Bucket/tank Thread

[Jalisco Kid]

I will be up showing my buckets to a new client, I will take some pics. I will offer my last order to some farmers at a killer cost as I will be staying home on the ranch waiting out the end of the earth. I do not see me coming up to the border much more as I have enough friends to deliver my needs(surfboards and coffee)JK

 

[Confuten1]

Bump.
Gearing up soon for round 2 of my ghetto bucket system.
Topdrip into 75% hydroton chow mix, in a redi-roots aeration frame. Suspended in lid of 27 gal home depot tote. Irrigated every half hour or so. Runoff pools in bottom of tote.Drain height creates a 1.5" layer of water at the bottom of the tote. Shallow water layer gets turned over as the 20% runoff runs off. Cap's bennies are used in teas. I topdressed with some Azomite and earthworm castings in veg. High P guano tea applied periodically during flower.

I am thinking I will rock a deeper water layer this time coming up here. As deep as I can get it and still have at least a 1/2" air gap between the aeration frames(the skeletonized netpots).
I will move progressively towards dwc bottom layer instead of swc.
Still getting my 20% runoff per irrigation.
Topdrip reliability and pathogen resistance, dwc performance once the roots hit the water.
Cheap, easy, tolerates irrigation temps in the high 70s(not ideal, but it happens if you are high or broke or both)
Also tolerates organic inputs awesomely.

So I screwed up and turned the room lights on 5 mins early one day, forgot to set the timer governing the trigger cables to the lighting controller back to auto instead on on. So the 12 hour night was 12 hours of light with no irrigation.
Anyways, the swc layer kept them going, they handled it like champs.
So in a way more inherent reliability than say a bunch of smart pots on tables.

I think I will stick with this system, or an improved version component-wise, for the rest of my career.
Next run after this one I am about to start will use 1 7 gal frame per tote instead of 2 3 gal frames per tote.
Kind of wanted to see what impact sharing the swc layer would have, see if I could get away with multiple specimens per tote.

Oh yeah I think I will get some Alita Silicone Rubber Diffuser hose for air this coming run.

yo dank, those alitas hoses r slick but dont work in our application, i spent alot of time researching them, call and speak to Tony, super smart dude runs the show over there( i know i went to there whaREHOUSE) bottom line is they need at least 3 ft of water pressure to creat micro bubbles(assuming u have the right size air pump per foot of hose) so i u cant replicate micro bubbles, there alot cheaper defussers to be had.

Confu.

 

[Jalisco Kid]

yo dank, those alitas hoses r slick but dont work in our application, i spent alot of time researching them, call and speak to Tony, super smart dude runs the show over there( i know i went to there whaREHOUSE) bottom line is they need at least 3 ft of water pressure to creat micro bubbles(assuming u have the right size air pump per foot of hose) so i u cant replicate micro bubbles, there alot cheaper defussers to be had.

Confu.

If you are growing large plants how are you going to clean the diffusers? JK

 

[Confuten1]

If you are growing large plants how are you going to clean the diffusers? JK

I made my own airline deffusiers with latex hose(cutt my own slits) and have those hoses airating the bottom of beds. Beds have 5 inches of medium, 1/4 coco mat and 1inch of growstones . The bottom inch pools up like a hempy bucket and thats what is being airated. The medium mix is 33% pithy coco, 33% chunky coco, 33% growstones. I will clean hoses at the end of each run.

If i was running large tanks with large plants, i would make sure i could access the root zone similar to what ur design allows. Is that what u r eluding too?

Id love to c more pixs of ur design, all ive ever seen it that pix with the tank by the water( was it a river?).

Confu.

Uve inspired me in alot of ways JK, thanks for sharing ur knowledge with us.

 

[dankworth]

I made my own airline deffusiers with latex hose(cutt my own slits) and have those hoses airating the bottom of beds. Beds have 5 inches of medium, 1/4 coco mat and 1inch of growstones . The bottom inch pools up like a hempy bucket and thats what is being airated. The medium mix is 33% pithy coco, 33% chunky coco, 33% growstones. I will clean hoses at the end of each run.

Do the latex hoses float, or are they heavy enough to sink?

 

[Confuten1]

They float Dank, so do the silicone hoses. Simple to weigh down tho.

Confu.

 

[kushtrees]

So I'm working on deisgning a modified hater/ Krusty bucket. I have a question about the much discussed air gap between media and water.

It seems like people are never in total agreement about whether to have an inch gap or no gap or what. I was wondering what the benefit of this air gap is.

Is it just a little extra air for the roots? It seems like your greatly reducing any wick potential due to the air gap and while this may not be a big deal with DWC, it seems like extra wicking in a hater or Krusty bucket wouldn't hurt.

Love To hear what people think about this little gap

 

[El Cerebro]

imo airgap is mandatory if you don't want rot, plus the aero zone is key performance feature.

 

[Capulator]

imo airgap is mandatory if you don't want rot, plus the aero zone is key performance feature.

I have been thinking about this I am am wondering what the point of the gap is especially if growing in something like hydroton or lava rock or growstones. ...

Why do you think plants with no gap are more susceptible to rot? I have had plants so far with the bottom of the pot practically touching the surface water, and this run looks like it will be my best yet.

JK was eluding to "the success oof things like MPB's UC, and his buckets" but of course he was not elaborating enough..its like a little riddle sometimes for me. :cool:

 

[El Cerebro]

:cool:

i was assuming chow rather than straight rocks, and the air layer helps avoid too much wicking or waterlogged media. also i want my buckets doing more aero stuff in addition to the hydro (plus that one special thing JK enjoys being elusive on, which is really the key to this whole concept anyway ya know..)

