building an rdwc

[louiedogg]

Great info. I'm in the process of building my rdwc with totes as well, but concerned the PVC won't be exactly straight from tote to tote bc the walls of the totes are slightly inclined downwards, but not much. I think I may need to heat up the PVC to creat an ever-so slightly bend w a heat gun. I hope not tho. I'm using 2" PVC electrical male & female fittings for each tote in the 12 bucket system. I would love to use waterfalls instead of air stones, but with 12 buckets,,it seems like a bigger project, but I'd like to learn more options if possible.

i finished building mine, and its perfect. you are right with the slight downward pipe, but the tote has a bit of wiggle room where you can just pull the pipe and straighten it out. ill get a pic of my system in a few mins.

i just spray painted all my lids so im letting my basement air out a bit lol

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

i finished building mine, and its perfect. you are right with the slight downward pipe, but the tote has a bit of wiggle room where you can just pull the pipe and straighten it out. ill get a pic of my system in a few mins.

i just spray painted all my lids so im letting my basement air out a bit lol

Rt on! That's reassuring. When I'm ready to connect the buckets, my fear is not having the totes line up.

 

[louiedogg]

Rt on! That's reassuring. When I'm ready to connect the buckets, my fear is not having the totes line up.

just make sure you drill.your hole in the same spot in each of your totes and you will be ok, dry fit it all together first.

preperation is key!! if your using bulkheads id suggest using 2 7/8" hole saw for the 2" bulkhead. on the package it says use 3" but all my totes leaked. I bought some new totes new hole saw and im.good now. ill get those pics for you soon

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

just make sure you drill.your hole in the same spot in each of your totes and you will be ok, dry fit it all together first.

preperation is key!! if your using bulkheads id suggest using 2 7/8" hole saw for the 2" bulkhead. on the package it says use 3" but all my totes leaked. I bought some new totes new hole saw and im.good now. ill get those pics for you soon

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

just make sure you drill.your hole in the same spot in each of your totes and you will be ok, dry fit it all together first.

preperation is key!! if your using bulkheads id suggest using 2 7/8" hole saw for the 2" bulkhead. on the package it says use 3" but all my totes leaked. I bought some new totes new hole saw and im.good now. ill get those pics for you soon

Cool. I'm using 2" male and female eletrical fittings w an O ring.

 

[myke]

Cool,do u use thread tape on those?

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

Cool,do u use thread tape on those?

I copied this off someone's post on here somewhere..

"Tryto use a hole saw that makes a hole just large enough for you to insert the fitting through the tote.
If you want to do a test run, you could use RTV silicone sealant-I use this on my system. If you let the sealant cure overnight, it will bond to both surfaces. The beauty of using it is that when I want to disassemble the piping, a pair of channel-locks will twist the piping right out of the fitting. A bit of removing old sealant and it's ready to reuse."

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

I copied this off someone's post on here somewhere..

"Tryto use a hole saw that makes a hole just large enough for you to insert the fitting through the tote.
If you want to do a test run, you could use RTV silicone sealant-I use this on my system. If you let the sealant cure overnight, it will bond to both surfaces. The beauty of using it is that when I want to disassemble the piping, a pair of channel-locks will twist the piping right out of the fitting. A bit of removing old sealant and it's ready to reuse."

I had to special order these fittings bc I needed over 300 of them

 

[fartoblue]

This seems like a common thing among hydro growers currently, many are moving towards waterfalls and away from air stones. Waterfalls seem to be the way to go.

I would most defiantly agree with this. I gave up on RDWC after 3 grows so maybe not the best person to get involved.

 

[GBAUTO]

Cool. I'm using 2" male and female eletrical fittings w an O ring.

I think that using this type of o-ring gasket flange rather than a flat gasket bulkhead fitting will be tricky to seal. The diameter of the hole in the bucket must be smaller than the ID of the o-ring where it meets. The flat gasket fittings allow a bit more wiggle room for error.
Also, I think that type of fitting will concentrate force on a smaller area on the bucket compared to the flat gasket. That stress may lead to cracking of the bucket material.

 

[rkymtnman]

I think that using this type of o-ring gasket flange rather than a flat gasket bulkhead fitting will be tricky to seal. The diameter of the hole in the bucket must be smaller than the ID of the o-ring where it meets. The flat gasket fittings allow a bit more wiggle room for error.
Also, I think that type of fitting will concentrate force on a smaller area on the bucket compared to the flat gasket. That stress may lead to cracking of the bucket material.

I totally agree! @Mr_Manny_D i would re-think those couplers. go with bulkhead fittings. that's an open invitation to the Flood Club.

 

[redi jedi]

I totally agree! @Mr_Manny_D i would re-think those couplers. go with bulkhead fittings. that's an open invitation to the Flood Club.

I think he said he ordered 300 of these...
In that case I would ditch the o-ring, find washers that will fit over the threads to create a larger flange and then use a flat gasket.

 

[rkymtnman]

I think he said he ordered 300 of these...

oops.

 

[louiedogg]

its a bit of a mess right now near my reservoir but thats it up n running

 

[fartoblue]

Looking good mate. In all truth running a 4 pot system with a nice fall back into the epicenter (like you have) you may not either need or want airstones.

 

[louiedogg]

Looking good mate. In all truth running a 4 pot system with a nice fall back into the epicenter (like you have) you may not either need or want airstones.

thanks! airstones dont really bother me but i may look to remove them in the future and replace with waterfalls.

 

[fartoblue]

thanks! airstones dont really bother me but i may look to remove them in the future and replace with waterfalls.

I can see it is to late now but keep an eye out where the red arrow is as your roots will block here. I did exactly the same, should have put a 2" T and carried the 2 " pipe along for a ft or so then reduced, The pull from your water pump will cause this, I had to prune the offending roots a few weeks into flower on each of the 2 last pots.

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

I can see it is to late now but keep an eye out where the red arrow is as your roots will block here. I did exactly the same, should have put a 2" T and carried the 2 " pipe along for a ft or so then reduced, The pull from your water pump will cause this, I had to prune the offending roots a few weeks into flower on each of the 2 last pots.

View attachment 4437805

Did you have any problem with that slight downward angle of the pipe between the totes? Any water leakage? I agree, I made that pipe, the "Root Runner" as he calls it, 2ft long before reducing it to eliminate the roots from tracing.

 

[louiedogg]

I can see it is to late now but keep an eye out where the red arrow is as your roots will block here. I did exactly the same, should have put a 2" T and carried the 2 " pipe along for a ft or so then reduced, The pull from your water pump will cause this, I had to prune the offending roots a few weeks into flower on each of the 2 last pots.

View attachment 4437805

interesting, never would have thought of that. thanks.

i special ordered that tee as well lol oh well.

ill definitely keep an eye on it now.

 

[fartoblue]

Did you have any problem with that slight downward angle of the pipe between the totes? Any water leakage? I agree, I made that pipe, the "Root Runner" as he calls it, 2ft long before reducing it to eliminate the roots from tracing.

I have never had a leak even on angled tub walls but I used unseals because of the angle. Uniseals are OK as long as the material of the tub is thick and strong. If your tub material is quite flexible and not brittle there should be enough give to achieve an even seal with your O ring. Maybe tighten your fittings whilst lifting the tubs so you can get them really tight then place the system back on the floor and hopefully the tub walls will give and not break .

I would make some kind of access to the last two tubs so you can get your hand in and trim the roots because once they are in the narrow pipe they will block your flow.

Please, Please take as many precautions to keep root rot out of your system if any plants are suspect before they go in ditch them because once you have it, it is a devil to get rid of.