Planning a new hydro setup

[Surfer Joe]

I was really impressed by the heavy growth seen in hydro growing, but servicing even a couple of buckets has been a fair amount of work .
I was wondering about future plans and came up with this design and would appreciate any comments.
The idea is having a pump from a large rez into some buckets at their base and an overflow tube out of the bucket at the desired height and back to the rez by gravity. (see diagram)

A couple of concerns I have in this design is where to put air in.
Should I aerate the main rez or put an airstone in each bucket?
Could I put in a venturi tube at the inlet of each bucket to create aeration without an airstone?

Also, how do you clean such a large main rez or the buckets during a grow?
Do you leave the buckets alone and just clean the rez?
Do you just flush the rez and plumbing system to clean it?
I would prefer to design a rez that is easier to service than the one in my diagram. Maybe one that is a tall cylinder that can sit beside rather than below, but I was not sure how to plumb such a setup.

 

[lindseyj]

Growing marijuana hydroponically simply means that growing plants in an inert, sterile medium instead of soil. Mix water with nutrient solution to get the best result. It is the entire atmosphere that needs to be controlled within the hydroponic environment to produce perfect crops.

 

[robertr]

I would put an air stone in each bucket with a strong air pump to run all buckets or several pumps. You could just extend the hoses you already have and put the buckets on the floor to keep you res. seperate. You could do the ventury tube thing to , more air the better.

 

[WeedHopper]

Thats kinda like a Recirculating DWC right? I mean it runs constantly,correct? If so you will deff need lots of bubbles are your roots are gonna be in trouble because they are constantly under water.

 

[Hushpuppy]

On my setup, I used 18gal totes and had a hole cut in the lid of each tote so that 1 plant could set down into the tote. This would work similar to DWC but I had 4 off these totes in a 4x4 tent with 1" hose connecting each tote together as low as I could drill and mount them(I used 1" pipe couplings that my hose slipped onto and the couplings were glued in place) into the sides of the totes. These were set on a platform that raised them about 6-8" off outside floor. The hoses connected the 4 totes together in a U shape.

I had a larger 30gal tote that set beside the tent as my main rez. I had one hose that went from one tote to the rez, and then another hose connected the other side of the rez to the tote on the other end of the U within the tent. This closed the U to a D shape with the rez being on the straight side. This setup gave me about 30-40gallons of water for 4 plants. I put 2 pumps into this system, one in the rez pushing water into the first tote in the tent and then a second pump in the 3rd tote that pushed water through the 4th tote, back into the rez. This didn't create a massive movement of water but was enough to keep the water stirred and the solution mixed and evenly oxygenated.

I oxygenated the water with 2 air pumps (in the event that one failed) by having a couple air stones in the rez and a couple air stones in the 3rd tote. This system was very easy to maintain as I did all of my addition and adjustments into the outside rez so that I wasn't constantly having to lift plants. I would do my initial set-up with my solution and then adjust the pH every 3-4 days as it drifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. I would top up my water with nuted solution as needed then change the water completely every 2-3 weeks. I did do a flush once while in flower at the end of the 3rd week to clean out the buildup of chems and salts.

Fflushing was easy as I would connect a pump to a drain hose and just pump all of the water out of the rez as it drained back into it from the other totes. I would then fill it with 30gal ffresh water and run system ffor 24 hours then drain and ffill back with new nuted solution. After each run I would drain the totes and disconnect the hoses, then pull the totes out and wash them out with a mild scrubbie and plain water. dry them and reconnect, and set new plants in place. Refill with new nute solution and go again.

I did have a pump that connected to watering lines that top-fed my plants as I prefer to grow in coco and like to top-feed. My plants did quite well in this setup. They never showed any deficiencies and rarely yellowed off much toward the harvest, and generally yielded 16-20oz dry from the 4x4 tent

I hope this helps

 

[WeedHopper]

Nice Hush,,Got a Blue print?

 

[Growdude]

Thats kinda like a Recirculating DWC right? I mean it runs constantly,correct? If so you will deff need lots of bubbles are your roots are gonna be in trouble because they are constantly under water.

It looks like ebb n flo, just put the pump on a timer for 3-4 times a day for 30 min.
No airstones are needed in flood and drain as air is brought down into the roots when the buckets drain back to the rez.

 

[WeedHopper]

Sorry,,I musta missed where he said it was turned on 3 or 4 times a day.

 

[robertr]

That is a under current system where the water is forced into the buckets from the bottom and overflows out the top back to res. The buckets always have water in them. Air stone in each bucket.

 

[Hushpuppy]

No an under-current is where the water is forced through each bucket or tote to form a river of sorts that travels from one container to the next in a constant circle, going from the rez to the planters and back again. Mine is very near to being a UC except that I don't use as large off connecting pipes and my water isn't forced through as fast. Mine is just kept going enough to keep it mixed thoroughly. A UC requires a little trickier set up and a strong pump.

