Water level/Water Temp/ Nutrients

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Topwhop63

Topwhop63

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Heres my big system. Should be done soon. 6 plants, over 80 gallon of water in the system lol.
How much does a setup like that cost? That’s a shit ton of water lol

I ended up yanking of them and cutting down the biggest. I have about 4 left I am hoping I can turn around. I’ll know in the next few days. If not, I’ll have to learn the right way from the start. Not dumping anymore money into those plants. I have some photoperiods I would like to try so maybe it will be a good time to learn from everyone here and do this right. Would you recommend the home style reservoir instead of the buckets? I would still have to drill some holes to run lines for the air stones that would be in there but maybe due to the amount of water it would be easier to manage?
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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DIY 6 site like that I would say no more than $350ish if keeping it simple with airpump, stones and circulating pump but without a chiller. I don't run a chiller either. Res and airpump outside the tent/room in the basement on concrete (really helps keeps temps down) with an aquarium heater.

A 4 site is like

$60 circulation pump.
$20 4 black 5gal pails.
$30-40 black net pot lids.
$30-100ish for plumbing depending if you want unions and bulkheads. I suggest avast bulkheads.
$10-15 30 gal res
$30 ish air pump.
$20ish for 4x2 airstones.
$5-10 1/4" airline.

Can spend a lot more if you like though.

On the dort cheap I could prob build one for like $200
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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How much does a setup like that cost? That’s a shit ton of water lol

I ended up yanking of them and cutting down the biggest. I have about 4 left I am hoping I can turn around. I’ll know in the next few days. If not, I’ll have to learn the right way from the start. Not dumping anymore money into those plants. I have some photoperiods I would like to try so maybe it will be a good time to learn from everyone here and do this right. Would you recommend the home style reservoir instead of the buckets? I would still have to drill some holes to run lines for the air stones that would be in there but maybe due to the amount of water it would be easier to manage?
After a few hydro builds, I realized the larger the res size the less you have to mess with it. 10+ gallon per plant flower and 5+ gallon per plant veg.

I have two systems. One for flower one for veg. I'm still learning of course, but at this point.. It's pretty much 30 day res changes. Weekly ph adjustments and that's it. No top offs, no top feeding.. I'm just going to dump and refill every 30 days. Very hands off for hydro.

Also I reccommend photos for beginners. U need control of every aspect. I'll prolly never run autos again. We will see..
 
Topwhop63

Topwhop63

28
13
Still gotta paint it white too and wrap the floor. I might put a few more coats of black on it for good luck first.
How big is the tent you have? I am looking at doing something similar to what you have but unsure of the space that I have. It’s a 4 x 4 tent so putting the reservoir inside of the tent may be difficult for space wise. I will probably have to run lines into the tent from the reservoir
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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How big is the tent you have? I am looking at doing something similar to what you have but unsure of the space that I have. It’s a 4 x 4 tent so putting the reservoir inside of the tent may be difficult for space wise. I will probably have to run lines into the tent from the reservoir

Room is 4x8 with the room next to it being a little over a foot wide. My 30 gallon tote is snug.
 
Screenshot 20210901 074109
Topwhop63

Topwhop63

28
13
I’m assuming you don’t have air stones in each of the buckets? Im learning here and will be copying something very similar now. My thoughts are I will run 4 buckets. I would like six but with photoperoids the growth will be much larger than the autos.
I will have a tote outside of the tent. I will have a flow pipe on the bottom pushing water to the buckets. I will have a water control valve also attached the the pipe to control some of the flow when needed. I will have the return of each bucket at the top of the water (I think yours is inside the flow pipe on the bottom?). I will paint the pvc pip inside of the tent painted with flex seal as it will prevent light warming up the water. I am going to wrap each bucket of an insulation called Relfectix. I am considering wrapped the piping in this also as I will have to buy a roll anyways. I will also purchase Mylar to cover the neti pots so prevent any light getting thru the mud rot on even this it will be filled to the brim. Now for temp control I am thinking of using soda bottles filled with frozen water. I know it might be more work but just trying to figure out a way to minimize more cost of more appliances and energy usage. I have the link of the relfectix below for opinions on it. I also attached the lights I have for input on those too, especially for bloom.




