Design Of A Rwdc Room - Questions

[FatFriday]

Im in the process of designing a RWDC room - I have read and using the water/air pump information provided in "Pump size for RDWC (water and air) thread" at this time I plan on splitting the system into 2 loops ( 2 separate systems ) in case of failure. Each loop will have 6 - 5 gal buckets (cal 4 gal of water in each) with a 25 gallon res tank for a +/_ 50 gal system (each).

this is what I have come up with and hope someone can verify my numbers

water pump calc
50 x 15 = 750 + 10% = 1485 = up to 850/900 gal per hour

Air
50 gal convert to liter =189.3 - 190/2 = 95 LPM

thanks

 

[noone88]

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

[FatFriday]

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

ok - why what?

 

[noone88]

I was one of the early adopters of the CCH20 systems. I ran their systems for almost a year, 4-5 harvests. There are a lot of issues which may or may not have been resolved.

Their main appeal is for cities/states with limited plant count laws. The idea that you can yield 2 pounds per plant sounds awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

But the reality is that growing in water culture is for advanced people only. You are riding that thin line between things going awesome and complete disaster. Some of my best quality flowers have been done through water culture, but there is a reason why most commercial guys do not grow in water culture

Issues:
1) cleanliness. You always get a few good runs with brand new systems and then eventually root rot takes over. It is very difficult to keep your system clean and root rot will kill your plants or severely affect yield. I have tried h202 every few days, only used synthetics, etc. Controlling root rot is very difficult.
2) consistency. With flower prices continuing to drop, as a grower, you need to deliver consistent results. You lose that consistency with water culture
3) water leaks. bulkheads might be better, but I bought 2 cch2o systems when they were using uniseals. HAHA
4) Dissolved oxygen in root zone. You bring in outside air (non co2 enriched) to the rootzone and you have positive pressure in your grow room. You bring in growroom air to the rootzone and you acidify the water,
5) pH fluctuations. They can go from minor swings to severe swings in 24 hours. You could use a pH doser but hey, more cost!!

I'm sure there are more things that i'm forgetting. There are guys (doubledsyield on IG, and creator of the mpb system) that are killing it. And some of my best quality results have been from water culture, albiet this was 2011 and i'm sure my skill level has increased since then. Hell, if you're bored, go on icmag and there are people still struggling with root rot in water culture systems.

Tables, rockwool cubes (or smart pots with coco), top feed system. It is probably the best hydroponic method to grow. You gain the control needed with hydroponics and the plant health that comes with soil/soil-less media.

One of you fucks need to come up with a one-time-use water culture system!!

 

[EventHorizan]

I have none of the problems you stated. Maybe one day i will, but maybe one day you will in soil too... Im not gonna knock soil or any form of growing. And if you want to call me ( But the reality is that growing in water culture is for advanced people only.) I sure as hell take that.
Everything has risks. Everything has rewards... They also make coolers for rdwc. And most dwc ppl just use hydrogaurd...
However he lost me on the double setup or what ever op is talking about.

 

[FatFriday]

the reason for 2 small systems is so that if I have piece of equipment that fails I dont lose everything - also with 2 systems its a cheaper set up at I will start with only 6 plants and then I can move up to 12 or more. I was thinking of using O3 or hydrogaurd to help with root rot. theres other reasons but for now this looks like something I would like to try.

 

[EventHorizan]

the reason for 2 small systems is so that if I have piece of equipment that fails I dont lose everything - also with 2 systems its a cheaper set up at I will start with only 6 plants and then I can move up to 12 or more. I was thinking of using O3 or hydrogaurd to help with root rot. theres other reasons but for now this looks like something I would like to try.

how much you plan on spending? for the sysytem?

 

[FatFriday]

how much you plan on spending? for the sysytem?

well like most people - Im cheap - but I only like buying stuff once so will look for the best that I can afford - I havent found the water pumps I want - I dont want submersible - air I was looking at these Commercial Air Pump - 110 L/min. I need to research if the O3 gen will replace some of the O for the dissolved oxygen needed.

 

[Farmer P]

I started a micro dwc and used hydroguard from the start, but within 1 week was growing brown slime. Water temp never got above 70. Decided to switch to coco. Still have a full bottle of Hydorguard. My city uses a lot of well water and I read somewhere that well water commonly has pithium, so maybe that was the problem, but either I got a bad batch of Hydroguard from amazon, (date on bottle is june 2016) or it doesn't work. The water smelled like dirty socks.

 

[FatFriday]

thanks for the info. makes me wonder because of the reviews I have read about Hydroguard - I will by it locally in case I have a problem

 

[EventHorizan]

I use it and it works great. Do use a reputable dealer!

 

[Farmer P]

Also could have been my fault somehow as I was a noob to dwc. Good luck in your venture. I will keep following.

 

[EventHorizan]

And it does have a date to be used by..

 

[Farmer P]

Less than 6 months from manufacture to open. Followed directions exactly.

 

[jcom]

I've found CC systems to be far too overpriced for what they really are. And I was always scratching my head wondering why they didn't used to use bulkheads. I guess it's because I keep reef tanks than I have always felt comfortable with DWC/RDWC (over 10 years now) and have never had root rot, PM, or anything (other than one time I got fungus gnats because I stupidly put some tomatoes in the room in March to get a head start for outdoor garden. I kept them under control, but they managed to kill one plant that they had colonized on. Got rid of that plant and everything was fine afterward).

