Where is the water going?

[Jechill]

I have excellent water for growing and until recently i was using 4 inch pipes to grow in, no problem. I decided to try rdwc, and i built myself a little system using 5 gallon square buckets.
Growth is great and everything is going according to plan however, the main reservoir is on the same level as the grow buckets. As the roots have filled the buckets the water level in the main res has gone down to the point where it no longer covers the pump, but the water in the grow buckets is high and fine. It would appear that the roots have taken up the space for water and now the res hardly has any in it. Anyone have a solution to this? I should have put an internal pipe in each grow bucket to keep the water level but i didnt and now it looks like im going to have to shut off the resurculating part before the pump burns out. Im at a loss for what to do.

 

[Ponky]

So you're saying the water doesn't return to the Reservoir fast enough because of the root mass being so dense? What happens if you just top it up anyway? And if you need to load pics but they say too big to upload just crop them in your phone first. Pics will help.

 

[NorthernOrganics]

Yeah we need pics. It sounds like you are saying your water level is going down and you're not sure where the water has gone. I'm sure you know the plants take up the water and you have to top off your res, so maybe it is an issue with the returns being plugged up with roots.

 

[N1ghtL1ght]

you need a bigger rez

 

[Moe.Red]

I think you are missing this:

Amazon.com: 1/4 inch Tube Float Valve Kit for RO Water Reverse Osmosis System water filter Push in to Connect Pipe Hose Tube Fittings CCK tube（ball valve +L+15 feet pipe） (blue) : Industrial & Scientific

Amazon.com: 1/4 inch Tube Float Valve Kit for RO Water Reverse Osmosis System water filter Push in to Connect Pipe Hose Tube Fittings CCK tube（ball valve +L+15 feet pipe） (blue) : Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

You need to be adding replacement water to the res constantly to make up for respiration.

Put the float valve in and adjust it for the height you want. This will maintain the proper water height in the res.

 

[Jechill]

Ill take some photos and place them here.

 

[Jechill]

Figured out the problem, the return hoses are plugged with roots, i will have to clear them. Any idea how i can prevent this from happening?

 

[Moe.Red]

3” return is the only way I could fix roots clogging. I’ve got pics somewhere of 8’ roots that made it all the way to the res by harvest. That’s actually what you want allow for massive roots rather than try to limit them.

 

[Jechill]

Maybe i can just pull them out and tie them up ?

 

[Moe.Red]

Well you gotta do something to get thru to harvest, but that's a band aid that you might want to correct between grows.