Fragile's Flowers Rnd 2! New veg room RDWC from first clones.

Feel free to post any comments or questions about my setup or grow!!
Please just keep it on topic and somehow related to this post and try to keep multiple points to one post. I am always open to feedback or questions.

Getting things set up for my 2nd crop and figure I'd start one of these things this time around.
Today I got my buckets in finally so things are starting to come together.

Have a bunch of my parts in and will need to get this together soon so I can get my clones out of the cloner! Trying to avoid the black Friday stuff so I'll probably have to wait a couple more days to get the rest of the PVC stuff for my water falls. They will be set up pretty much like the drains.

For this grow im building a new veg room in a 5x5x7 tent with 2x 4ft 8 bulb T5 lights and 3.5 gallon buckets.
I went with T5s for the heat! My LEDs in my big tent dont put out enough heat and I had a hard time keeping temps up during my first veg. These lights get pretty warm so it should help without being too hot. I have a full set of new 6500k HO bulbs on the way. Will keep them nice and low on the plants. I also got them will all good bulbs for $100 for the pair off a local seller. Couldn't pass that up, they're like $150 each new.

8" duct with a 700+ cfm fan are a bit overkill, but its adjustable and I already had all of it.

I will be building in a platform 18" tall for my buckets to sit on. My back isnt what it used to be, so getting them up off the ground some will be great when it's time to train. The drains from each bucket will go through the platform and connect underneath it.

I am considering not using a control bucket and doing just undercurrent, but I'm not 100% on this.

I use 6" net pots that fit on 5/3.5gallon buckets. I bought a case of 25 when I built the first system so it worked out perfect for this. The big system is 17 gallon totes with holes in the lids that fit the pots. So when I'm done veg I'll be able to just pick the hole net pot up off the buckets and just drop it in it's new home for flower.

I guess that's about it for now. This is what I have going so far, waiting on slow holiday shipping. Will update here as I get things done.
Clones are Bruce Banner, Skywalker OG, and some grape shit I have no idea what it is.
-Link to cloner build
https://www.rollitup.org/t/diy-cloner-looking-for-feedback.977305/

Decided to go ahead and start building what I could after I posted. Got my bulkhead holes drilled, bulkhead threads cut, and some sections of pipe cut. Not bad for about an hour!

Little bit of dry fit action. This is roughly how the system will be set up.

Rough idea of what it will look like when it's done. I plan to lay my plants on their sides and LST them toward the back of the tent.

Raising it all 18" puts the tops of the buckets right around 3" above the bottoms of the side windows making it pretty much perfect height imo. I'll be able to reach everything from the 2 side windows.

Nice!

subbed

I came up with an idea for a DIY float valve tonight that'll let me use an outside holding tank to keep the system at the same level without having to use a control res. So I can just go contained undercurrent with an inline pump.

I'll run another 2" pipe off of my drains straight up through the middle of my table. This pipe should maintain the same water level in it as the buckets. I will make a PVC "pill" that fits in the pipe to act as a float. I will take the adjustable part of the float arm off of this valve and I'll put it through the side of the pipe. The pill will float up and push the small remaining part of the valve arm up to close it. I'll leave room at the top to make sure I can put a cap on it to keep light out.
Itll take some fine tuning to get it exactly how I want it, but I'm optimistic about it.


What do you guys think?

Sounds like a fine idea. Keep us posted!

Subbed!

Got my valve figured out to keep my system tipped off and level!!
The white thing is a float made out of PVC fittings, I sanded it down a little bit because there were some little bumps around the edges. Now it sits free inside a 2" abs pipe. Ended up a bit longer than I was hoping due to lack of selection of fittings. This does make it easier though because theres a section of pipe in the middle of it, so I can make the float slightly taller to drop my water level if needed.
It floats up and closes the valve perfectly.
I have a cap to go on top of the finished piece. This is junk pipe I was testing it in.

So I got a little bit more done tonight. Not nearly as much as I wanted to, but im getting too old for this shit and its rough on my hands, shoulders, and back.

I did manage to get all my bulkheads sealed with silicone and tightened. The fittings I use have a little lip inside the nut that acts like a crush washer to seal, I also fill in this gap with silicone. I use the silicone like a liquid washer and tightening makes it ooze out from around the nut so I know its all solid silicone the hole and its sealed well.
The silicone has a 48 hour full cure, so ill be shooting to have the rest done in that time frame and get my clones in it by friday night.

Got the plywood and legs for my platform cut as well so I started lining everything up to see how I want to cut my holes. Went with a simple 4x4 with legs on each corner and one in the very middle.
I will be cutting rectangular holes around where the bulkheads go, elongated toward the front and back of the tent. This should let me tilt the buckets enough that I can assemble the lower pipes. The goal is to glue the short pipe and the T to the bottom of each bucket, but not glue the pipes between them. That will make it so I can break it down to clean everything out easier.

On the last picture I drew in a few of the parts I dont have so you guys can see whats in my head about how it will be set up. I was going to do something slightly different so now i need 4 Ts
The top off pipe with my valve will be taller, itll have to be at least a little taller than my buckets stand, so itll probably get a hole in the back middle of the platform.
Bulbs should be in tomorrow or thursday, going to go pick up all the pvc for my feed tomorrow.

Got quite a bit done today.
Platform is done!!! I haven't done plunge cuts with a circular saw in years. Cutting those 12 holes out killed my back.
Then it got a generous coat of latex paint. Should seal it up nicely.

Laid all my connections out so I can cut pipes and glue tomorrow!!
Looks like I only need a couple more fittings to hook the pump line up and I'm good to go. Should have no issues getting it done tomorrow.

Looking awesome!

Well here it pretty much is!
Everything on it now is cemented and ready to go.
I didnt get enough 3/4" PVC. I couldnt fit 10ft pipes in the car so I had to get 5ft ones which they didnt have enough of. Going back tomorrow afternoon to get the last couple things I need.
Should be able to still transplant late tomorrow night.

Overall I'm super excited about how its come out. Its EXACTLY how I pictured it in my head from the start.

I like where you are going with it. Cool build!

All that's left is to finish up the feed line.
I have to get another adapter for my pump and I'll run a 1.5" line straight back, probably drill a hole through the middle leg. I'll T it right below my top off pipe and itll split out to each side to another T that feeds 2 rows of buckets.

very nice!

Well.... guess I'm not transplanting tonight.
I am 3" of pipe short from having it all finished up. What a huge let down.

Side note/daily lesson:
If you buy the wrong size PVC pipe, dont get angry and smash it on a concrete floor. Pieces will come back and hit you in the face. Have a nice cut a half inch from my eye, I could have put my damn eye out!!

Looking good. I've broken so much stuff....
I was going to suggest that you could buy the 10' pvc sticks and cut them in half at the store to get them home. If you know your longest measurement you can cut it to that, I do it for wood sometimes.

What determines your water level in the buckets, the amount of water in the system?
Do you have a reservoir?

I read about the float, forgot about that. I got it now.

I can't wait to see it running.