Single Site DWC versus RDWC

[smokestack23]

Painting a black bucket or lid whit will not magically make the black transparent and allow light to penetrate. That's just silly. Now a white pail or lid...THAT will let light through.

One of your items in the CON list is a PRO. The one that says more water in the system. That's a GOOD thing. As was mentioned...acts as a buffer for maintaining more constant temps as well as nutes and ph.

also, it isn't more complicated. Maybe to set-up but the hours you spend setting it up will save you ten fold later when you'd have to treat each pail individually.

it isn't even that much more expensive. you'll need some hose, valves and fittings, and drains. You'll also need a pump and a reservoir tub. My system is kinda a hybrid I guess. 4 pails (times two..I have 2 four pod rdwc systems staggered a month apart) with dual 3/4" drains. I feed them from a $15 rubbermaid tub with a $19 160gph pump. Connected to the pump is a 1/2" line which wuns the length of the 4 pails. Out of it come two 1/4" feedlines that pour (not drip..no emitters) into the sides of my netpots. I WAS using a 350gph little giant pump but it was too much. The last bucket couldnt drain fast enough and it would overflow.

So, after the 4 buckets and netpots and airpumps and stones and hydroton, which you would already have from a dwc, all you need to add is:
a reservoir-$15
a pump-$16
about $45 worth of elbows, Ts, drains, shutoff valves(not critical)

I'm probably forgetting a few things but it wouldnt be more than a hundred bucks.

The most critical things probably are water temps and oxygen in the water. You REALLY don't want root problems. It's nice to have a jug of SM90 and some Great White so that if something DOES happen you're covered. Of course you don't use those two products together or for the same thing but...

Most other "issues" you can have with RDWC are issues you have with any method..meaning like pm or pests.

 

[nice.plugin]

While RDWC systems seem ideal, single systems are the best for the following reasons;

1) single systems allow for more precise nutrient control when you start to fine tune the solutions for each week of its growing cycle

2) in RDWC systems, space can become an issue since the plants are stacked close together. When doing DWC correctly, growth can be explosive and restricting their growing space can be frustrating. Additionally, individual plants can be moved around a grow room much more effectively.

3) since all plants in an RDWC run on the same nutrient solution, every plant gets the same nutrient solution, so it becomes hard to cycle your crops (harvest continually vs. all at once). Individual buckets allot the grower a time management luxury to choose when each plant needs a system change, staggering maintenance and allowing a grower to individualize a plants nutrient solution and possibly add genetics.

4) I personally have trained my plants to get used to higher ppm counts over its life cycle and aggressively flush at the end for maximum yield, and this regimen leads to a bulky (almost thick weblike mesh) root system that is able to absorb +3500 ppm of a combination of advanced + GH nutes (combined with a few other brands). This type plant is a problem in RDWC systems - the bulky root mass blocks the circulation of nutrients within the system and large plants will start to compete for space.

http://www.hydrowarehouse.com/ has a good selection of DWC gear, especially their larger air pumps and micropores.

if you have any questions ask away

 

[brncow]

Drains need to be larger then the size of the supply lines...1/2" supply lines from res need 3/4" or larger drains..look at the UC system for an example...

 

[smokestack23]

Hey,
I'm not saying to listen to me and everyone else is wrong. It's just always best to know all the facts before you make a decision.

I was originally gonna make my room stand alone DWCs and stagger them a week apart. 8 plants. Harvest one per week. It would have been pretty much impossible to do that with RDWC as all the plants would be at different stages requiring different diets.

That would have meant that every time I did a feeding or nute change I would have to deal with 8 different pails and I'd have to mix and correct and adjust 8 different solutions. That is not very time or cost effective. Then there's the heat issue. Your plants want the temp to be around 75deg. If your roots are that warm (in water) you WILL get rot and or pythium and or algae and or other nasty stuff. It doesnt take much time before your nutrient in a pail reaches room temperature. How do you deal with that in individual pails?

I decided that I better switch to 2 rdwc systems staggered a month apart with 4 plants each. One harvest per month.

Just to touch on a couple of points that were mentioned. Yes..you always want more drainage area than feed. Your drains SHOULD be bigger than 3/4". At least mine will be next time.

