My journey to the MPB Universe!

[easypleasie]

heater, that was the best bit of info i've gotten yet, bro. Much thanks! LOL now I have two gauge sets. Glad you cleared that up. I thought I needed the gauges to make sure it was vacuumed down enough. I'm gonna try to vacuum the lines in the next day or two so I may be asking for your help again if you don't mind! Definitely got a question about how to use the nitrogen to test for leaks and if it's something I need to special order or if I can pick it up somewhere locally. I know there are others that are curious about the whole process so any info you can provide will be greatly appreciated! This is one of those topics we could use more info on...as long as it's not dangerous like electrical work.

 

[heater]

Nitrogen won't be necessary if you are leak free, so hopefully you won't need it.
If you have vacuum pump oil it helps to put a small amout on the threads of your fittings before tightening.
On any set of gauges your looking at the blue gauge you will be looking at 0. Below 0 is inches in mercury a good pump should get to 28 in. Hg. thats what you are looking for. If it does not rise you are good to go. Be sure to open the valves (on unit) than take your fitting off, not before as you will draw in air.
I'll answer ?'s as best as i can, not to good writing it down.:smiley_joint:

 

[Lost]

Nitrogen won't be necessary if you are leak free, so hopefully you won't need it.
If you have vacuum pump oil it helps to put a small amout on the threads of your fittings before tightening.
On any set of gauges your looking at the blue gauge you will be looking at 0. Below 0 is inches in mercury a good pump should get to 28 in. Hg. thats what you are looking for. If it does not rise you are good to go. Be sure to open the valves (on unit) than take your fitting off, not before as you will draw in air.
I'll answer ?'s as best as i can, not to good writing it down.:smiley_joint:

When I vaccum, do I only vaccume the bigger (gas side I think?) valve, not the bottom or liquid one?

Im thinking that you just vaccume the top valve and it evacuated the bottom one as well, right? lol

 

[heater]

When I vaccum, do I only vaccume the bigger (gas side I think?) valve, not the bottom or liquid one?

Im thinking that you just vaccume the top valve and it evacuated the bottom one as well, right? lol

Your right, after connecting the line set your vacuuming the evaporator and line set. You can hook both sides up to vacuum it is faster but not necessary.
When vacuum is stable it's recommended to break the low side (gas or suction side blue gauge) first before opening the high side (liquid line red side) so as not to flood the evaporator with oil out of the compressor.

 

[Lost]

Heater, I just sent some rep your way. I dunno if it even works, but thanks for your help here!! :)

 

[easypleasie]

hell yeah heater, you rock! Best info in my whole thread right here folks!

 

[heater]

Actually the most common thing i hear from mini-split installs is the wiring.
Read the install manual carefully these things use the power wires for communication and have specific wire size and types listed . Have seen the wire reversed in a junction box, can be a real pain to trouble shoot.
They can be pretty much trouble free for the most part, keep the filter and condensate line clean.
Good luck with the system very impressive..

 

[easypleasie]

Thanks bro, more good info! I'm still finishing up my room build so putting off the vacuuming till then. Got another few days before I can get to it. A couple hours a day doesn't give ya a whole lot of time to get stuff done!

I found running the line set was the most difficult part for me so far. I had to make a lot of turns and go through a few walls and a floor! I tapped into a bathroom drain for my condensation line. I've read people say you can smell weed in the condensation water...not sure how true that is but I didn't want to take the chance with draining it outside near my neighbor's house.

 

[Lost]

Thanks bro, more good info! I'm still finishing up my room build so putting off the vacuuming till then. Got another few days before I can get to it. A couple hours a day doesn't give ya a whole lot of time to get stuff done!

I found running the line set was the most difficult part for me so far. I had to make a lot of turns and go through a few walls and a floor! I tapped into a bathroom drain for my condensation line. I've read people say you can smell weed in the condensation water...not sure how true that is but I didn't want to take the chance with draining it outside near my neighbor's house.

Nice!!!

Im finishing up my install. I need to thread the lines thru a hole in a door, fill that with filler, connect the lines, slam in the breaker, vacuum the lines..

Man it sounds like I havent done shit, lol! Seriously, its almost there. The bitch for me will be getting the inside unit on the bracket inside after I attach the lines. Since Im a one man operation, things like that can be the most time consuming, lol.

 

[easypleasie]

lol having to do things by yourself forces you to be creative to get things done. I can't even remember how I hung my inside unit as it was a while ago. I do remember fighting with it lol. I think mine has a lip in the top bracket that allows it to swivel out. I think I wired the control wires on the ground first and them pulled the slack through the walls after I hung it. have fun, bro! lol

 

[easypleasie]

Veg setup

Testing out my veg setup and so far things are looking good. This is my 3rd trial run and i'm almost ready to go live. I'm testing to make sure the ph and res temp are stable along with heat, humidity, etc.

One thing I don't like about the hydroton is I find a film of clay in the res. Hopefully, it will be mostly gone after this last round of testing. I'll have some girls in there in a day or two :) I probably won't flower out these girls...more as a test before I fully commit.

I replaced the air line hoses as they were actually 3/16" internal diameter instead of 1/4". That made a huge difference with the amount of air getting to the stones along with the air pump running cooler.

