[doubleds]

Hello farmers

After about 300 pm's asking for assistance on building my system i decided to do a diy. There are many aspects of this system to work properly such as co2, lighting, cooling, humidity and many more.

Today we are going to talk about the hydroponic portion.

I designed this system for north american legal medical patients who have small plant numbers, to maximize the amount of medicine they can get.

I new b4 i started that i wanted a very hi flow, recirculating dwc system that produces more dissolved oxygen than the plant need alone. The nutes firing through the 1/2 line into the base of a 60 litre resevoir at very high speed and building up until it reaches 1.5 inches above the inner bucket and exiting via gravity through 2 x 1 inch outlets that drain into a 4 inch pipe returning to the res. All this movement, all the sloshing around all the travelling back and forth to the res highly oxygenates the nute solution. Then as a real kik we add a 12 inch airstone to each res and froth tht nute solution.

Here is how we build the system

You will need cordless drill, file, hole saw kit (50$) at canadian tire and some drill bits

You will need quick connects available here

http://www.newageindustries.com/camop_nylon.asp

you will need pieces c & f in 1inch (2) and 1/2 inch (1)

The nuts to attach these to the res are available here

http://www.sealconusa.com/nynuts.htm

you will need (2) 1 inch and (1) 1/2 inch.

You will need to get a plumber to make you gaskets for these, my local did it for me.

The amount of parts listed above are for 1 mpb bucket system. Add more for more buckets.

Off we go

here is the hole saw kit i use.



here are the parts we will use.



First thin we need to do is drill holes in our 10 litre bucket. Take a piece of your hydroton and get a drill bit just a tad smaller than the rock, this way hydroton wont fall through but the holes are big enough to not strangle the roots. Drill as many holes as you can without comprimising the integrity of the bucket, as shown in pic.



Next we take the lid of our res and mark out a 10 inch circle in the middle. Drill a hole bigger than a jig saw blade and cut out the hole, this is where your bucket will sit.



This is our 60 litre res that will hold our bucket and the root system of each plant.



it is 2ft long x 20 inches wide, the perfect size. A 20 litre pail wont allow for the roots to grow out and become a mat 2ft x 20inch therefore really increasing your plants dripline.



now we are going to drill the 1/2 inch feed line. We put this at the lowest point we can. It doesnt matter where this goes, i run all my feedlines around the outside of the room so the are out of the way hence, the back of the bucket. Match your hole saw (shown in pic) to the threaded end of the 1/2 coupler so its just bigger than the part. Drill your hole slowly. Clean up any loose debris with you file. Attach a gasket to the coupler and push it through the hole we just cut, attach another gasket to the coupler inside the res and then screw on your nut to hand tight, DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN !!

Your feed line is now complete. Lets fix our bucket.

Place the lid on the res and place your bucket through the hole as shown



(1 inch outlets shown, dont worry about it)

take a long piece of somthing (i use a screwdriver) and stick it through one of the holes you drilled in your bucket so it touches the bottom straight up and down.



next hold it steady with your finger at the bottom of the pail



then move your finger 1.5 inches up the screwdriver and make sure you dont lose that spot on the screwdriver, this is where your nute line will be, the highest point of water.

Then grab your res at the end where you want your drains to be and hold the screwdriver from the bottom.



scratch an x at the top of the screwdriver, do this 2wice so you have 2 drains.



this x marks the spot where the LOWER PORTION OF THE HOLE SAW WILL CUT THROUGH. NOT THE DRILL SPOT. move the drill higher so the lower portion cuts at that x.

attach the 1 inch hardware same as you did the 1/2 inch. Attach a gasket to the coupler, push the coupler through the hole, attach another gasket inside the res and put on your screw and hand tighten.



you are done other than adding a drill hole to push an air line through and attaching a 12 inch airstone. Shown in the last couple pics are the easy clamp couplers you will use for drainage.

Let the questions roll.

I will be adding all the aspects to make this a system as successful as mine as we go so stay tuned.

[Rural_GrowOp]

Nice thread DD's. I'm sure many a farmer will be reproducing this system after seeing your thread.

[doubleds]

HERES SOME PICS THAT SHOW IT RUNNING !!



You can see alot from these pics. First of all look at the white 4 inch pipe. This is the drain back to the res. I cut holes in the pipe and shoved the drains from the bucket system into the holes.

You can also see 2 different 1/2 polly black feed lines taped to the white pipe, one on top and one on the bottom. The bottom line is the MAIN feed line, it t's off at each bucket and attaches to the 1/2 feed coupler at the bottom of our mpb. This is the main part. Attach shutoff/slowdown/petcock valves at each feed line as you will need to ajust the flow to each mpb once you start uo your system.

The next black line is 1/2 inch polly also but this f for drippers. 2 drippers per plant. This is very important during the first 2 weeks getting the roots established and the last 2 weeks leaching. I let them run the whole cycle.



this pic shows the system running and it shows you the amount of water in the bucket normally, you can see the bubbles also from the airstone.



these pics show the hydroton filled up to water level and then 1.5 inches more on top of that, we dont want our rockwool cube to sit in water and it gives a small distance for the roots to travel to that bubbly, frothing nute solution.



and some pics of og raskals white bubble gum going into the system in a 6 inch cube. Just fill around the cube with hydroton and set your drippers.


So, now we have 2 x 1800 gph pumps (10 plant system 1 per 5 plants) this is very important DO NOT USE LOWER GRADE PUMPS. We have a 750 gpm pump that powers our drippers and our system is running. Remember, 1 - 100 gallon resevoir for 10 plants.... NO LESS !!!!!!!.
dds

[coldnorth]

nice doubles

[doubleds]

Here's some pics of the control room.



In this pic you can see a 100 gallon resevoir and the drain coming through the wall. You can see a 1/4 hp chiller (should be 1/2 hp.. got one on the way) Add another 1200 gph pump for the chiller.



you can see the same thing in this pic but its a 200 gallon res (13 plants) and a 1/2 hp chiller. You can see the drain through the wall also.

Over both drains you see window screens, i use these for catching any crap that comes out when i clean the system, roots, broken hydroton, leaf etc. These pics shown are after 8 days veg and i leave the screens until i flower tomorrow.



This is a hi blow 80 air pump that is supposed to aerate 80 aquariums. They are heavy duty and meant for commercial use. One of these per 10 plants (459.00 cdn)
They are the bomb !! notice the 1 inch airline coming off the pump and noticeit is outside the growroom. We dont want to feed our roots co2 only oxygen. The one inch airline goes through the wall and divides up in the room.



this is a 2ndary light board, it handles extra 600's when the temp will take it. My 20 light board is upstairs with the 20 - 1000 watt ballasts.

if i am missing anything on the hydroponic setup please ask the questions you need.

all my best

dds

[Nuglover]

I've been knockin around the idea of goin hydo...if I do it will be one of these systems. Seems relatively simple. Just been growing in soil for so long. Change is tough.

[Mosca Negra]

Outstanding work DDs! You made it simple... But do you use a controller unit?

Thanks!

[johnnyballbag]

Good shit DD. So i gotta ask ya.... when ya gonna throw up pics of that lighting controller?

[Green81]

Im glued to this thread, keep up the fantastic work Doubleds

[doubleds]

Originally Posted by Mosca Negra

Outstanding work DDs! You made it simple... But do you use a controller unit?

Thanks!

do you mean a lighting controller unit ?