Next, I have a small tote with holes cut out for small neti pots. I will set the rock wool seed starter inside with the hydroton. Once they had 3-4 sets of leaves I will move them to the 5 gallon buckets buried half into the hydroton. The water will be approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the pots in the 5 gallon buckets and in the seeding tote the water will come up 1/2 inch up the neti pot.

I’ll have to grab a ton of distilled water. My Tap water is only at 74ppm and I was reading that could mess with balancing the Ph is using GH Trio. I also have Cal Mag, Diamond Nectar, Voodoo Juice, and Hydroguard I will be using.

How many gallon Tote should I use for the 4 buckets? Should I go with the bigger the better at this? Or is there a point of overkill? I also am trying to be cost effective but efficient also.

I think I covered everything lol… thoughts??
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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263
Sounds great BTW.

I will have airstones in each bucket, and two waterfalls. I don't think I need the stones, but I'm not sure. Havnt tested without so my first run will be with them.

Your two systems sound amazing. I doubt you will need ice with an external res. Just make sure to keep ur house at around 70 or 72 and airrate your res and pots. I mean u can use ice, but if you don't have light leaks, and u do it right.. U won't need to. Neither grow room gets able 76f, meaning my solution won't get above 76. The more water you have outside ur grow room, the cooler it will stay. So slap a giant res on it. 10+gallon per plant res. So 4 plants for flower would need about 40 to 50 Gallons total. Minus the 20 gallons for the four buckets in the tent. I'd slap a 30 gallon res on it. Then u got 50gal plus piping. U won't have big swings in ph or ppm. You won't need to mess with it all the time. Plus if you get 30 days out of the batch, you can just dump it all no worries. I wont be topping off my batches anymore. 30 day full res changes for me.
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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I also used pipe insulation for the piping and the bubble wrap insulation for the sites... it made a pretty significant difference in both condensation and temps.
 
Topwhop63

Topwhop63

28
13
Thanks for the input. The Only reason I mention the ice is there is no AC that would keep the temp down. It’s in the basement and naturally cooler. My thoughts are with all the insulation it should hold the lower end of the needed temp for longer periods helping out
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

2,007
263
Thanks for the input. The Only reason I mention the ice is there is no AC that would keep the temp down. It’s in the basement and naturally cooler. My thoughts are with all the insulation it should hold the lower end of the needed temp for longer periods helping out
Aqua mentioned setting the res on the concrete floor too and insulate around the bucket. This way the air pump is cooling it and so is the floor lol.. Plus external res.. I highly doubt u will need ice. Expecially if u can keep ur max room temps at like 76.. Even during Full flower.
 
Topwhop63

Topwhop63

28
13
Awesome thanks for the help. My biggest concern now are getting the seedlings going and moving them to a bigger pot. When I go from the smaller to the larger neti pot, do I remove them from the smaller pot? Then create a well on the larger pot as it will be filled to the top with hydroton?
 
Cashmeh

Cashmeh

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263
After I germinated and get 1 inch tap root, I place it into my hydro system. Without leafs even lol. I then fill with pebbles and dig a small hole for them to sprout up through. As they grow I put more pebbles in so light cannot get into the water.

Since urs are started. Get the first node as low as you can yet not buried under pebbles. Then put your water level to around 1/3rd of your rockwool. Too high and it floods the top. You can wick the water up for the first month. After that I submerge my rockwool unlike most whom leave an air gap.

Since no chiller, the air gap can be as warm as the room, causing root rot... Yet since the above roots are not sumberged, the bb won't work as well.

Just alot to try and explain in a short manner.
 
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