Oh My God, He Turned It INSIDE OUT!!!

[ttystikk]

Ever heard of a detached retina? The only thing creepier than realizing what it means is the treatment... I will spare y'all the dicey details!

Thanks for the kind wishes, you are my people!

On an oddly related subject, all the specialists remarked about how LOW my intraocular pressure reading was. Lower readings- within normal limits, of course- prevent glaucoma. No one asked if I was doing anything that may be contributing, but it's no secret here that using cannabis has this effect. It's just nice to get a little independent confirmation, isn't it?!

 

[ttystikk]

So believe it or not, it's okay to stare at my phone while I treat my eye. The doc said so himself, who am I to second guess? I'll use the time wisely to lay out my plans. First; the rdwc system I'll use is a 5 gallon bucket as a tailbucket, place a 250 gph pump in it and pump water through a 3/4" line to two 27 gallon tubs. This water will splash down from above the waterline waterfall style, aerating and mixing the reservoir holding the roots. Big 1" return lines supply the tailbucket, which is where nutes get added and measurements get taken. The cooling coil sits here too.

Each of two 10" netpot bucket lids sits on a rim cut from a 5 gallon bucket to give it room above the waterline. This site in one corner of the 27 gallon tub lid. The tub lid will also get a layer of reflective foam insulation board, to minimize the chiller's heat load. Two plants, two tubs, each plant covers half the circle around the light bulb hanging in the middle.

 

[Darth Fader]

Will be cool to see this go down. Hope you can document all that noise for us.

 

[ttystikk]

Will be cool to see this go down. Hope you can document all that noise for us.

You just got theory of rdwc above. I'll post pics of the build when I'm up to getting it done- believe me when I tell you that I'm not waiting just to build suspense!

Right now, the ladies are sitting in individual dwc buckets, waiting for their place in the trellis. When it's up and running, I will be sure to update things regularly!

 

[ttystikk]

Today's update is that the ladies have told me they're ready for their new home... they've grown a solid foot in the last three days...!

 

[Stoner Steve]

Hope you're doing ok tty and thank you for documenting this run. Youve got me inspired enough to try the same. Im setting mine up right now around a single 1k. Im not sure if I can get away with bare bulb so I bought a cooltubes just in case. Ill be running some lanky sativas in a short 7' space so I think this is perfectly suited. Can't wait to see more of your progress.

 

[ir0nLung]

when do the pics start?

 

[ttystikk]

when do the pics start?

When I get a new phone. Just broke my note 2.

 

[ttystikk]

I'm sorry for the lack of action here. The rest of my life- and my op- have been especially demanding of my attention. This still going, just had some shit to deal with first, apparently...

 

[fishwhistle]

Take care of yourself first and the rest will come in due time tty.

 

[Oregon Panda]

The fact that this is 10 pages long and you havent even posted a pic yet lets you know how much everyone believes in you.
I just read through this whole time thinkin "Show me the pics ty, show me the pics."

I'm ready to move inside so my room is a blank canvas, waiting to xerox the best grow I can find.

 

[ttystikk]

The fact that this is 10 pages long and you havent even posted a pic yet lets you know how much everyone believes in you.
I just read through this whole time thinkin "Show me the pics ty, show me the pics."

I'm ready to move inside so my room is a blank canvas, waiting to xerox the best grow I can find.

You know, you're absolutely right! And if I didn't have a few minor setbacks come up in my life recently- tech killed my chiller, detached retina, partner ripped me off... and more I won't bore y'all with... I'd be up n running.

The current plan is to get my- admittedly abused and neglected- ladies into place this weekend, building the system this week. Strap in, it's FINALLY about to get interesting!

One of the bigger obstacles is that my cooling system is taxed to the max with the current setup. Adding an unvented thouie well push everything over the edge, especially in August! This is why I had my chiller serviced to begin with. So much for being proactive! I should get my repaired chiller back this week. I'm guessing about $800 for the fix, will let y'all know the actual bill- when it gets here...

So, infrastructure issues solved, it's now a matter of assembling the components I've accumulated into a working unit.