Anyway, I have always built my own systems for FAR FAR less than what these CC systems cost. I built a 24 site system you'll see in link for about $1200. If you take out the high end Reeflow pump and Water Chiller, it was more like a couple hundred $$. No airstones either. I was getting 1lb per plant off of 8 lights (i.e. 3lbs per light). Save yourself some $$ and DIY.

I have and always will use Botanicare's line of products (with the exception of Nivrana for increased flow production). About as close to full organic hydro as you can get. And YES, YES, YES on Hydroguard, AquaShield, and a chiller (my water is always 73F or below). I believe these, combined, are the main reason I've never had root rot problems. (knock on wood). : )

Here's a smaller version I call my "hobby room" - Single 1000watt on light mover. Produces 2 - 2.5 lbs.

 

[FatFriday]

I've found CC systems to be far too overpriced for what they really are. And I was always scratching my head wondering why they didn't used to use bulkheads. I guess it's because I keep reef tanks than I have always felt comfortable with DWC/RDWC (over 10 years now) and have never had root rot, PM, or anything (other than one time I got fungus gnats because I stupidly put some tomatoes in the room in March to get a head start for outdoor garden. I kept them under control, but they managed to kill one plant that they had colonized on. Got rid of that plant and everything was fine afterward).

Anyway, I have always built my own systems for FAR FAR less than what these CC systems cost. I built a 24 site system you'll see in link for about $1200. If you take out the high end Reeflow pump and Water Chiller, it was more like a couple hundred $$. No airstones either. I was getting 1lb per plant off of 8 lights (i.e. 3lbs per light). Save yourself some $$ and DIY.

I have and always will use Botanicare's line of products (with the exception of Nivrana for increased flow production). About as close to full organic hydro as you can get. And YES, YES, YES on Hydroguard, AquaShield, and a chiller (my water is always 73F or below). I believe these, combined, are the main reason I've never had root rot problems. (knock on wood). : )

Here's a smaller version I call my "hobby room" - Single 1000watt on light mover. Produces 2 - 2.5 lbs.

would you be willing to post a design sketch and parts list? I get a bonus check this Friday - /smile

 

[FatFriday]

also do you Co2 or Ozone your tent?

 

[jcom]

Sorry man, way too busy to do a parts list. Really, very basic (for bigger setup): 50 gallon rez, 14 gallon plant sites (however, since that setup, I've found 10 gallon sites are plenty big and cut down overall water volume, nutrient usage, etc). Nice, big, reliable main pump (Reeflo are the best), and have ball valves to control their flow (only use ball valves on outgoing flow, if incoming flow is restricted, it can burn motor). Reeflos are designed to reduce power consumption as outflow gets restricted (e.g. my pump is 300 watts, but backed off with the ball valves, I'm guessing it's consuming closer to 200 watts, maybe less (mine is the Barracuda model). If the ball valves were fully opened, it would be too much pressure on the flex hoses that run into the plant sites. Better to have too much than too little. No need for cluster of air hose spaghetti mess, not to mention the noise and heat from air pumps, plenty of air being induced by the jet nozzles. The video pretty much tells the tale. Get bulkheads from blukreefsupply.com They have everything you could ever need for hydro plumbing even though they're a reef tank supply store. Just check out their plumbing section, it will blow your mind. I'm happy to answer questions, just don't have time to do full schematics.

Big room is fully sealed with co2 controller. co2 is always 1200ppm+ during daylight in this room. Smaller room is not sealed, but exhaust fan shuts off 4 times during light period for 20 minutes or so, in timing with kick on of co2 burner. Temps rise significantly during this period, but that's a good thing. Plants take in more co2 with higher temps and they love it. co2 rooms can be run 4 - 6F (sometimes more) hotter than non co2 rooms. Here's the small room co2 process:

 

[FatFriday]

was watching your video "8000 Watt RDWC Super Lemon Haze - 1080p HD" like the room

 

[jcom]

Might help just to watch these two multi-part series to get the idea of setting a DIY RDWC up. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean harder. Actually, the bigger the better (and I'm not talking about harvest). The more water volume you have in a system, the more stable your pH will be. Think of a cup of R/O water, and let's say the pH is 7.0 (neutral) to start. Then, let's say you put a drop of pH up or down, or a drop of nutrient, in there. Since it's R/O 7.0 neutral, that one drop is going to VASTLY change the pH. If you put that same drop in a 60 gallon system, the pH probably won't change 1/10 of a point. The point being, the more water volume, the more flexibility and ease you have in adding nutrients and keeping pH stable. If you run a single 5 gallon, independent bubble bucket, the plants can drink 2+ gallons in one day....watch what happens to your nutrient ppms and pH overnight in that scenario. My systems are always between 5.7 and 5.9, but I intentionally fluctuate them up to 6.0 - 6.1 and down to 5.4 - 5.5 just to allow some of the nutrients that are more readily absorbed at these higher and lower values. Anyway, here are the links to the series:

Hobby room setup:

Pheno Hunt in Hobby Room: