Building my first uc system

[Bubblehaze]

I am trying to build my own uc system the one I want cost $1500 I think its easy enough to build by myself. But I don't know any of the specks for the materials I need. Anyone want to fill me in ?
I am making a 6 unit version with 13-15 gallons each unit
Where do I find the air disks I see in the system?
How big will the air pump have to be as well as the water pump, res. and chiller?
What size pipe would you use?
I am a soil grower so this is all new to me.
Any help is much appreciated.

 

[motherlode]

your gonna want the ap 100 air pump - 1/4 hp chiller - im thinking about a 500 gph pump (maybe a bit bigger if your gonna use one pump for the system and the chiller) and a 50 - 100 gal res, depending on how often you are at your grow

the big units (13 gal) all use the 3" pvc

if you go to http://www.cch2o.com/ you can see the specs of the unit you want to emulate

 

[BavarianFarmer]

Here's the buckets...

and some good air diffusers. http://www.deepwaterinnovations.com/Products/OxygenShieldAirDiffuser.aspx

 

[RMCG]

I think when it's all said and done, you will be damn close to the cost of a 'bought' UC. Buckets are cheap online, but the shipping is expensive. I used 27g HD totes as they could be sourced locally. You can buy buckets and lids from cch2o. Buckets are ~35$/ea IIRC.

Uniseals can be bought online from Aussie Globe or if you are ordering diffusers, get them from Aquaticeco.com at the same time.

You are definitely going to want 3" PVC.

Marvin Gardens (ebay) has the cheapest AP-100s online.

Buy a decent water pump. Mag's work, but if you want troublefree, look to Iwaki, Reeflo, Panworld, etc. Put an inline marine filter before the pump to catch random roots/hydroton, etc. before it hits your pump.

Hard pipe the return line with PVC, use unions anywhere and everywhere you ~might~need to swap something out or may need to make adjustments.

Chiller you would need regardless, DIY or purchased from CC.

 

[Bubblehaze]

Wow ! That was a quick response thanks guy's starting to buy the stuff next week looks well worth the effort to switch to uc. I have some diesel and some bubblehaze aka pk2 that are about to show signs of there sex I will be ready by then.
Where is a good spot online to buy these supplies ? I go to bghydro but they didn't have what I need
Should I use 8 gallon ones to veg ? Will they be big enough
I planned on vegging 6 - 8 weeks
Is that to much with a system like this
Making a shopping list now.
So it would be $2400 to buy a veg and flower system that I want not counting 2 chillers.
What do you think it woulds cost for 2 system 6 plants each system chiller for each one ?
40 inch plant centers
home made of course

 

[RMCG]

I just picked up a converted A/C for a chiller and two SS wort chillers for cool coils.

If your veg/flower spaces are close enough or you can insulate the piping, you can probably get away with that vs 2 chillers.

If you buy tubs from CC, the 8 and 13 g lids are the same, pull it out of veg and plunk it in to flower. You won't be able to pull the net pot back out through the lid without shredding roots.


scvhydro has UC's on sale(15% off). Just saying...

 

[f1ydave]

Got my UC off ebay for the unshipped price, shipped tho!

 

[Bubblehaze]

So if I buy two of these systems one for veg CURRENT CULTURE UNDER CURRENT™ XL 6 SYSTEM HYDROPONICS and one for flower CURRENT CULTURE UNDER CURRENT™ XXL13 SYSTEM 6 . Will I still have to buy 2 reservoirs and 2 chillers to complete the system ? Do they only come with the control bucket?

 

[f1ydave]

So if I buy two of these systems one for veg CURRENT CULTURE UNDER CURRENT™ XL 6 SYSTEM HYDROPONICS and one for flower CURRENT CULTURE UNDER CURRENT™ XXL13 SYSTEM 6 . Will I still have to buy 2 reservoirs and 2 chillers to complete the system ? Do they only come with the control bucket?

No, reservoirs come with systems and 1 larger chiller (closed loop) should be fine for both, but take in consideration distance to both systems.

 

[RMCG]

A 15g insulated barrel should be fine for your chiller/coil setup.

NY Brew Supply.

They ship fast too.

 

[mrdizzle]

I just set my buddy up with a 12bucket DIY UC in 27gal homedepot tubs and pretty much 100% of the uni seals leaked. Not sure what we did wrong but it was a fucking shit show to get the 3 in PVC in, I would consider the 3in electrical conduit like gettogro used if I did it again

 

[RMCG]

The HD tubs have a slight inward angle to them, so depending on the distance between the tubs, you are going to have a lot of 'run out' along the length of interconnects, it wont sit flat. I found that once you have the PVC in, pull the sides out a bit, vs puckering them in helped. Once its in place, don't move the tubs too much.

 

[Thomas12404]

When ever I use seals, I look at what the manufacture says to drill. I will then choose how much water or pressure will be on the seals and go 1/32 to 1/8 down from what they recommend. It's not that much smaller, but I never had any leaks.

 

[strawD]

i have some of those coils from ny brew supply, and they are much cheaper and fast shipping. I havent installed them yet, the only downside i see to them is they are sOOO long, that it will require a much more powerful pump than the hydro innovations cool coil. the other huge downside is their size. the ones from hydro innovations are just 1-2 circles, and can fit under the disc air stone in the epicenter. the ones from ny brew supply will NOT fit in a purchased uc without modifying the air in the epicenter.

Just a heads up.

also, someone said that reservoirs come with the ucs, and mine sure didnt. maybe that poster meant the epicenters, which are included, but the plants drink the nutes so fast you really need a top off res that has nutes mixed in it, so if you had different systems you'd need 1 for each system.

 

[RMCG]

Did you get the 50' or 25' coils?

 

[strawD]

the 25'. its still 6.5 inches tall. if you set that on top of the included air disc, you'd have to remove or at least change the position of the float valve to make room for it and a good % of the coil wouldnt be under water.

 

[Bubblehaze]

Well its settled bying 2 brand new systems its only about $500 more from my calculations than doing it myself and thats going off gettogro's diary .\
so I ordered
1 1/4 hp chiller
1 ucxxl13 6 site
1 uc system 6 site
1 50 gallon res. w/lid
1 75 gallon res. w/lid
and a case of hale
all for $3265 tax included hope it pans out for me my rooms will be ready tomorrow
Thanx for the help will be doing a diary

 

[strawD]

good choice! how do you plan on running your chiller? directly in/out of the flowering system, or are you going to set up a res to cool and pump it through both systems w/ cool coils? You could insulate your 50 gallon res and chill that, then use another pump to pump the cooled fluid through both systems. that'd save the space and $$ required for a third res.

 

[RMCG]

BH, I've got a line on new 15/20G poly barrels local (north of you). I don't think you want/need a 50g for your chiller res if you are using coils.

 

[Bobby Smith]

the 25'. its still 6.5 inches tall. if you set that on top of the included air disc, you'd have to remove or at least change the position of the float valve to make room for it and a good % of the coil wouldnt be under water.

I have the 50', it's a fucking bear - in addition, it was sitting in the bottom of a 64 gallon trash can (reservoir) and the copper hose fittings rusted over within a week or two (they were fully submerged) - just an FYI for anyone who thought of putting that in their reservoir and submerging the copper.