RDWC does not mean pails are close together or un-movable. I built mine to be on 40" centers but I use flexible lines and can move my pails around no problem. Not really sure why you'd wanna move them anyway...maybe if there was only one lightsource? Either way, with flexible hoses buckets can be moved a bit...but...it's EASY to turn your plants in RDWC, or just switch the netlids if you want to rotate plants around. You don't HAVE to move the whole bucket.

Either way, weigh all the differences, advantages and disadvantages of both systems AFTER doing LOTS of research here at thcfarmer. Don't get all your info from this one thread.

I can almost guarantee that if you go RDWC you will NOT find yourself saying..damn..I shoulda just done standalone DWC. Now if you go the other way I'm pretty sure that within 2 weeks you'll be saying...man...this sure would be easier and better if I went RDWC. PLUS...if you install on/off valves on a RDWC system you can switch to DWC standalone by closing the valves. If you go DWC and want to go RDWC...well...it's a lot harder to do when they're full of plants.

YMMV but an ounce of research now will help you make the best decision for YOU.

 

[Chronic Monster]

Hi Sedate :hi
Just read your post where ML was talking about burying them trash cans for outside dwc.. thought I would come check out some of your threads :)

you're missing the most important piece of RDWC..... nutrient solution temperature control! the major issue with DWC is the temp of the nutrient solution. with RDWC you can fix this.

You can have stand alone DWC buckets and use a chiller, just gota plumb some cool coils.

 

[theHERBivore]

Simple ... If you have different strains running or different size plants or even one lagging that needs more of something than the rest.... than if its not in a single setup your dosing everything equally (bad idea) ...all of the posts above that say diff. are either commercially growing or if you read them carefully they are lazy and say they don't want to do that much effort to check on things. The question isn't how lazy can u be its what's best for the plants... And all plants (same genetics ,height,looks, etc.) Grow differently and have individual requirements. If your growing commercially u just let the 1 or 2 laggers lag knowing that the 1 or 2 queens of the bunch will super produce for u.
Just my opinon though
.

TheHERBivore

 

[SodaLicious]

Care to Share?

This is exactly what i am looking at doing, can you share some pictures of your setup? A Picture is worth a thousand words so they say!

Painting a black bucket or lid whit will not magically make the black transparent and allow light to penetrate. That's just silly. Now a white pail or lid...THAT will let light through.

One of your items in the CON list is a PRO. The one that says more water in the system. That's a GOOD thing. As was mentioned...acts as a buffer for maintaining more constant temps as well as nutes and ph.

also, it isn't more complicated. Maybe to set-up but the hours you spend setting it up will save you ten fold later when you'd have to treat each pail individually.

it isn't even that much more expensive. you'll need some hose, valves and fittings, and drains. You'll also need a pump and a reservoir tub. My system is kinda a hybrid I guess. 4 pails (times two..I have 2 four pod rdwc systems staggered a month apart) with dual 3/4" drains. I feed them from a $15 rubbermaid tub with a $19 160gph pump. Connected to the pump is a 1/2" line which wuns the length of the 4 pails. Out of it come two 1/4" feedlines that pour (not drip..no emitters) into the sides of my netpots. I WAS using a 350gph little giant pump but it was too much. The last bucket couldnt drain fast enough and it would overflow.

So, after the 4 buckets and netpots and airpumps and stones and hydroton, which you would already have from a dwc, all you need to add is:
a reservoir-$15
a pump-$16
about $45 worth of elbows, Ts, drains, shutoff valves(not critical)

I'm probably forgetting a few things but it wouldnt be more than a hundred bucks.

The most critical things probably are water temps and oxygen in the water. You REALLY don't want root problems. It's nice to have a jug of SM90 and some Great White so that if something DOES happen you're covered. Of course you don't use those two products together or for the same thing but...

Most other "issues" you can have with RDWC are issues you have with any method..meaning like pm or pests.

 

[sqydro]

RWDC creates more dissolved oxygen in your system for faster groth and bigger yields, easier to miantain nutes ph water level, u can keep ur nute solution at a constant so to avoid cord roots, easier to cool as there is more solution, takes longer to heat etc, but there are good points for stand alone as well, like the guy a few above me stated moving them around, each individual needs etc, its all about ur preferances, i disagree with the feeding bit though and high ppm, the plants dont need that for huge yields,

so if u dont recirculate there will be more work for less yield but more safety for a multi strain grow, yet more headache for less bud, the choice is simple for me , RDWC