RDWC project let me know what ya think.

Bob Smith said:

For rez changes just use a separate pond pump (I use a 633GPH one) and it does the job for ya.

Two Rubbermaid 50 gallon trash cans (one for draining, one for mixing the new nutes) and you're good to go.

A nice feature (if you can do it) is to have your rez slightly below your feeder buckets to ensure that you get every last drop out of them that you can before refilling with fresh nutes.

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I got a 20g tote to mix up new stuff in and I use 5g buckets for draining so its easier to carry to disposal. if I just take the lid off the res and remove the hose that goes to the manifold from the pump and replace it with a 6ft piece of hose that I got I can get all but about an inch of water out of the whole system. man I cant wait to put this thing into action.

I want to see it.

Hey Mr. Falcon, question for you - do you use any additional sealant to ensure that your buckets are water tight? I'm done building my second system in four days, but I've got a couple of leaky buckets, and I was wondering if you do anything in addition to the grommets to make them sealed.

Running to Petco to grab some aquarium sealant, which I think should (hopefully) do the trick, and will most likely become a fixture of any of my future DIY hydro systems.

Anyways, here's a few pics of my newest failure ("failure" is too strong of a word - the system actually works great and exactly like it was intended, it's just got a couple of leaks which shouldn't be that big of a deal to fix):

View attachment 582772View attachment 582773View attachment 582774View attachment 582775View attachment 582776View attachment 582777

I dont use any grommets, I used the drainage kits from SH. what I do is use a drill bit that is 1/32 smaller than the drain valve, put pipe thread around the threads and screw it into the bucket then I secure the mounting nut on the backside in the bucket.

polishfalcon420 said:

I dont use any grommets, I used the drainage kits from SH. what I do is use a drill bit that is 1/32 smaller than the drain valve, put pipe thread around the threads and screw it into the bucket then I secure the mounting nut on the backside in the bucket.

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Gotcha, thanks - I just use these hydro store fittings, maybe I'd be better off using more "real deal" stuff.

Anyways, time to drain them all and seal them.

thanks for the ideas polishfalcon. and some rep at u. im gonna explore some drain fittings to save the ol back...

polishfalcon420 said:

hey hairpulled, I chose the 3.5g buckets cause of my height issue the 5g was just to tall for what I wanted and I think the 3.5 will be enough for adequate root growth as in the tote res they were quite cramped and all grown together. I cant see it being any worse with the buckets I actually feel that this gives the individuals much more room. so far I think the 264g pump should be just fine. the res is just a 3.5g bucket when filled to the proper level it is about 2.5g. it wouldnt take much to convert what you got to the bubbleponics all you need is the irrigation manifold and some airline. Id say about $15 bux or so. if I were you Id try and do just one of your tanks that way and compare side by side to see the difference. I mean what you got going seems to be working quite well and really the two setups are pretty close in function but I personally would do a comparison like I said just to keep things interesting. thanks for stopping by.

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Howdy PF, I'm going to have to come over and check out your set-up. I've got enough buckets to start a 'test group'. That will easily let me know if aero-ponics or bubble-ponics yields more, as well as which is easier to maintain. I think I'll wait and head over to the local hydro store to get my fittings after I see what you have going on with your set-up. All of those years of plumbing experience is finally paying off for me. I'll take a look at your manifold and see if I can fabricate something or if I need to buy it. My present set-up works fine, I just don't like the fact you can't get to the insides of my big girls in the 37 gal tote without rotating the baskets. Besides, the individual buckets give me complete access all the way around.
That was some wild PVC set-up in those pics posted with no dialouge. Was it some kind of support, or was the PVC intended for another purpose as well? I'm pretty good with the 3/4" PVC, as all of my aero-ponics systems are made from 3/4" PVC, each powered by a 264 gph sub-pump, and distributed via 360' sprayers. I'd really like to know the benefit of the PVC framework they had going in their buckets?
Count on seeing me down your way very soon. Maybe we can do another wake-n-bake!

man if your talking about the dro store in my town I only buy there if I am in a pinch and absolutely have to. hes a real good guy and all but his prices are way out there especially with his volume of sales skyrocketing since our new laws got past. the quart bottles of floranova that I use he gets over 40 bux a piece for I get it online and get a quart bottle of both the grow and bloom for 45 bux shipped. but Ill talk with some more when you get over my way.

does anyone have any good Ideas on turning a stand up oscialting fan into a wall mount set up, do they sell a wall mount kit any where? I just got my order in from the tude today there was a few issues like my lsd pack was crushed and I ordered a pack of Greenhouses k-train and trainwreck well they sent me two packs of k-train and no trainwreck. they also forgot to put in the freebies they said they were going to give me for the damaged items in my last order. but I called them and they said send some pics of the damaged item and they would look in to it and correct the issues. so as long as they do that then + rep for the tude as ussual. Im still waiting on my black airline and carbon filter to get here before I get any beans crackin.

