Casual's 12-site BioBucket grow

[Casual]

Hi All... I've finally got around to getting serious about my grow room. I've been accumulating parts for quite awhile. I've been hanging out on ICM since last October and discovered this site a few weeks ago.
I've never grown anything before, but the wife and I really enjoy some good herb so I figured I'd give it a shot.
I did a ton of reading, and decided if I was going to put the effort into a grow, I may as well do something of a decent size. I decided to go with a BioBucket setup as once it's setup, the maintenance shouldn't be too bad.
Had I known about the UC systems at the time, I'd have gone that route with 1/2 the number of sites.
Anyway, here's the pertinent info...
12 five gallon buckets with 8" netpots secured to the underside with stainless hardware. 4" holes in the lids to cut down on the amount of light that'll come through the lids.
10 gallons in the rez, auto-topoff, Danner 950GPH pump, outside the rez. 1" PVC for the inlet manifold splitting off to 3/4" lines up the bucket, then a 3/4"-1/2" pvc elbow into the bucket.
Drain lines are 1.25" PVC dumping into a 4" PVC pipe running back to the reservoir. Inlet and drain pipes all run through Uniseals.
1000w Switchable Ballast with aircooled hood on a 6' lightmover.
4" centrifugal fan running through a large carbon scrubber and vented into the sewer.
I have two 'sorta' moms, one White Widow and one Arjen's Haze #3. The AH seems very finicky, while the WW seems forgiving. At this point I'm planning on running all WW in the system. I have clones going and am waiting for decent root growth to put them in.
I have the room covered in Panda Plastic which needs a bit of pulling and stapling to be completely done.
Tomorrow I'll be running the supply line to the float valve, filling the system up and checking for leaks.
I was told my lava rocks are on the large side, so I'm going to take them out and release some frustrations on them! ;)
About a week or so from filling, the Beneficial Bacteria should be established enough to pop the clones in.

I'm pretty happy with how things have turned out so far. My area is very small for the number of sites I have and I think it's going to be VERY crowded in there once the ladies get hopping. I'm planning on changing over to a UC system after this round and will more than likely just run 4 plants, possibly 6.

I have less than a week to solidify a decision on the nutes I'm going to run... I'm VERY up in the air on them. Any suggestions from people with experience would be awesome! Any critiques, questions, bitches, gripes, etc are always welcome.

Cheers all!

Caz

 

[Casual]

Here are the pics as of now...

 

[Jalisco Kid]

I tried bio buckets a while back.I was an admirer of hurtback's work for a long time. But I could not get the growth I needed for my trees.
Since you were at gypomatics I assume you read up on big tokes work.
You might need some more space between buckets. You really to not need to use anything to seal when using uniseals.
Good luck with your grow. JK

 

[Casual]

Hi JK... Yep, I've read the entire thread that BigToke started. I had my buckets built exactly like his, THEN discovered Uniseals... I changed everything over.
I'm planning on this setup for a one time grow. I'm sticking with it this time because I'm basically out of money and time to change over to UC or MPB/MPD, whatever they are... :)
Next round I'm thinking Under Current... with 4, possibly 6 sites if I can fit them.
We'll see how it goes. Guess I'm going to go with the GH nutes and see if I can get the Lucas formula figured out. Nutes are still a bit of a puzzle for me!!
I had a crazy day at work today, so will be working on the room tomorrow instead of today :( I'll get there though!

Caz

 

[Aligee]

looks good man !!! your def gonna have some bushes in there !!! bio- buckets are something I'm itching to try that UCC is the biz tho !!! they've made a name for themselves alright !!! room looks real clean ...

 

[UCMENOW]

Bringin Bio Buckets Back y'all

Super clean Bio Bucket system my man....bout the cleanest I've seen to date.

Bon Voyage, my good man.

 

[UCMENOW]

Who's on first....

