Need help with week 4 flower troubles.

[Distortionist]

Hello!
Things were going so well. My water change yesterday did not. When I diverted my pumps flow to drain I noticed it was pretty much clogged. I am using 1/2 inch tubing to suck water out of the buckets. I took apart the T from the hose to the pump and sure enough it was clumped with roots. I cleared them and I used my tap to force water through to push roots out. back into the bucket, unfortunately I think only one bucket is clear.

What I am seeing now is one bucket has the water level higher than the other. I am pretty sure it is caused by a clog but if i force water it just goes out the other way to the unclogged bucket. I will modify my piping so I can backwash individual buckets every week, but that is for the next grow. I am just blown away about how the 2 inch gravity feed pipes are not keeping up with filling the low bucket. I feel like they are starting to get clogged with roots too.

Any ideas how I can fix this root issue right now? I also am curious if I am letting my plants grow too big, I tried to flower early but it just keeps growing lol. I was thinking of removing the hose going to the pump again and trying to stick a pipe snake in there to push the roots back in? I can't lift the bucket, the roots are tangled into something and I am scared to do more damage.

I will not water the plant to let the water level drop before pulling that hose out, or just fight it till water change day and drain the system and unclog it. I am hoping the roots run down a bit so I can grab them and pull them off and out from the tube to the pump, i had a hard time removing the tubes going from the T to the bucket.

Last run I was forced to harvest week 5's water change, help me keep this thing going to week 8!

I feel like I need a better setup. Should I redo everything next grow? Does this setup suck or I just need to keep improving it as I discover problems? I would like a better setup if this one seems problematic to you guys. I just want something that works without me worrying about clogs and getting root bound. Would be nice if it was a more reliable setup.

 

[Failmore]

How was the week 5 harvested bud? Seems like it would not be very good.

Kinda hard to tell what is what in the pic. Are those black flexy hoses your return lines?

And yeah. If shit does not work well change it up. Gotta do what you gotta do to make your situation work.

The plants do look very big. You could def veg less and still have a great result.

 

[Distortionist]

Actually my harvest last time was good surprisingly. Im sure it could have been better but its much better than anything i ever got here and i get compliments on it all the time! The plant knew it was dying and tried to finish up. I'll post pics. Here's my reverse flow design. I think I got it right but my stress level is high. Does it look ok? I think I'm getting a friend over, ill drain and save the water and disconnect that line and stick a small snake in. Its going to be a mess

I hope this doesn't bring on root rot. That was my problem last time and did improvements to try and maintain this organic sewer food. Its my greatest fear. That being said everything is smo much better and smoother, I am hoping ill be able to rough it out 4 more weeks.

I got 8 oz last harvest 1 plant harvested at the beginning of week 5. The buds were impressive I must say considering. They were bigger and all my friends stuff but none grow hydroponic or organic. I can't find the pics of it hanging and drying but ueres some of the buds.

 

[Failmore]

So you pump water to the top and those tiny little black lines are the return? If so no way those were big enough for this setup. Is that a 2x4 tent?

 

[Failmore]

I switched to a flood drain. Find it is easier to manage.

Pump water to the top and let it drain back to my res outside the tent.

 

[Distortionist]

So you pump water to the top and those tiny little black lines are the return? If so no way those were big enough for this setup. Is that a 2x4 tent?

Each bucket has a 2" pipe that gravity feeds it from the res, and the pump sucks it out of those 1/2 inch tubes back to the chiller and res.
The plant is fed through a drip ring that is always running powered by air bubbles. Water pipes only recirculate and I have a tiny waterfall over the bubbler in the rest on the return from chiller. I also have a 4" bubbler in each bucket and the res is larger than both buckets together. Since the clog happened it looks like one drip ring stopped working, I am not sure its probably clogged but it is no longer needed the whole bucket on the bottom is one big root ball now. I bet it will come out as a huge square in perfect shape when I harvest lol. The tent is a 3x3.

I mean I would rebuild the whole thing if I knew what to buy and where to buy it. These buckets were ready made by general hydroponics, i modified it to recirculate. Last grow I had 1 plant and the same size bucket was added as a res when i ran into problems. Since I increased pipe size on the gravity feed, added a bucket, much bigger res, better drainage, better air bubbles, better ventilation, better temp and humidity control. The setup is actually perfect im very happy untill this clog happened. I need bigger buckets I think and even bigger water lines. I think my pump and chiller can go one size up, and the gravity feed maybe should be 3". I think if the buckets were wider I wouldn't have to change anything really. My space is tight but I think I can pull off 2 bigger buckets in there as long as they are wider rather than higher. I would show you the room too but lights are off.

I attached pics of when I first turned to flower, there are date stamps, and a more current one, I did not intend it to grow this big lol. It is loving whatever I am doing, its much better than last grow. My buds are pretty too.

 

[Failmore]

That 1/2 return line needs to be a pvc pipe larger than 1". This will solve the problem. Buy some bulk heads from Amazon now so you have them when you are done. Just going to have to struggle buss through this grow.