WH; I had a blue-print but I have misplaced it. I will see if I can find it or draw it out for you

 

[Hushpuppy]

Hey WH, here is the link to it. I actually used 1" hose and fittings which gave me good flow, but 2" would work even better. I connected a smaller hose(about 8" long) to my submersible pump and slid it into the connecting hose so that the pump would pull water from one tote and push it into the other tote. It worked quite well.
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=208474&d=1378662580

 

[robertr]

Sorry Hushpuppy , I meant the OP had an undercurrent design pictured.

 

[Growdude]

No an under-current is where the water is forced through each bucket or tote to form a river of sorts that travels from one container to the next in a constant circle, going from the rez to the planters and back again. Mine is very near to being a UC except that I don't use as large off connecting pipes and my water isn't forced through as fast. Mine is just kept going enough to keep it mixed thoroughly. A UC requires a little trickier set up and a strong pump.

Yea its not UC. But I think the OP could run this as a ebb n flo.

Without enough flow thru the pots your not going to keep enough air to the roots no matter how many air stones you use.

Any restriction on the return lines will cause the pot to overflow, maybe not a problem if over a rez like in the picture.

 

[Surfer Joe]

Yea its not UC. But I think the OP could run this as a ebb n flo.

Without enough flow thru the pots your not going to keep enough air to the roots no matter how many air stones you use.

Any restriction on the return lines will cause the pot to overflow, maybe not a problem if over a rez like in the picture.

I think that my design has a problem in that if the pump stops, the buckets would drain dry via gravity.

I am very curious about a hydro setup where I could use a big rez to feed a control bucket via gravity.
The control bucket (say 20L) uses a float valve to control the liquid height.

Two or more 20L grow buckets with mesh pots and individual airstones would connect to the control bucket via pipes, all on the same level so that they adopted the same liquid height as the control bucket.

One in-line pump would be fitted after the last grow bucket and connect to the top of the big rez. It would continually pull liquid from the control bucket through each grow bucket and then dump it back into the top of the big rez.
The grow buckets would be in the tent and the control bucket and big rez would be outside the tent.

Do you think that this would work?
Would there be enough fresh liquid getting to each bucket or would there be stagnant pockets in some part of the grow buckets that did not get exchanged with fresh liquid as it circulated?
Would it matter how the connecting hoses are placed? All along the bottom of the buckets or along the top waterlines? Or maybe flowing in at the top and exiting at the bottom of each bucket?

What sort of hydro system would that be called? Is it even a good idea?

 

[WeedHopper]

Hey WH, here is the link to it. I actually used 1" hose and fittings which gave me good flow, but 2" would work even better. I connected a smaller hose(about 8" long) to my submersible pump and slid it into the connecting hose so that the pump would pull water from one tote and push it into the other tote. It worked quite well.
http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=208474&d=1378662580

Thanks Hush,,i have it saved.

 

[trillions of atoms]

Crap on all the readings..


You want easy? EBB AND FLOW!


I can lay a full schedule to the t that's EASY if interested. 2 tubs some cheap plumbing n pump n easy mix nutes.

 

[WeedHopper]

Is Ebb and flow,,same as Flood and drain?

 

[Growdude]

I think that my design has a problem in that if the pump stops, the buckets would drain dry via gravity.

That's exactly what you want SJ.

You want the bucket to completely drain, this draws air in from the top, generally Hydroton is used as the medium. just set the timer for like 30 min on every 4 hours or so, TOA can help there.

And yes WH, ebb and flo is flood and drain.

 

[trillions of atoms]

I set my flood and drain once a day for 15 minutes...bump it up to 2x per day at a few weeks then 4 times/day in flowering.

its sooooooooo easy I have had my nute solution in veg for a month and just switched to flower two weeks ago same solution. I have only topped off w freshwater twice!

I usually drain n refill every two weeks but I have been testing to see how long it can go. Been 1.5 months! Rez is still clean!

Happy camper here. Set it and forget it so far this run...

 

[Hushpuppy]

I have used my system for several years with excellent results and very little problems. I don't knock the ebb and flo as it appears to work just as well. I think its all what fits your personal circumstances and preferences.

TOA; do you use buffered nutes? how often do you have to adjust your pH? Do you allow it to drift across the spectrum or do you maintain the 5.8 continuously?
That has been the biggest issue that I have had to deal with in my system, continually having to adjust the pH every 3-4 days. However, the nutes that I use are not buffered for pH so I expect it to drift, and my plants are always healthy from beginning to end. I had a buddy that tried to maintain the 5.8pH and had more trouble with deficiencies than I ever had.