Seems these BB's sure are a lot like the MPB's......but not too much like the UC's....and nothing like NFT ;0 say that three times fast. :sign0065:

 

[Casual]

Ok, it's been awhile since I've updated. System is filled, flowing and has clones in it. I installed an RO system, 1/4HP Chiller. The RO has clear filter holders, so I wrapped the entire assembly in Panda Plastic to keep the light out of it. I'm running Lucas at 1/2 strength at the moment, and once I'm sure the clones are looking solid, I'll start bumping them up to see what they like.
I have a 2100GPH powerhead in the rez to help generate DO, as my waterfall is only a few inches. I wanted the increased plant height, as with a 12" waterfall, I lost quite a bit of possible plant height.
The room is VERY tight, and by the time these ladies are done, it'll be a nightmare moving around in there. I'm hoping next cycle to move everything to a larger room that will allow access to BOTH sides. As it is, I can't get to the back side except for reaching over/through the front row. I know the buckets are really close together, etc, etc... I've made some mistakes that I've noted this first go around, but this time is supposed to be a learning experience and I'm learning a LOT!! ;)

Anyhow, here are the latest pics... enjoy!

Caz

 

[Casual]

BTW... I've looked ALL over and can't find an answer... WTF does MPB stand for??
Massive Plant Bucket, or what??? I keep seeing references to it, and have even read DoubleD's thread, but never see the definition! ARGH!! ;)

Caz

 

[Lost]

Med patient bucket.. But the funny thing is that few med patients can afford it. Its more of a commercial setup.


Love your setup. Great job! Its just like a mpb for sure. The only thing I would change in the future is to feed from the bottom. That way you get a current from below up to the top and out the drain.

Great work, very clean!

 

[Casual]

Thanks Lost... Now that I just went and looked at all the thread's in the DoubleD's MPB section, it's RIGHT THERE in front of me... Talk about not being able to see the forest through the trees!!! SIGH!

Ok... not too much of an update, just more ramblings and thoughts!

I included some new pics of the powerhead with the 2100gph mod on it, I did raise the powerhead to where it's just below the surface now and it seems to really be generating some bubbles and an ass-ton of turbulence (Yes, Ass-Ton is a new unit of measurement!)
I've noticed some white residue starting to build up on the walls of the rez... I'm guessing this is just salt build up from the water splashing above the waterline and drying out and is perfectly normal, yes?

I started out the system with 1/2 strength Lucas and will slowly increase the ratios. Included in this post are pics of the AH#3's that look sickly. All of the White Widow's look awesome. I'm resigned to the fact that the AH3's require a different feed regiment that the WW's. Since I have many more of the WW's in the system, I'll be catering to them. Maybe the AH's will come around, maybe not. I won't run mixed strains in a system like this again.

Also included a pic of the little PVC stand I made to support the drain pipe. It's not even glued together... just needs to support the pipe. The only leak I've discovered is very slight and is coming from the screw on 4" cover at the ass-end of the drain pipe. I want to be able to remove this intermittently to check on root growth into the drain, so I'll just deal with the little bit that it leaks.
Chiller is fantastic. NO regrets about buying it at all. It's worth the peace of mind!
I also included a pic of my latest meter readings. pH is rising a bit, EC is dropping a bit, which was to be expected. How often should I be adjusting/adding nutes?

I think that's about it for now. Any comments on anything, particularly the AH3 pics and what you all think they might need is appreciated!

Caz

 

[sdgrower]

Looking good bro. Nice set up you got there.

 

[kuz]

looks good. Is this going to be no res change style? There are two pumps right, the chiller has its own.

 

[Casual]

Yep, I'm HOPING to do this grow with no rez changeouts. We'll see how things go. Being as this is my first attempt at growing ANYTHING, it's an enormous learning experience.
Yes, there are two pumps, a 396hph for the chiller and a 950gph for the buckets.

I guess I'm kind of at the 'wait' phase. They're all getting bigger everyday... I figure when they're about 12" tall or so, I'll flip to Flower and tweek my nutes and we'll see where the long, winding road takes me! :character0180:

 

[kuz]

Yep, I'm HOPING to do this grow with no rez changeouts.

gotta love that, hope it works. Do you add any beneficials? I was just starting to look into bio buckets when I found this site and mpb buckets. Do the good bacteria survive high nute loads? Jalisco Kid has mentioned P especially hard on the bennies above 50-70 ppm. Just wondering since you mentioned lucas.