I need to replace my top feed lines as they are also 3/16" and limiting the flow. I replaced the 1/2" poly main feed line with 3/4" and the difference is night and day! Water comes out much stronger out of the top feed lines. Also, the chiller doesn't kick on near as much which makes me think my pump was working harder than it needed to on the last test run. I may swap out the 3/4" with 1" poly and either go up to bigger feed lines or add additional lines. They are spraying out pretty hard and splashing all over the place lol. I might try running 1/2" feed lines and making a drip ring...we'll see :)

I'll put up some panda film on top of everything once i'm ready to put girls in there. This should keep it dark and cooler in the tray where all the water is sloshing around. I have the bottom drain splashing up against the side wall of the res...this keeps water noise to a minimum...still a bit loud though. I can't even hear the air pump or water pump over it lol

 

[Lost]

What a nice and clean veg setup. Well done!

 

[dusty]

**** 4 stars bro!

Very nice!!

 

[Papa]

super clean easypleasie! much respect.
if water splash into res is too load, would it work to put an elbow and short piece of pipe down into the water? you wouldn't be able to see the flow, but it should lessen the sound. a piece of clear pipe would allow you to still see the flow.

Papa

 

[Lost]

The waterfall actually helps airate the water really well. Its a key feature of DD's setups :)

 

[kuz]

I've read enough threads to confuse myself now. Seems there's a couple different bucket setups.

1. A net pot in a bucket in a container. holes in bottom of bucket.

2. Netpot in container, no bucket.

3. Bucket in container, no netpot just holes in bottom of bucket.

4. Net pot in bucket in container. Just one small side drain hole in bucket. Thats what your latest pics on page 14 look like to me. Must be seeing something wrong, the water couldnt circulate in the bucket very well, maybe it doesnt have too?

The kitchen sink drains do look pretty slick.

 

[OregonMeds]

The waterfall actually helps airate the water really well. Its a key feature of DD's setups :)

Waterfalls, plural isn't it? Ea mini res where it drains into the 4" should be waterfalls also, not just hoses stuck under the water flow correct? That would make 22 waterfalls per 10 plants, damn no wonder it works well...

 

[easypleasie]

Yo fellas, thanks the nice comments!

super clean easypleasie! much respect.
if water splash into res is too load, would it work to put an elbow and short piece of pipe down into the water? you wouldn't be able to see the flow, but it should lessen the sound. a piece of clear pipe would allow you to still see the flow.

Papa

Hey Papa, thanks for the suggestion...I actually used a pipe that went into the water in another test run and it got rid of the splashing sound completely...but i'm going for the extra aeration as Lost mentions. With the door closed, I can't hear the system at all. Besides, I prefer to hear the splashing sound rather than the air pump lol

The waterfall actually helps airate the water really well. Its a key feature of DD's setups :)

Yuppers!

Waterfalls, plural isn't it? Ea mini res where it drains into the 4" should be waterfalls also, not just hoses stuck under the water flow correct? That would make 22 waterfalls per 10 plants, damn no wonder it works well...

There's a little waterfall effect for each veg bucket where it drains into the tray and then the big waterfall at the bottom drain. Same thing with the mpbs...lots of moving water for sure!

I've read enough threads to confuse myself now. Seems there's a couple different bucket setups.

1. A net pot in a bucket in a container. holes in bottom of bucket.

2. Netpot in container, no bucket.

3. Bucket in container, no netpot just holes in bottom of bucket.

4. Net pot in bucket in container. Just one small side drain hole in bucket. Thats what your latest pics on page 14 look like to me. Must be seeing something wrong, the water couldnt circulate in the bucket very well, maybe it doesnt have too?

The kitchen sink drains do look pretty slick.

Kuz, there are so many ways to veg it can get very confusing. Don't forget the ebb n flow with the cubes! lol they all work! Lost mentioned something about transplant shock in one of the threads and it gave me the idea to modify my veg system to what it is now. Originally, I was just gonna make it like DDS had laid out...top feed with a few holes in the bottom 12 liter pail. My newbie logic was if I do rdwc in veg and transplant into rdwc for flower, that it would reduce the shock and they won't have to do much other than adjust to the extra light. I wanted to keep my girls in the same type of system in both veg and flower. LOL I really don't know if this is really beneficial or not...it was just an idea and I ran with it! There's a 4" round airstone in each bucket and it rumbles in there! Plenty getting stirred up :) It's really a mini version of the mpbs.

Appreciate everyone stopping by! It's been a slow process since i've been taking my time. Things are getting done much more thoroughly. No shortcuts and testing has saved me from making a few mistakes. And i've learned a little more about hydro in the process :) I've taken lots of tips and ideas from others with this setup. Big thanks for all those that have been contributing.

 

[mrdizzle]

Im a big fan of your set up easy. i def like the idea of veggin in the buckets, it take about a week to get the roots down into the water from rw cubes. I think i might go back to the coco baskets thou, they dont get as wet as the rw

 

[mrdizzle]

also less dead roots on the bottom of the cubes, cuz all the roots stay in the basket until they get the green light