DIY - Over, Under, Sideways, Down...Sky High builds an Under Current knockoff

[sky high]

Heya Farmers!

Please feel free to post in this thread if you desire, but keep in mind that the less chatter there is the easier it will be for someone else to follow along and do their own build/etc. If you can hold off on commenting until you see water in this thing and sky taking a BONG BREAK I would certainly appreciate it.

Much respect to those folks out there who have experimented and improved these type of systems along the way so a hobby hack like me can copy the design.

This won't be a blow-by-blow/ incredibly detailed build report but i'll do my best to explain what I'm doing/have done to get where I'm @ at present.

The first thing is sourcing the parts.

I bought my air/water pumps here:



cheapest place I found after quite a search....

Uni-seals and air diffusers here:



buckets/lids here: http://www.bayteccontainers.com/

the rest of the fittings/pvc/etc were sourced at CASA DE POT.

I bought 9 buckets and 10 lids. My first build will be a 6 bucket system with 13 gallon modules. While I was ordering I bought the extra buckets so I can expand to 8 buckets if I so desire.

The Under current appears to ROCK well. However, I was in "manufacturing" for many years and know that many times a product is offered to the consumer with parts that JUST get the job done rather than the build being geared for optimal performance.

I have no idea if this is the case with the UC but I suspect that tweeks can be performed that will make the system perform better than the stock offering.

We shall see!

onward..through the fog!

sky

 

[TyKaycha]

Sweet! Kicking back, lighting up and looking forward to the show!

 

[sky high]

Here are the major components I have sourced for this build:

7-13 gallon pails w/lids
1 Mag Drive 12 (1200 gph)
2 pondmaster AP-100 air pumps
7 - 9" round pond air diffusers
6 - 8" net pots

Piping will be 2" PVC like the stock UC's

Water pump will draw/pump through 3/4" tubing vs. 1/2"

Air diffusers in each bucket are what UC offers only in the mix bucket (9'' vs. cheap/small aquarium stone)

buckets will be spaced 40" apart across the system and 36" apart down the rows.

As far as COST.....

I have no idea how UC would price a COMPARABLE system. (much larger water pump, 2- AP 100's rather than ONE AP-40, smaller diffusers/etc/etc/etc/) so I didn't focus on cost when I put the components together for this build. what I DID focus on was performance and sourcing the parts AS CHEAPLY as I could. This allowed me to buy MORE goodies for the same $$ and to have the availability to EXPAND in the future rather than buying minimalistically and then having to repurchase larger pumps later. (example... I paid $139 each for the airpumps and UC wants $210 for one)

OK...here come some pics....

 

[sky high]

Here are the buckets.

The scariest part for me was drilling into the first bucket.
I took my time and made a paper TEMPLATE by tracing the bottom of the side of the bucket and measuring and locating where i wanted the Uniseal to be placed on the side of each bucket. i then used the template to mark each hole location so all would be the same from bucket to bucket and drilled each with a 3" hole saw.

the second challenge/scary part was figuring out how to cut the holes in the lids for the 8" nets to fit. someone here said Casa De pot had 8" drywall hole cuttin saws but my store only went to 6". After walking around a bit (stoned, natch) in HD I came upon the heating/ductind section and saw a nice section of 8" galvie ducting. when i measured it I found that it was the exact size i needed for the holes in the lids.

I marked/noted about where each hole needed to be. I then got out my propane camp stove and laid the peice of ducting on it....getting it as hot as i could....and then i picked it up (with gloves) and pressed it onto the plastic lid...melting into the plastic. It was hard to get it hot ALL the way around or to get it to go through completely...and it wanted to get a bit out of round as i went...but i hested and pressed round and round on each lid until I could gently pull on the plastic and get it to seperate along the melted line. NOT the best way...but it worked....

Last night I sat down and drew out a sketch and made a parts list for the fittings/pvc/etc. and went to HD.

All-in-all i have about $1200 in this build. Yes...i COULD HAVE bought a pre-made 6 bucket Uc for roughly that and wouldn't have had to construct it.... but at the same time as i mentioned above I decided that having the 13 gallon modules, almost 2X the WATER FLOW and 4-5X the AIR pressure and a keen sense of how it all meshes together would be a better way for ME to go than to just go and peel off the bens at the hydro store...

Oh yeah...did i say somethin' about pictures before that last bowl and cup of joe hit? LOL....

BTW...i know someone will say "dooood...yer gonna have major algae problems with those white buckets'

Thought about that. couldn't find the BLUE or black ones...only opaque white...so my plan it to make some nice fitting little 'reflectix' jackets for each bucket and tape em on. hopefully that will cut the light out....and if not I'll wrap em with panda prior to wrappin the reflectix.

 

[UCMENOW]

Uc diy ok 4u

Looks good Sky....can't wait to see you rock it.

BTW, the UC water pumps are sized so as not to displace too much water which could be a problem later in the Bloom cycle once the roots add to resistence to the flow. And 3/4" return hose is standard for the UC.