 

[Casual]

I followed BigTokes thread over at ICM almost to the letter. I upgraded the fittings to utilize Uniseals which either weren't available at the time he built his, or he wasn't aware of them. I didn't like the 'glued in' fittings. Uniseals ROCK!
I didn't add any beneficials. They're in the air around you, and within a week or just starting the system up with plain water, they'll start colonizing the lava rock.
I can feel a slipperiness to the water, that's the Bene's doin' their thing.
BigToke used the Lucas formula and has posted some great results. Petemoss has also had excellent results when he was running bio-buckets, but he's now relegated to growing in a wardrobe and doesn't have the room for a large setup. Petemoss has been a godsend for me. He's helped me tremendously!
The best thing I could recommend if you're interested in the Biobuckets is to head over to ICM and check out "BigTokes How-to of BioBuckets 101"... it's getting close
to 70 pages. LOTS of great info.
That said, had I know about UnderCurrent or MPB's last October when I started down the 'Grow Road', I'd have gone with one of those systems instead of the BB's. The UC has the benefit of reduced plumbing, MPB's have the benefit of larger plants, like UC's.
I'm growing in my house, and don't think there's any way in hell I could get away with running 10,000 Watts. I MIGHT be able to swing 4KW...
In order to get the HUGE plants from the MPB and UC setups, LOTS of lights are required. For those who are legal and have warehouse space, it's without a doubt the way to go. With the limits I have, the 1K on a lightmover is the best I can do right now. Next grow, I think I'll replace the light mover with another 1KW hood. I think that will help my yields. On a guess, with my buckets as close together as they are and my limited lighting, I'm hoping to pull out 4-6z's a plant. I think with a bit more spacing, and two 1K's in there, I could do 8z's a plant without too much difficulty.

Sorry all... I guess I like to ramble! :)

Caz

 

[kuz]

You really need to be committed to invest in the electricity and AC to do MPB right, trees in general at basically 1000 watts each.

Too many threads around here for me to follow already, I might harass you with a few more questions if you dont mind.

Is there a lot of water sloshing around the lava rocks with a top feed like that, tops of the buckets look wet. But the water seems to exit around the same level as it enters. What size is the rockwool cube, is it sitting below water level?

Have you seen easypleasie's thread and the space lab in the MPB section. If the chiller starts working too hard the reflectix seems to help a lot, especially with black buckets.

 

[Casper]

Looks very clean! I have never grown anything either so this thread is an inspiration to me! Good luck. I am in Michigan and I am a legal patient I want to mimick the UC model because I can not afford to purchase it.

 

[Casual]

Kuz, the water doesn't actually slosh out of the buckets at all... that water was from me dicking around, hand watering that particular clone. I'm not using rockwool cubes, they're Oasis Cubes (2"). They are reportedly more 'neutral' than rockwool. I think I should probably go and back fill in around the cubes. I've noticed some areas where the roots are visible from the top where they come out the sides of the cubes, which also means the light can hit them which I believe is bad. I don't mind the questions at all... I've fired off plenty of my own and still do! ;)

Casper, thanks for the kudos! The actual UC setup is very sweet, but to hit the high yields of most of the UC grows that I've seen requires a LOT of lumens. Most people are running close to one 1KW light per plant. If you're legal, the ramifications of a much higher power bill shouldn't be an issue for you, and that would be the route I'd go. I'm unsure of how well the UC system would work under only a few lights. I'm on the low end with the BioBuckets with only one 1KW light. It's on a mover, but it's very obvious to me now how much better off I'd have been had I bought a second 1KW light/ballast/hood setup. When the hood is at one end, there's a significant reduction in light at the opposite end.
I believe with 6 plants in a UC setup, with two 1KW lights, I could probably produce the same yield as the BB system will with my current setup, plus the plumbing of the UC's is much easier.
Oh, if you do build your own UC setup, don't skimp and get the actual Uniseals, and then buy a nice pair of Mechanix Gloves or the like. Getting the PVC through the uniseals is a bit of a bitch. I used Windex for a lubricant, sparingly, and that worked decent. You'd have to read about what other folks have used... just make sure it's safe for the plants.

Most important advice I, or anyone else, can give you... READ, READ, READ!!!
These forums are the absolute cats ass when it comes to knowledge about growing.
99% of the time, other people have already asked the question you have and it's just a matter of finding the answer. LOL, of course, there is ALWAYS more than one answer, but at least it gets you thinking!!

Cheers!

Caz

 

[kuz]

I took a look over at the other site, impressive yields for such small wattage. Perfect if your plant count isnt a limiting factor and the electric bill is.