DWC...Rubbermaid Bins VS. 5 gallon Buckets

[Roullette]

im also going to be using 18 gallon bins and i was wondering how much nutrients you used for 1 grow?and when you first started veg did you have to have the bin all the way full?

no man i didnt have my bin more then 1/2 way. filled maximum 3/4 at certian times.. i used a water pump with a 1/4" reducer an teed off a few 1/4" lines an did a drip system. that was setup on a timer for 2 times a day.

Then eventually the roots grew about 2" above the water and the popping of the air bubbles from the airstones wet the roots telling the plant theres water below and then they finaly submerged in the res and kept it 1/2 filled the rest of the time. never really saw the point to fill it to the bottom of the nets.

I WOULD say to fill it to about 1 inch to the bottom of the net pot if not on a drip system just to make sure that the bottom of the net pots holding your hydroton or whatever if getting moist.

and as of how much nutes i used i didnt go through to much since i wasnt filling my bin. prolly a total of $250 in nutes and i have enough for a 2nd gro and will have left overs of certian nutes for my 3rd.


im woundering if 5 gallon buckets will have a PH fluctuation. i could see them having a high fluctuation when there bigger using more water then nutes or vise versa ehich would raise an lower the PPM too you would assume.

i think the best bet is to try a coupe in 5 gals and stick to a few in my bin... the ONLY thing like i said is that shitty of my bin is say if its a male and the roots are tangled how do you remove that with out shocking or getting mold/ root rot?

i thought of taking nylon screen from a window or a front screen door and lining the net pot generously with that. so if its a male you can easily remove it without root tangle problems. but was also thinking that could cause the roots to kinda get root lock and stop growing cause the plant thinks its out of room.

maybe im thinking to much lol. any thoughts on that?

 

[gohydro]

thats a pretty smooth bin set up man...

Thanks roullette. Believe me it took several tries before I got it where I want it. Luckily I'm a mechanical/electrical contractor and can do most of the DIY stuff. The 50 bucks spent putting a spray pump with nozzles inside the tub was well worth the money. I think they do a little better being sprayed (as well as soaking in the oxygenated nute solution) and, when my clones are small it keep the roots wet until they reach the solution.....meaning I don't waste the nutes filling up my tubs for tiny plants. I just put enough water to cover the pump. However, I'm screwed if the pump fails in the first two weeks. When the plants get bigger I need more solution, so filling the tubs up to the spray header is required anyway.

The colas in the pics below are some of the colas in 1 of the 2 tubs I have flowering. Wanna give an opinion on how many more days to harvest?

New Papaya/Kush Journal with pics

 

[bubblerking]

what size of bins are you using?

cause like you said about the Ph fluctuation, i wasnt getting that in my bin which was a 18 gallon rubbermaid. i only filled it 1/2 way up or 3/4 at the absolute most.

i had 3 plants in it. im hoping that the 5 gallon buckets wont have a fluctuating PH. i figured they wouldnt cause it would be about 4.25 gallons of water per plant. which is more water per plant then i was giving during my 1st DWC.

but yea i am interested in the bin size you used... kinda hope its smaller then my 18. i dont wanna have to deal with PH problems.. never had that on my 1st DWC.

Im using 30 gal tubs with 3 plants per tub

 

[bubblerking]

I like the Rubbermaid tubs myself for the reason stated above. More solution...less PH fluctuation. I use the 20gal tubs with (6) 3" net pots in each. The biggest problem I've found with the tubs is that every drain I ever put in the SIDE of the tub eventually leaked regardless of how I attached it. I suppose I could have put the drain in the bottom of the tub but that would mean I'd need to elevate it and I rely on a cold basement floor to help keep the nute solution cool. I've used bulkhead fittings, fittings with silicone, blah....blah...blah. The tub distorts in size when filled half way and these eventually leak. SO....all I have penetrating the tub below the water line is my waterlevel tube with a 90 degree barbed fitting and grommet. I also have a spray header in each tub so I'm partly aeroponic. I have a 350gpd pump in each tub with 6 spray nozzles. The 3/4" pvc manifold penetrates the tub on each end. One end is capped and the other has a hose thread connection with a cap. There is a twofold benefit to this. By penetrating the tub with the PVC it makes the spray header much more stable but the best thing is that when it comes time to change nutes I turn off the spray pumps, unscrew the cap on the hose thread fitting and connect a washing machine hose. I turn the spray pumps back on and empty the tubs. This gets 98% of the old nutes out and I don't worry about the last 2% until flush time. Then I use the water level fitting to get the last little bit out. Because I use 2 tubs I have (2) dual outlet air pumps with 12" airstones. 1 outlet from each pump feeds 1 tub. That way if I have an air pump failure I still have 1 air stone working in each tub.