Lol.............soooooooooo, I just thought I'd let you all know that my circulating bucket system project is currently shelved.

Three failures have taken their toll on my confidence (not to mention my wallet), so I'm just gonna use a passive design with a reservoir.

The old adage of "walk before you run" comes to mind.

Edit: forgot to post this link, which I found to be pretty informative.

http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=99144&st=0

wut exactly failed and wut leaked?

thats a bummer bob dont let it get you down though youll find that sweet spot in your setup sooner or later hopefully sooner. then all the hard work and investment will pay off. quick update on my attitude order they are making everything all good and I was able to purchase some of greenhouses bubba kush that was not in stock when I placed my first order so thats cool. I would like to give Rachel props for her efforts in customer support for sure.

tilemaster said:

wut exactly failed and wut leaked?

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The failure was on the part of the circulating system - I didn't understand water pressure well enough the first time around, and the first bucket would overflow - still haven't gotten it totally figured out, but I think that I'm getting there - the main point is that your return line to your rez needs to be larger than the output line, or your buckets are gonna overflow everytime, even from the little pressure that a 185GPH pump provides (you're all prolly saying "duh" right now, but for a moron like me, that was surprising).

And the leaks came from the grommets, or more specifically, the uneven holes in the buckets.

For some reason the 3/4" wood drill bit that I use sometimes makes an imperfect hole in the buckets, and when I insert the 1/2" hydro grommets, even though it seems watertight, it's really not.

Went to Home Depot and got some plumber's putty to try and fix the system that I've got in the works right now, and also bought some clear epoxy for the future systems (gonna put it on the grommet before installing it, thereby ensuring that they're all leak-free).

So, that's my story - BTW, if anyone is interested in building a circulating system, that link to the UK420 I posted has some really good food for thought in it - got me thinking about building a drip system to each bucket to make it circulating, among other things.

polishfalcon420 said:

thats a bummer bob dont let it get you down though youll find that sweet spot in your setup sooner or later hopefully sooner. then all the hard work and investment will pay off. quick update on my attitude order they are making everything all good and I was able to purchase some of greenhouses bubba kush that was not in stock when I placed my first order so thats cool. I would like to give Rachel props for her efforts in customer support for sure.

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Thanks man, kind words are always nice when life keeps on kicking me in the gonads - really appreciate it.

Bob Smith said:

Gotcha, thanks - I just use these hydro store fittings, maybe I'd be better off using more "real deal" stuff.

Anyways, time to drain them all and seal them.

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How ironic that I would say that; see my newest thread about the culprit of my leaks and the reason I've wasted the entire past week.

Unreal.

hey whats up everyone? I have been working hard on finishing a few thinks up in the revamp of my room but I think Im good to go now. I am just waiting on my new airstones to get here should arrive on thursday. quick question for the experts, I wanted to start germinating my seeds but I dont have airstones in my setup yet would it be ok to start cracking them now and place them in the setup once they have cracked and been put in rockwool. I have four good stones that I can place in the res that supply the feeder tubes but right now each plant site bucket just has the lines ran with no stones so their is air supplied to the buckets but no diffusers and the res will have the four.

just thouht Id throw up some pics to check out. how do you guys like that fancy fan mount I came up with? its gonna make life much easier I feel as I have complete control of adjustment and it gets the fan base off the floor which frees up desperately needed room . last time I just used buckets and shoe boxes to raise as needed but that took up a lot of space. anyone with thoughts on me germinating now?

I'm so glad to see more threads on rdwc,i like the setup man! great job... i have been researching into this alot and am most likely going to be ditching soil for it in the future... i also saw another great rdwc thread, which you have probably seen on another forum already but in case you haven't here it is anyways http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=26343

i feel like a traitor by dropping a thread from a different forum haha, but in the interest of education i though maybe it could be useful for tips or tricks

thanks for the post slomoking13 glad you like it.

i love the concept of rdwc.. can't wait to see this thing in action! Have you given any thought to what you are going to run for nutrients?