 

[Distortionist]

So anyway, think I can get away with sticking a snake in and push the roots back into the clogged bucket? its going to make a mess but I think that is my best shot. The piping and valves wont arrive till at least another week to make it reverse flow but if i can make it last till then the reverse flow daily or weekly should keep them out.

This happened in a week! last week it drained fine! Maybe daily reverse flush is better. Ill just run it for a few seconds per bucket. I think my plan in the above picture should work? am I missing something with my piping and valves can anyone tell??

 

[Distortionist]

That 1/2 return line needs to be a pvc pipe larger than 1". This will solve the problem. Buy some bulk heads from Amazon now so you have them when you are done. Just going to have to struggle buss through this grow.

My pumps biggest fitting is 5/8 i think. If make a 1.5" T that reduces to 5/8, think that would suffice? I can still backwash the 5/8th pipe to push roots out but with 1.5 inch pipes I doubt there would be enough pressure to push roots out of 1 1.5 inch tube let alone both through the T.

 

[Failmore]

Your set up is a little backwards than most. The return line should be a pvc pipe that goes to the res. The pump should be in the res and pumping water to the bucket. That is how most people do it.

Either way for your next grow if you want to do dwc you need to solve that issue.

 

[Distortionist]

Crap. I thought it out and the reason I did it this way is if the outflow clogs in one of the buckets, like it did, it would not keep pumping the whole res into a bucket and flood the room. I thought I was being smart lol. Does it matter in the end as long as water flows well? I know pumping to the buckets would enable me using pressure for a waterfall but the worry is flooding, but the pump would also introduce heat. I would still want it sitting outside, and this is a small fish tank pump, its nothing fancy. The res has more volume than both buckets put together. the way it is now, anything can clog and nothing will flood. It was a protective safety measure. I do think that if I do this reverse flow thing and the flow is strong enough, it would prevent the roots growing, I think it is just a certain stage they are prone to that but after they grow long enough they wont get sucked in. I also think I may use more valves and a T if I need to use the house pressure to push roots back in through the tubes I can.

The other thing would be next grow just redesign everything but at my skill level i'm scared shitless and I have no help. I live in the boonies of a town in the boonies, no hydroponic stores anywhere even relatively close. I would have to know every thing i need and how to do it before hand because each time i need something it will takes weeks in shipping, probably shipping charges, its miserable. I feel much more comfortable with the idea of fixing what's wrong, this setup has evolved quite a bit and keeps improving. The plants are growing like mad. Ill try and flower sooner and watch out for roots in there. I knew it was going to happen, I was waiting for it, I just had no idea one water change would go perfectly then the next its so clogged it barely trickles out lol.

 

[Failmore]

Best option is probably buy a 3 bucket system. Use 1 bucket as a res. Plum the chiller into the res bucket. Put a pump in the res bucket. Chiller will easily keep the water cool with the pump in there.

They sell the stuff on Amazon as a kit. Just would need to modify for the chiller.

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

I also am a bit backwards but its not a big deal IMO.
I use 1 1/2" pvc for my drains to avoid this exact problem.
My RDWC actually has the water start in the rez, gravity flow into the 4 buckets in the tent, then flows out to my water pump which is actually lower than the rest of the system and pumps the water back up into my rez.

 

[Distortionist]

I made this today, I will install it tomorrow starting week 5. My water from the house is 40-60PSI well water, I will hook it up to this and use the pressure to clear the pips weekly. It will let me use the full pressure on individual buckets, then return it to normal functionality. I hope it works.

 

[Bushbaby11]

Hello!
Things were going so well. My water change yesterday did not. When I diverted my pumps flow to drain I noticed it was pretty much clogged. I am using 1/2 inch tubing to suck water out of the buckets. I took apart the T from the hose to the pump and sure enough it was clumped with roots. I cleared them and I used my tap to force water through to push roots out. back into the bucket, unfortunately I think only one bucket is clear.

What I am seeing now is one bucket has the water level higher than the other. I am pretty sure it is caused by a clog but if i force water it just goes out the other way to the unclogged bucket. I will modify my piping so I can backwash individual buckets every week, but that is for the next grow. I am just blown away about how the 2 inch gravity feed pipes are not keeping up with filling the low bucket. I feel like they are starting to get clogged with roots too.

Any ideas how I can fix this root issue right now? I also am curious if I am letting my plants grow too big, I tried to flower early but it just keeps growing lol. I was thinking of removing the hose going to the pump again and trying to stick a pipe snake in there to push the roots back in? I can't lift the bucket, the roots are tangled into something and I am scared to do more damage.

I will not water the plant to let the water level drop before pulling that hose out, or just fight it till water change day and drain the system and unclog it. I am hoping the roots run down a bit so I can grab them and pull them off and out from the tube to the pump, i had a hard time removing the tubes going from the T to the bucket.

Last run I was forced to harvest week 5's water change, help me keep this thing going to week 8!

I feel like I need a better setup. Should I redo everything next grow? Does this setup suck or I just need to keep improving it as I discover problems? I would like a better setup if this one seems problematic to you guys. I just want something that works without me worrying about clogs and getting root bound. Would be nice if it was a more reliable setup.

Is this RDWC?

 

[Distortionist]

Is this RDWC?

Yes. 2 bucks and a res.