Lastly, every night when I check PPM/PH I lower the water level hose and collect a sample for measurement. I got tired of sticking my meter IN THE TUB and hitting a rootball which gave me false readings.

i have 1 inch fitings from my hydro store they never leak you have to use a circle drill bit

 

[Roullette]

Gohydro


tought to say for harvest .. best way is to check the trichomes. i usually wait till there half milky to half amber. some say when there about 75% amber is when but i read that amber gives you the couch lock high and the milky gives you the head buzz high...maybe vise versa...lol... BUT 50/50 cant go wrong...IMO

And imma have the sickest Aero plan im slowly executing it and being a fellow constuction worker (Plumbing and HVAC) your right it is alot easier doing the DIY shit. wait till you see my room lol its gonna be sick!!!
ill have it in my signature soon enough

those look about 1 1/2 - 2 months into flowering no?
what type of lights are those? HPS? Flouros?

And how come people thinkt he % gallon buckets get a PH fluctuation?
what nutes you guys use?
at what point into the grow are you seeing a PH differencial?

 

[gohydro]

Gohydro


tought to say for harvest .. best way is to check the trichomes. i usually wait till there half milky to half amber. some say when there about 75% amber is when but i read that amber gives you the couch lock high and the milky gives you the head buzz high...maybe vise versa...lol... BUT 50/50 cant go wrong...IMO

And imma have the sickest Aero plan im slowly executing it and being a fellow constuction worker (Plumbing and HVAC) your right it is alot easier doing the DIY shit. wait till you see my room lol its gonna be sick!!!
ill have it in my signature soon enough

those look about 1 1/2 - 2 months into flowering no?
what type of lights are those? HPS? Flouros?

And how come people thinkt he % gallon buckets get a PH fluctuation?
what nutes you guys use?
at what point into the grow are you seeing a PH differencial?

Being a plumbing/hvac guy you'd appreciate my set-up too.

No...MINE is the sickest. LOL

Yeah...those are a 49-63 day strain with 45 days passed. I do look at the trichs and have a pretty good idea when they'll be ready.......was just testing you.

As far as lighting I have (1) 400 MH in my Mom closet, (4) 150wCFL in my clone area, and (2) 600 + (1) 400 HPS over the plants and newly flowering clones. I have a 450cfm vortex fan ducted which is tee'd with 2 branches and dampers. One branch of the tee goes right through the wall of my mom closet and is connected to the fixture with the exhaust ducted off the other end of the hood and through the other wall of the closet. The other branch of the tee feeds the (2) 400HPS (also connected to the fixtures) over the flowering plants.

We all have PH fluctuation (less if you're using RO water) and bigger reservoirs don't change so drastically simply because you have more fluid to root ratio. Lastly, when my plants get big they drink some serious water. If mine were in 5gal buckets I'd be topping off every day.

I use Advanced nutes and General Hydroponics products too. Generally I see the PH rise during the veg period and the PH fall during the flowering period. Like I said...that has reduced drastically since I invested in a RO machine.

 

[Roullette]

well i aggree with you on the serious drinking my 3 plants where about a gallon each a day toward the end of the grow.. i use RO water so i hope the 5 gal buckets are going to be good.

and sounds like your lighting is top notch!! and yes i do appreciate your setup!!!

and since you tested me how did i do? lol i think i gave the right info or close to it right!!!

im gonna be making custom 5 gallon buckets and they make this 12-18 inch long PPM/PH tester thats fully submersible.. that i can stick into the 3/4 pvc Water fill/ PH/ PPM test tube.

my lighting is going to be a V-scrog which is gonna be sick.. and CFLs have the sick kelvin that simulates the out put lighting of spring time sun.
MH is sick cause its HID but i reather add a few extra CFLs then having to buy a new ballast cause i cant find a 600 watt duel ballast..

