mA but I installed a 50K Ohm Potentiometer which dims them to about half of their full capacity. After a while I'll disconnect the potentiometer and let them run at 100%. May throw a 600w or 1000w MH/HPS in there at some point depending on how they grow.
Still working on wrangling the rats nest of wires but expect to be able to do that soon.Strains are mostly local from a guy in RI who does a lot of breeding. Giving them a shot to see how they work out.
Res pHed to 5.8 with enough Neptune's Harvest, Europonics Fossil Fuel, and I believe Botanicare Pure Blend to bring the EC to ~450 uS. Res temps are a little high, around 72 and already considering a chiller.
Plants aren't looking great right now but I expect them to come around once the roots hit the buckets. One problem I'm facing is the water isn't completely level in all buckets so the water is already touching the bottom of some of the net pots. Hoping this doesn't confuse the roots and they still grow out the bottom.
Lessons learned:
- Growstones give off a hell of a lot of dust as well
- Poly pipe does not like to make 90 degree angles, use barbed elbows
- Leaking is something you should expect, buy lots of hose clamps
- Space out lights and plants accordingly. I made 6' COB bars but the lights don't line up with the plants so the light isn't concentrated at the time being.
- Don't pH water for growplugs
- Always check craigslist before buying something new.
Hope some of you will hang around and give me tips as I move forward. This is my first Hydro experience so any and all advice is appreciated.
Peace.
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