Your opinions are all dully noted (typo made on purpose).
1) the 55 gallon barrel doesn't contain 55 gallons of water at all times.
2) the only water that gets put into the 55 gallon drum comes from the tub.
3) each tub holds 8 plants and 40 liters of water (about 11 gallons give or take)
4) 6 tubs X 40 liters = 240 liters (or about 63 gallons)
E) I'm high
lolz) ok so the tubs are never totally emptied, each one will contain approximately 10-15 litres of water at all times
9) the 55 gallon drum acts as the mixing pot
Time to abondon the bullet points.
The 5 gallon pail is on the floor and is about 8 inch's lower than the tub. The 55 gallon rez, mix tank whatever you want to call it is above the 5 gallon pail. Every pair of tubs has a drain/fill line leading to the 5 gallon pail. It drains and fills on the same line. Now if the tubs are full then the 55 gallon drum is almost empty with just enough water to create a seal on the flapper valve (toilet tank valve). The 5 gallon pail remains full at all times because of hydrostatic pressure (hope I'm using the right term here). There is a pump in the pail that pumps water from the tubs into the 55 gallon rez, once its emtied about 3/4 of the water from tubs a float activates the flapper valve and the water runs from the 55 gallon drum out a 2 inch pvc line and back into the bucket then because of the differnce in pressure (the drum is higher than the tubs) all the water rushes back out the lines and into the tubs. This works because the pump can't keep up to the pace of the water rushing into the 5 gallon pail. Once the tubs are full the water level in the drum drops, the flapper closes and the cycle begins again. This way you get the best of both worlds. You get a recycling dwc system AND an ebb and flow system. Each tub has 2 6 inch airstones and at the moment everything is being run by a multitude of air pumps. In the near future I am purchasing a Coralife SL68 (don't quote me on the model number its off the top of my head) with 8 heads and it moves 68 liters of air per minute.
Every tub has its own individual connector and valve so tubs can be taken out of the sytem or added as needed. Plus it can easily be adapted to suit a flood and drain table. Oh yeah and I also got a 12 dollar tank top up valve for a toilet and installed it so that when the barrel drains back into the tubs if the water level drops below my set point it will automagically replenish the water in the system and keep it at a certain level. This avoids nutrient burn due to the plants transpiring water. Even if you check your ladies 1-2 times a day they could still cause themselves to burn if they were to say heavily feed while you are sleeping.
Can't you buy roles of DYI gasket at Lowe's? I still see your wife kicking your butt in the near future.
Thanks for the tip I'll look into that this afternoon. And I sure hope you are wrong on the butt kicking part.
WHY WOULD YOU NEED THAT MUCH WATER FOR.i'd sure hate to have to change that res out.
Hopefully the above straightened some of that out and made things clearer for you. Also changing the res is a simple procedure. I take the fill line from the res and put it in a drain I installed in my wall of the grow room (yes its plumbed in lol) flip the switch on my pump and in 10 minutes the system is drained and ready to be changed. Most likely easier than what you do. I quite literally have take ALL of the physical labor out of maintaining my plants.
How many buckets ya got hooked up to 55 gallon res? I take it you aint never gonna have to top anything off
6 heavy duty rubbermaid tubs with 8 4" pots in each for a total of 48 plants
this goes back to my beliefs on dwc.each plant has different needs and if you are doing different strains,thats even more reason to have individualized res's even the same strain,the plants grow at different paces and have different nute needs.jmo
True but you can always find a balance that keeps everybody happy. Just because your plants CAN handle more nutrients does not mean that they NEED more nutrients. I've seen quite literally THOUSANDS of bedding plants of differing varieties, strains, hell species doing very well all being fed from the same trough if you will. I'm automating my system for three main reasons.
1) the challenge
2) because I can
3) it will result in healthier plants and bigger harvest in the long run.
Now after all that, if anyone has anything constructive to add I'm all ears.
PS Sorry for jacking your thread new dude, but it kinda answers your question to lol.