 

[gohydro]

well i aggree with you on the serious drinking my 3 plants where about a gallon each a day toward the end of the grow.. i use RO water so i hope the 5 gal buckets are going to be good.

and sounds like your lighting is top notch!! and yes i do appreciate your setup!!!

and since you tested me how did i do? lol i think i gave the right info or close to it right!!!

im gonna be making custom 5 gallon buckets and they make this 12-18 inch long PPM/PH tester thats fully submersible.. that i can stick into the 3/4 pvc Water fill/ PH/ PPM test tube.

my lighting is going to be a V-scrog which is gonna be sick.. and CFLs have the sick kelvin that simulates the out put lighting of spring time sun.
MH is sick cause its HID but i reather add a few extra CFLs then having to buy a new ballast cause i cant find a 600 watt duel ballast..

Yeah...you hit it on the nose but I think you cheated and read my journal.

I swear by my Bluelab Truncheon meters (both PH and EC and TDS) but I also have a Hanna combo. The Truncheons may be what you're talking about. Be careful if you're looking to buy one....lots of Chinese knock-offs on the market.

I use Lumatek digital ballasts and I think I paid about 200 for the last 600 I bought. It's the bulbs that kill me.....at 80-100 a pop for GOOD bulbs.

Give some thought to the tube idea. It sounds great to me but if you're not using a flood/drain setup (where the water in the tube changes constantly) the water IN the tube could read a little differently since it is somewhat stagnant. When I take a sample from my water level tube I always fill a cup, dump it back in and refill before I test.

 

[Roullette]

lol i didnt read your journal..CAUSE ITS NOT IN YOUR SIGNATURE!!! get that shit up homie!!

and the Truncheon is from a hydro store that i trust and ssems pretty sick.. its like 190 for the thing. i dont know if thats a knock off price cause if it is i think ill puke on the price of a name brand one.

an im not gonna do a drain style buckets.. thats my aero setup if your talking about the V-scrog aero.. thats later once i fine tune that thing.

im just gonna do a 5 gallon bucket DWC V-scrog for now.. i want to beable to move the plants around easier then a bin.. and also LST them eaisier with out worring about them hitting each other or taking up light from each other.

and yea im almost concidering on getting a 400 watter duel ballast just to beable to use MH and HPS but ive been reading and a little tip from the MAN Earl!! 600 is what i want. and a great bulb will give you great results.. I mean light is what helps the plant break down all the nutes and grow.. light is KEY!!!

 

[gohydro]

lol i didnt read your journal..CAUSE ITS NOT IN YOUR SIGNATURE!!! get that shit up homie!!

and the Truncheon is from a hydro store that i trust and ssems pretty sick.. its like 190 for the thing. i dont know if thats a knock off price cause if it is i think ill puke on the price of a name brand one.

an im not gonna do a drain style buckets.. thats my aero setup if your talking about the V-scrog aero.. thats later once i fine tune that thing.

im just gonna do a 5 gallon bucket DWC V-scrog for now.. i want to beable to move the plants around easier then a bin.. and also LST them eaisier with out worring about them hitting each other or taking up light from each other.

and yea im almost concidering on getting a 400 watter duel ballast just to beable to use MH and HPS but ive been reading and a little tip from the MAN Earl!! 600 is what i want. and a great bulb will give you great results.. I mean light is what helps the plant break down all the nutes and grow.. light is KEY!!!

The Truncheon PPM meter is about 120....the PH is a little more (160 I think) so I'm sure you weren't looking at a knock-off. Seriously though...if you wanna save a few dollars look on e-bay for the Hanna 9813-6........it's a combo meter and also measures temperature.

600 is definitely the way to go. The most bang for the buck. I use the Hortilux Sun bulbs......$80 bucks a pop.

Happy? New Papaya/Kush Journal with pics

 

[gohydro]

Hey Roulette....mailbox is full. Dump some old messages and I'll catch you later on tonight if you're around.