Flow is intended to homogenize (mix) nutes, more so then grow the plants faster.....more air on the other hand, that's how you soup it up for sure.

I did find out that CC is offering their systems "barebones" as well as complete as they are now. The barbones do not include any air pumps or stones which allows for growers to do this themselves.

Some might opt for regenerative blowers and micropore diffusers while some may just use the air pumps they already have and just want to save a couple bucks.

With that said it would have been much cheaper just to have bought a prefab from CC....but building it can be fun.

Happy growing.

 

[sky high]

I dunno about 'much cheaper".... especially if yer paying UC's prices for pumps, float valves, air stones, and air pumps....but I hear ya, UCMENOW.

Water/pump volumes can be dialed down >inline< if needed when the roots start to take up a buncha room.

I'm also planning a drain/overflow for each bucket back to the mix bucket. It'll make the system more cluttered, but I don't relish floods! I did the same thing to my recirc DWC bucket system and it has saved me 3x in this grow alone because it's a 1/2 tubed system and the roots can play Hell with small diameter tubing...as some of you KNOW! LOL. I may have to reorder uniseals for this part of the project because the ones i got are too big (stoner!) now that I look at 'em. No biggie...I'll use em on a smaller footprint 6-bucket "VEG" system I'm gonna build using (1000 watt footprint) the same principles to compliment this one so i can merely move the bucket from veg to bloom and ROCK it.

Ok....set up the saw...cut the 2" pvc runs and glued the returns together.

Came out 51" wide from center of pipe to center of pipe.... and 126" long. i also designed it so that all pumps and the mix bucket set outside the space/on the other side of the wall..

now I attack the water and air systems....and yes...another bowl!

 

[Giddeon]

Looks Great I am working on a Undercurrent system similar to this one just ordered the all uniseals difusers and pumps Thanks for the info on size where to order them from!

 

[sky high]

a few more hours of piddling and another trip to Casa De Pot and I got the water and air side of things buttoned down. Now think I'm ready to see what this beee-atch will do. (aka.."will it hold water?")

I installed 3 air diffusers coming off one of the AP-100's and 4 off the 2nd AP-100. 3/4" airline all around....

Ok....now to put some water in and see WTF happens.........

 

[winta]

wow skyhi that system is serious! great job!

 

[UCMENOW]

Flex Air Convention

Flex air discs in every module...I like.

Curious to see what happens when the discs become bouyant, might cause a headache but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Fire it up.

 

[sky high]

Well....she holds water and shr FOOKIN' ROCKS!

The diffusers are hard piped into the buckets, UC. They rise up a bit when crankin' and the pipe also rises a bit but I think a small block of wood/etc under the tee/elbow will level it out and make it all better.

And talk about a rolling boil. Holy smokes. You can actually hear the air screaming through the 3/4 airlines. LOL. "LET ME OUT!"

I already see one thing I'm gonna alter. I need to add some tubing to the air side so I can raise the pumps above the water level...>just in case<.

Gonna let her run a bit....but in the long run I have to dismantle it (into 2 module or so peices) and move it into the bloom room for good...

clones are just rootin.......so in a few weeks I'll start the formal grow show.

this is gonna be fun (i hope...LOL)

thanks for sheckin' in, mon!


s h

 

[UCMENOW]

Uc'smakemesmile: ;)

Bon Voyage.

Very nice work. Rock that UC brother.

 

[Lost]

Great job, very nicely done!

 

[sky high]

I was a bit heavy on my first cost estimate....

goes like this:

$230 for the Uniseals and diffusers
$285 for the buckets (shipping was $105 of that)
$ 440 for the air/water pumps (3)
$ 100 for fittings/pvc/etc.
______
$1055 and a stoned day in the garage....

gosh...I hope I can recoup!

s h

 

[billybadazz]

looking forward to the show bro!!

 

[Satica]

Nice job done, though it will be a bumpy road but you will enjoy every second of it.

 

[CAPO]

This is awesome sky!!.....Can't wait to see it with passengers!

 

[sky high]

Tell me about those bumps, Satica...

Pretty sure I'm gonna rock the Colorado Blueberry clone in here on the first run. I was told I probably couldn't make her yield worth shit but iin the DWC she is cruisin' right along. won't be the BIGGEST harvest but she is packing on substantial weight and there will be no disappoointments here considering how top shelf this smoke is. MMMMM.

clones are rooted. A week or so in the ebb/flow (and a nice harvest!).....and then they'll hit the buckets for a spin.

Question for folks who've ran this system. After a few hours of of I see a weird "precipatate" forming at the water line. Tan/brown crud....you can wipe it out with your finger but in 2 hours it is back. Might be hard mineral in my tap water....or residue from manufacturing one of the components.....but I''ve never seen anyhting like it before in any other system. Maybe something to do with the massive airflow/bubbles?

should be fun....

Thanks for lookin' in, folks!

s h

 

[UCMENOW]

Sky, there is a wax coating that sluffs off once you've run the discs for a while...should just wipe right away.

 

[SkyHi]

LOoks beautiful buddy lets see it in action