computergroove
Active Member
I want to start a room using UDWC. I am going to use 5 - 27 gallon totes attached by 2" PVC and I will be using a pump that moves 1260 gph (I think). I will use 5 vertical lights 1000 watt each. I want someone who has had experience with this to point me in the right direction on a few things. Other opinions are appreciated as well.
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
First, I tried this once and had mixed success before I had to scrap the grow. I used air stones in all 5 buckets and I read that I can get better Dissolved Oxygen from a waterfall. I plan on scrapping the air stones and instead I am going to pump water from the 2 end buckets directly into the lids of all the totes. Does it make sense to do this directly at the base of the stalk or into the top of the lid and fall directly into the water?
NUMBER OF PLANTS
Second, I'm not sure how many plants I should have in each tote. There is enough room for 2 each but there is only 31" of space on the lid. I think I want to stick with 1 per tote. I want to veg for 6 weeks and flower for 8. I am looking for top quality big buds and a heavy yield. On my last grow I topped, crimped and fimmed way too many times and I ended up with many many smaller buds at the end of the cycle. I plan on topping them twice this time and I'm done. 4 Colas and try to make them big. How many plants should I do per tote and what do you think the yield will be dry? I know this is a hard question. I am thinking about AK-47 or White Widow.
COOLING
Third, I will have 5 vertical hanging 100 watt lights. On my last run my res reached 72 degrees and I got what looked like brown algae on all the roots. I don't know what to blame that on. I think it is the water temp but a friend of mine said it could have been contamination from the air being pumped into the water through the air stones. I want to keep it at a temperature of 63 degrees. I plan on doing that by insulating the totes and run a DIY dehumidifier water chiller. I plan on piping the res outside of the room and wrapping the exposed PVC inside the room with silver bubble wrap. I can either put Cooling tubes / inline fans on my vertical hanging lights or let them just hang and pull air from the floor and push it out of the ceiling with a large carbon scrubber. It gets over 100 degrees here and I think I would rather have the option to turn on an AC unit if it got too hot and still have the option to control the heat from the lights very tightly. My problem is that I don't want to have the ac on and also be venting air. I can pipe the exhaust from my natural gas hot water heater into the room for CO2 I guess while keeping the room sealed or I can run fresh air through the room without using AC. What should I do? I have some money but I'm not filthy rich.
DISSOLVED OXYGEN
First, I tried this once and had mixed success before I had to scrap the grow. I used air stones in all 5 buckets and I read that I can get better Dissolved Oxygen from a waterfall. I plan on scrapping the air stones and instead I am going to pump water from the 2 end buckets directly into the lids of all the totes. Does it make sense to do this directly at the base of the stalk or into the top of the lid and fall directly into the water?
NUMBER OF PLANTS
Second, I'm not sure how many plants I should have in each tote. There is enough room for 2 each but there is only 31" of space on the lid. I think I want to stick with 1 per tote. I want to veg for 6 weeks and flower for 8. I am looking for top quality big buds and a heavy yield. On my last grow I topped, crimped and fimmed way too many times and I ended up with many many smaller buds at the end of the cycle. I plan on topping them twice this time and I'm done. 4 Colas and try to make them big. How many plants should I do per tote and what do you think the yield will be dry? I know this is a hard question. I am thinking about AK-47 or White Widow.
COOLING
Third, I will have 5 vertical hanging 100 watt lights. On my last run my res reached 72 degrees and I got what looked like brown algae on all the roots. I don't know what to blame that on. I think it is the water temp but a friend of mine said it could have been contamination from the air being pumped into the water through the air stones. I want to keep it at a temperature of 63 degrees. I plan on doing that by insulating the totes and run a DIY dehumidifier water chiller. I plan on piping the res outside of the room and wrapping the exposed PVC inside the room with silver bubble wrap. I can either put Cooling tubes / inline fans on my vertical hanging lights or let them just hang and pull air from the floor and push it out of the ceiling with a large carbon scrubber. It gets over 100 degrees here and I think I would rather have the option to turn on an AC unit if it got too hot and still have the option to control the heat from the lights very tightly. My problem is that I don't want to have the ac on and also be venting air. I can pipe the exhaust from my natural gas hot water heater into the room for CO2 I guess while keeping the room sealed or I can run fresh air through the room without using AC. What should I do? I have some money but I'm not filthy rich.
