I’m assuming you don’t have air stones in each of the buckets? Im learning here and will be copying something very similar now. My thoughts are I will run 4 buckets. I would like six but with photoperoids the growth will be much larger than the autos.
I will have a tote outside of the tent. I will have a flow pipe on the bottom pushing water to the buckets. I will have a water control valve also attached the the pipe to control some of the flow when needed. I will have the return of each bucket at the top of the water (I think yours is inside the flow pipe on the bottom?). I will paint the pvc pip inside of the tent painted with flex seal as it will prevent light warming up the water. I am going to wrap each bucket of an insulation called Relfectix. I am considering wrapped the piping in this also as I will have to buy a roll anyways. I will also purchase Mylar to cover the neti pots so prevent any light getting thru the mud rot on even this it will be filled to the brim. Now for temp control I am thinking of using soda bottles filled with frozen water. I know it might be more work but just trying to figure out a way to minimize more cost of more appliances and energy usage. I have the link of the relfectix below for opinions on it. I also attached the lights I have for input on those too, especially for bloom.
Groplanner LED grow light O series is a Full Spectrum light for seeding veg and bloom indoor. The grow light is high energy efficiency & low running cost with 3030 type chips. With Modular Daisy Chainable design and WIFI APP Control, Groplanner illustrates a smart control eco sytem. We provide...
www.hi-groplanner.com
Next, I have a small tote with holes cut out for small neti pots. I will set the rock wool seed starter inside with the hydroton. Once they had 3-4 sets of leaves I will move them to the 5 gallon buckets buried half into the hydroton. The water will be approximately 1 inch from the bottom of the pots in the 5 gallon buckets and in the seeding tote the water will come up 1/2 inch up the neti pot.
I’ll have to grab a ton of distilled water. My Tap water is only at 74ppm and I was reading that could mess with balancing the Ph is using GH Trio. I also have Cal Mag, Diamond Nectar,
Voodoo Juice, and
Hydroguard I will be using.
How many gallon Tote should I use for the 4 buckets? Should I go with the bigger the better at this? Or is there a point of overkill? I also am trying to be cost effective but efficient also.
I think I covered everything lol… thoughts??