 

[Roullette]

how small of an air stone can handle these buckets?

 

[caddyluck]

nice grow and set-up. very nice.

 

[YouGrowBoy]

I use the 20gal tubs with (6) 3" net pots in each. I have a 350gpd pump in each tub with 6 spray nozzles. The 3/4" pvc manifold penetrates the tub on each end. One end is capped and the other has a hose thread connection with a cap.

I love this set up with the rubbermaids. I want to do something similar. If you're still online here I am hoping you can answer some questions.

Do you run the air pump and water pump 24/7? I thought most aeroponic systems used cycle timers.

What kind of sprayers do you use in the manifold?

Thanks, YGB

 

[James taziole]

I'm so glad I came across this thread.. This is my first grow I'm using a 18gallon bin with air stone and water pump pumping mutes to the 2 net pots.. I haven't got the seeds yet. Would a 10 gallon be big enough or should I stay with the 18 gallon . also do I need to run my water pump 24/7... And do I fill the bin up to the bottom of the net pot like I do if I didn't have the water pump

 

[Enigma]

Rubbermaid totes aren't food grade plastic, but I've seen them used successfully by other members and a mammoth grow I had with organic soil in an 18 gal tote.

I've found that most restaurants have food grade buckets they discard when they've emptied them. These are free 2 gal and 5 gal food grade buckets in white with lids that reseal. If you can source them with dignity..

If you have problems with nutrient/pH fluctuations in 5 gal buckets you could always add a reservoir to the system and make a recirculating DWC.

Either way it can be done.

 

[Enigma]

I'm so glad I came across this thread.. This is my first grow I'm using a 18gallon bin with air stone and water pump pumping mutes to the 2 net pots.. I haven't got the seeds yet. Would a 10 gallon be big enough or should I stay with the 18 gallon . also do I need to run my water pump 24/7... And do I fill the bin up to the bottom of the net pot like I do if I didn't have the water pump

10 gal may not be big enough when the plants are fully mature, the 18 gallon gives you room to grow, so to speak.

Running the pump in 15 min on/off intervals I've seen work fine, 15 on and 30 off as well.

You'll want about 6" of air space if you're using a sprayer, less for only an air stone.

 

[Southeast802Grower]

I like the Rubbermaid tubs myself for the reason stated above. More solution...less PH fluctuation. I use the 20gal tubs with (6) 3" net pots in each. The biggest problem I've found with the tubs is that every drain I ever put in the SIDE of the tub eventually leaked regardless of how I attached it. I suppose I could have put the drain in the bottom of the tub but that would mean I'd need to elevate it and I rely on a cold basement floor to help keep the nute solution cool. I've used bulkhead fittings, fittings with silicone, blah....blah...blah. The tub distorts in size when filled half way and these eventually leak. SO....all I have penetrating the tub below the water line is my waterlevel tube with a 90 degree barbed fitting and grommet. I also have a spray header in each tub so I'm partly aeroponic. I have a 350gpd pump in each tub with 6 spray nozzles. The 3/4" pvc manifold penetrates the tub on each end. One end is capped and the other has a hose thread connection with a cap. There is a twofold benefit to this. By penetrating the tub with the PVC it makes the spray header much more stable but the best thing is that when it comes time to change nutes I turn off the spray pumps, unscrew the cap on the hose thread fitting and connect a washing machine hose. I turn the spray pumps back on and empty the tubs. This gets 98% of the old nutes out and I don't worry about the last 2% until flush time. Then I use the water level fitting to get the last little bit out. Because I use 2 tubs I have (2) dual outlet air pumps with 12" airstones. 1 outlet from each pump feeds 1 tub. That way if I have an air pump failure I still have 1 air stone working in each tub.

Lastly, every night when I check PPM/PH I lower the water level hose and collect a sample for measurement. I got tired of sticking my meter IN THE TUB and hitting a rootball which gave me false readings.

I think i might try something similar for my very first grow

 

[highasfvck]

I use separate 25L Rubbermaid containers wrapped in Reflex insulation. I cut a circular hole in the lid and flap to pour new solution and a small flap in the back to run air hoses to the bubble stones. Works great. I can control all the plants individually and the setup is real simple to maintain and setup.