 

[kushtrees]

I can see how water logging would be an issue with mediums like coco but as cap said, hydroton, grow stones and perlite media wouldn't be affected by this. In fact since perlite has such great wicking ability your missing out on your top bucket having a more ideal air/ water ratio, perlite will still have a lot of air even with wicking.

The aero zone is an interesting thing though. I haven't run RDWC before but you would need a lot of water agitation to have enough splashing for an aero zone

I think Heath talked about no air gap to ensure that no "cord roots" develop. These are fat roots that only transport water

 

[Jalisco Kid]

If you are pumping air, there will not be thick cords due to the splashing bubbles, if you run a K bucket that high pressure air will cause everything to be nice and moist. The RH in the bottom bucket (with enough holes) will keep top bucket healthy(.I have 50 krusty buckets in my driveway and no one has bothered to pick them up in 2 days)
I have never known anyone to stick with pure perlite. It works, but other things works better.
Who ever said my airlines need 3' of pressure has never played with them. They rock in my rdwc tanks.
As for my buckets I still have no camera but that might be resolved soon. I might have found someone to take over running my business while I look over the tech part. I feel someone managing the phones that will not tell future clients they are too stupid to run my tanks might help with the bottom line. JK

 

[Capulator]

If you are pumping air, there will not be thick cords due to the splashing bubbles, if you run a K bucket that high pressure air will cause everything to be nice and moist. The RH in the bottom bucket (with enough holes) will keep top bucket healthy(.I have 50 krusty buckets in my driveway and no one has bothered to pick them up in 2 days)
I have never known anyone to stick with pure perlite. It works, but other things works better.
Who ever said my airlines need 3' of pressure has never played with them. They rock in my rdwc tanks.
As for my buckets I still have no camera but that might be resolved soon. I might have found someone to take over running my business while I look over the tech part. I feel someone managing the phones that will not tell future clients they are too stupid to run my tanks might help with the bottom line. JK

Have you ever tried submerging the whole root system from the base of the trunk in aerated water? Why would there be any difference from the bottom part of the roots being in water to all of the roots being in water? I was thinking of doing this with lava rock or pumice. and small airstones in the net pot part of the root zone. changing the overflow so its all the way at the top of the bucket instead of just half way up...

What's a k bucket?

 

[kushtrees]

K bucket is referring to Krusty bucket. Ima draw up a diagram of a modified hempy I had I wanna see what people think.

I'm an avid chow mix user but I think perlite can out perform it. There just way more air available to the roots. Most commercial bato buckets use perlite as the medium of choice.

What would you say is better than perlite JK (medium wise I'm not talking aero or DWC). I always like your input.

Cap I love that idea haha. Most DWC guys dnt have roots growin in their tiny air gap so why have it unless your trying not to water log your medium, which is pretty much impossible with rocks. If your water is at saturated DO I dnt see the need for a little aero zone

 

[Capulator]

K bucket is referring to Krusty bucket. Ima draw up a diagram of a modified hempy I had I wanna see what people think.

I'm an avid chow mix user but I think perlite can out perform it. There just way more air available to the roots. Most commercial bato buckets use perlite as the medium of choice.

What would you say is better than perlite JK (medium wise I'm not talking aero or DWC). I always like your input.

Cap I love that idea haha. Most DWC guys dnt have roots growin in their tiny air gap so why have it unless your trying not to water log your medium, which is pretty much impossible with rocks. If your water is at saturated DO I dnt see the need for a little aero zone

According to all cactus growers pumice is superior to perlite. It doesn't float and holds a lot of air, and water goes in to the pores of it to be drawn out later when it starts drying up.

 

[Capulator]

If you had ALL the roots in water completely submerged you could not get root aphids or fungus gnats.

score.

 

[kushtrees]

Perlite and pumice seem pretty similar in structure and porosity. My main issue with pumice is its hard to source locally. It's also a lot heavier which is more of just an annoyance.

Ever seen growstones cap they are like pumice and perlite sort of... Lots of pores but larger and much stronger than perlite not sure if its stronger than pumice though. I can break it in my hands with some effort

 

[Confuten1]

Who ever said my airlines need 3' of pressure has never played with them. They rock in my rdwc tanks.
As for my buckets I still have no camera but that might be resolved soon. I might have found someone to take over running my business while I look over the tech part. I feel someone managing the phones that will not tell future clients they are too stupid to run my tanks might help with the bottom line. JK

If by "my airlines" u mean alitas air lines, then that was me. I spoke extensively to the rep at Alita and visited their shop, the rep told me u need 3ft of water pressure to make micro bubbles if u can only generate regular bubbles like an airstone can, there is no need to pay so much for that hose material. I bought some latex hose and added holes, worked jus fine ohh and i can report that their was no slime build up either after 10weeks w/o cleaning them.
Confu...

 

[kushtrees]

Here is a bucket idea I had. It's a modified hempy with SWC on the bottom.

I plan to fill te top 14g bucket wih perlite. I want to run it DTW like a hempy. I figured if I had an air gap between the top bucket and the bottom I would loose out on perlites wicking ability. This way the top bucket gets an inch or so of aerated water splashing through and the bottom bucket water will be highly aerated from the air stone/ tubing.

Also as the plants drink water an air gap will start to form, which may be beneficial. I plan to water once every 1-2 hours, what ever is needed to keep 2-3 inches of water at the bottom. In this way it is like a more submerged hater bucket. One thing about dankworths design I didn't like was the 7g pot. I like big pots and big ass plants. I know people say you can grow a 3 potato plant in a 5g bucket but I've always like more root space.

I plan on running act and organics as well which is why I wanted a solid amount of media for microbes

I'd love to hear what people think

Edit: pic didn't work ill have to do that part on a comp not my phone

 

[kushtrees]

Here is the bucket design love to hear what people think