Do I need a reservoir?

cyanarnofsky

cyanarnofsky

Active Member
SignLab Print and Cut - Untitled1.CDL.jpgIn theory this should be fine right? I want to do just 2 buckets and get away from having my 2 plants in the same tote. My big question is with just 2 do I really need a rez? I will have vaulves on everything so cleaning and dumping water isn't an issue they will disconnect easily. Both will have individual air stones in them, with a flow tube the levels should remain equal. Right now I have a 18 gallon tote with 2 plants but it is a pain for changing water and I already cracked one tote that flooded water everywhere hah, seems like this would essentially be the same thing as a tote but keeping the plant roots a bit separated and a lot easier for cleaning. I would be running the top feed rings 24/7 as they are running that now. Thanks for input guys!
 
well I already have all these parts from my tote setup, and I have heard that plants really take to top feeding and its a
great way to keep water movement.
 
I think basically it is a 2 pail DWC joined by a hose. Why is a good question? Just dont connect them then issues with one plant arent transferred to both IMO
 
i run a 100L res ane about 135L total (6 plants)with a pump in each and it does'nt seem to raise temps much but i am going to time one of the systems this week to see if there are ant differences re: temp, growth although this time of year temps are not a huge deal for me.
 
I run 200l res's and i can tell u for a fact any pump will add temp to a res, ive tested it many times in many sizes, but in a design like what this poster wants it will be detrimental.
 
I dunno about that rez temp concern. Since I moved from my 18 gallon tote (which had about 10 gal of water) to this dual bucket system my rez has gone from a constant 74-75 to 69-70 degrees so it seems the smaller water containers has allowed better cooling. The larger on the right grew 2 inches in 48 hours as well which it has not done since the tote.
10ymidj.jpg

Temps in my basement are actually very cool. Suppose I was thinking easy way to get top feed but also for water circulation. For rez temps though you also have to look at pressure not just quantity. Why most likely my tote was warmer was the water is together to hold temp better but also since more water is behind the pump connection you will have more pressure on the pump system that moves the water...generating more heat. With this design you have less pressure on the pump mechanics as the water is flooded in much slower. As I have seen so far. 5degree drop and has held that consistently. I could see with HPS when I flower needing to cover this up with a reflector and the tubes to keep those from picking up heat.
 
I was surprised but I'm not concerned at this point. It went from 24 to 21.5. In a couple of weeks I'll be running at appr. 21 due to ambient temps anyways. As far as more pressure behind pump I'm not sure if it would run hotter or cooler. More pressure entering may make it run easier to pump, less work, less heat, interesting. My res's did did get into the high 20's couple of weeks ago and the plants actually seemed to perk up a bit, (and no slime 😊) but wtf do I know lol. Could have been a normal growth spurt. Girls are only 19 days old today.
 
Ya I'll post one tonight its time for a photo shoot anyways. I flipped them last night as well. Well not really flipped but shortened to 14 and i'll bring that down to 12 over 4-5 days. I am doing a run of White Russian and it stretches like a MF. Critical is doing real well!
 
For grins, last grow I ran two self-contained 3g buckets. Worked great, BUT buckets were too small. Looks like you have 5g buckets, which would be minimum.

Better is a modified system with an outboard rez. It's easier all the way around.

View attachment 2842646
 
Bought a 1000w HPS today for flowering this time around (was going to get a 400w but I would like to eventually do 4 buckets and guy did $140 for ballast, reflector, bulb since he supposedly bought too many 1000w ballasts in a bulk deal). 400HPS full setup was $168... :p My soil grow flowered only CFL was a bit disappointed. Pics from today
IMG_20131001_203802_491.jpgIMG_20131001_203826_295.jpg

Thinking of getting a umbrella reflector for the HPS, not a fan of this small one.
 
Wow nice grow!!! Im feeling small and insignificant lol. The girls are 19 days old from seed. I would love to try scrog but need to get these girls done in a hurry lol. The bigger of the two pics is Critical and other is the White Russian. I will be putting them under 2 600's in a week image001.jpgimage001.jpgI will try and clone the best of the two! Good choice for the light BTW I got 600's and can only get bulbs at the hydro shop. I can buy a 1000 at electrical supply for $25, 600 at grow shop is like $45. As you can kinda see I run basically a flood and drain with a deep upper tray. Pump runs 24/7 but am playing with that all the time lol. Plants actually seem to like it better. No airstones, The water gets oxygen through waterfall effect and I added flooming nozzels on the pumps (small 3/16 hole pointing on a 45 degree angle). I like to tinker lol. I did run a NFT system as well but just use this system now for the space it doesnt take up. You will be surprised by the heat output of the 1000 and may consider a ducted hood. try the one you have first and see if ducted one will be needed due to heat. I have my exhaust ducted to just above the lights and it works ok, heat is my friend in the winter lol.
 
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