 

[ttystikk]

Update time. As some of you may already know, I had a smell complaint scare recently which threw things into a bit of a frenzy for a bit. When all got settled down, I realized that the two big plants that I'd set aside for my cylinder experiment had sucked their respective dwc buckets dry- and promptly shriveled. So, the cylinder part of this, and having two tall plants dancing the mamushka around a central vertical thouie will have to wait a bit.

But, all is NOT lost! I have pics of the tubs I'll be using for this grow, and I built a couple more so I could run 4 trees in the same 8 x 8' zone as I was previously running 12 sites, all in 5 gallon buckets.

Tubs first; the relevant details are that some of the tubs are made to be left or right 'handed'(trademarked) meaning the components are made in mirror image pairs, just like our hands. I did the lids the same way. This makes the setup within the space and installation of these tubs an order of magnitude easier, since it creates so many spacing options.

Another trick; in order to increase circulation in the tubs themselves, I offset the inlets and outlets, as you can see in the last pic. The idea is to keep the water from having a straight shot through the tub, like it unavoidably does in a round 5 gallon bucket.

 

[ttystikk]

And now, to show these tubs all plumbed into place and ready for water and women!

Today's project was to remove the old RDWC and reconfigure the system with the 27 gallon tubs from the above post. I think it is important to note that while all those bulkhead fittings added up to a fair chunk of change, I've been able to reuse them, along with a healthy collection of 1" house pieces of various lengths, in making many RDWC systems to fit many requirements. The flexibility of the system keeps paying dividends; in addition to using those very same components as what are in use in the pics below, in the case of my final veg stage I have a full-on 12 site RDWC, chilled and all, comfortably fitting inside one half of my 4 x 8' veg tent. Works tits in there, too!

The inherent interconnectivity, physical flexibility and reusability of all the components means that the very same bulkhead fittings, elbows and hoses that were used in the 12 site RDWC are now pressed- literally, lol- into service in the new system. Between those parts that were freed up and my store of spares, I did not so much as cut one hose in the refit. I think that makes my approach superior to using rigid pvc pipe- of whatever diameter.

 

[ttystikk]

The fact that this is 10 pages long and you havent even posted a pic yet lets you know how much everyone believes in you.
I just read through this whole time thinkin "Show me the pics ty, show me the pics."

I'm ready to move inside so my room is a blank canvas, waiting to xerox the best grow I can find.

Sorry it took so long, lol

Hope it's worth the wait?

The simple truth is that I'm running a grow lab- four zones, all the same size, same cooling, same conditions, same wattage. Different hoods, rdwc, growing styles are all being run in various places with the aim of finding the biggest yield, highest quality, lowest cost- and least effort!- approaches to growing indoors. I think of today's installation as another step on that road. This setup is really a lot like Capulator's in many ways, and will be even more so soon when my second chiller is fixed and running- so I'll have the cooling capacity to cool an X pattern of 5 bare thousand watt bulbs, hung vertically. Until then, the 4kW in sealed hoods overhead will have to suffice.

 

[babyhughie586]

Dope... I'm loving this setup bro.. Well done my friend, I'm excited to see how u rock it

 

[All4freedumb]

How is the project comin along? Any new progress? I am looking forward to seeing this

 

[Medusa]

very nice Tystik, have heard of the eye detaghement before also sounds painful.. take care

 

[Goldenrod]

Outstanding sir. Methinks thou May be o to the holy frail of grow techniques. Hope yall achieve greatness. AGAIN!!!!!!!! Ho ho ho

 

[ttystikk]

very nice Tystik, have heard of the eye detaghement before also sounds painful.. take care

Oh, no- going blind via a detached retina is completely painless, at least physically. It's the treatments that get pretty Damn uncomfortable!

At this point in my recovery, I can report that my 'bad eye' is about -2.5 diopters. That's not bad, and I can read and drive and do most things just fine. There will be no corneal transplant for now as mine simply isn't cloudy or mangled enough to justify it. For activities that require accurate distance vision, I can get glasses- something I'm used to, so not a big deal.

Current projects include converting everything to run the big tubs now that I have two zones running very well with them.

The chiller 'repair' should be completed and installed early next week, which will finally allow me to pursue the bare bulb upgrades this thread was originally created for.

Once the tubs are in place, the next job will be dropping vertical sockets into place for bare bulbs. Shortly after that, I should be able to get my first inside out trellis up and running!