RDWC Questions

[TheHappyDrunk]

I'm finalizing my design for a RDWC run, and have some basic questions that may or may not influence my end build.

1) Does it mater how high up you place PVC on buckets? Can it be roughly half way up the bucket, or is lower better/necessary?

2) I was wanting to place the control bucket outside my tent, but the ports on the tent are higher than the level I plan to have the return lines on the buckets. What are some ways around this, and are there clear disadvantages to keeping the control bucket inside the tent, other than it taking up space?

3) Is there a need to worry about hydroton particulate affecting my inline water pump? I'm addressing this by building a fine mesh filter, but will root/plant debris and hydroton find their way to the pump without a good way of filtering them out? I don't really know how hydroton behaves--would debris not just sink to the bottom of the bucket it's in?

Thanks in advance. I value feedback from this community.

 

[Fonzyyy21]

So if you're talking about the return line, I think lower is better! It'll make sure that all the water from the buckets are being returned and mixed up evenly. I think the higher up you go, the more water you have sitting in the buckets not being returned and just sitting there. Mid way up might be okay though if it's your only option!

As far as your control reservoir being outside the tent..
Pros: probably keeps water temp down a bit lower compared to inside grow room. Easier to mix in nutrient solution and adjust ph. Easier to do a res change.
You can try and cut little holes into the tent to fit the PVC pipe into! Probably not ideal, just an option!

The hydroton, if you give it a good soak and wash down with like a shower head with hot water a couple of times it should take care of most of the particulate! Granted you may still have some, so a filter for your pumps may be a good idea!

Good luck man! I wanted to do a RDWC but not enough room! I settled for DWC!

 

[TheHappyDrunk]

So if you're talking about the return line, I think lower is better! It'll make sure that all the water from the buckets are being returned and mixed up evenly. I think the higher up you go, the more water you have sitting in the buckets not being returned and just sitting there. Mid way up might be okay though if it's your only option!

As far as your control reservoir being outside the tent..
Pros: probably keeps water temp down a bit lower compared to inside grow room. Easier to mix in nutrient solution and adjust ph. Easier to do a res change.
You can try and cut little holes into the tent to fit the PVC pipe into! Probably not ideal, just an option!

The hydroton, if you give it a good soak and wash down with like a shower head with hot water a couple of times it should take care of most of the particulate! Granted you may still have some, so a filter for your pumps may be a good idea!

Good luck man! I wanted to do a RDWC but not enough room! I settled for DWC!

Thanks for your input. I was thinking of raising the return lines to as high as half way up the buckets to be able to run a line(s) outside the tent without a crazy "caterpillar" bend. Now I'm leaning more towards just having the reservoir in the tent to avoid having to do this. The way I'm setting it up, it would mean just one less plant site.

This is costing me an arm and a leg, but I'm pretty eager to get it up and running. I just hear so much reassuring testimony as to the benefits of RDWC. And despite the debates over what EXACTLY is better than what, most people seem to have pretty impressive grows.

 

[J232]

You would want your return low, I would build up the tent floor to avoid the S bend you talk about or cut the tent in a way that could be resealed later cleanly. Just wash the dust off the hydron and soak it for a day in ph water. There is another post somewhere addressing getting the return out of a tent on rdwc.

 

[Frostythesnowman88]

It's not too hard to cut a hole in your tent big enough for the PVC to slip through. It how do you plan on draining the system for nute changes?

 

[THT]

can you explain more about your set up, the types of buckets, round or square, the types of connectors etc, I would always recommend not over complicating the design, the fewer pieces the better, yes, roots find everything without some sort of barrier, the hydroton, if disturbed at all, will add particulates to the system. Rubbing against each other and cracking in general is what causes the particulates. as others said, the 'returns' and all connections should be low for several reasons, but as long as your water is being agitated enough and you have good flow, which is another topic in itself, because hopefully you have 2inch or greater inside diameter otherwise you could have different issues, anyhow, rambling..

 

[THT]

my overall recommendation depending on the scale you are going for is probably to skip the "R" res/bucket solution all together, and go with straight DWC, large individual totes. No connections, no res, no complicated designs, no troubleshooting, no leaks, no questions about flow and water/nute mixtures, something to consider anyhow.

 

[Fonzyyy21]

my overall recommendation depending on the scale you are going for is probably to skip the "R" res/bucket solution all together, and go with straight DWC, large individual totes. No connections, no res, no complicated designs, no troubleshooting, no leaks, no questions about flow and water/nute mixtures, something to consider anyhow.

That's what I ended up doing! low key still a headache sometimes!!
Still happy with the whole hydro grow, I'm about 5 weeks from harvest now!

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

No, don't cut a hole in your tent. Just have the piping elevated up and out and have the outside control bucket elevated to the correct height, the same as the rest.

 

[Mellow old School]

No, don't cut a hole in your tent. Just have the piping elevated up and out and have the outside control bucket elevated to the correct height, the same as the rest

So how do you then close the tent door? Not everyone has the oppertunity to let te tent be open in a eg. closed of room.

It is sad to cut a hole in the tent, but can easily be done, which makes piping much easier when connecting the buckets to the reservoir in my opinion.

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

Do not elevate the piping.
Keep it low as possible. This makes water changes easy, because you can pump out from control bucket, and minimal water is left in the system.
I ran into this exact problem, easy fix is to just add your inline water pump for the system inside the tent.
Problem solved, now the water drains via gravity from the higher point (your control bucket WILL have to be elevated for pipes to enter the tent) into the tent, to the plant buckets, runs through them (connections to the buckets low as possible!) Then the water pump, pumps the water back up hill to your control bucket.
No holes in the tent
Pipe connections low as possible for easy rez change

For your pump, yes you will want a inline filter before it. Nothing crazy, just some mesh. They sell them on Amazon pretty cheap, here's a few

1/2" Female NPT in-Line Strainer with 100 mesh Stainless Steel Filter Screen (1/2“ 100 Mesh): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

1/2" Female NPT in-Line Strainer with 100 mesh Stainless Steel Filter Screen (1/2“ 100 Mesh): Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com : One Stop Outdoor 3/4" Drip Irrigation/Hydroponics Y Filter with 155 Mesh Screen - 3/4" FHT X 3/4" MHT Hose Thread Connections : Garden & Outdoor

Amazon.com : One Stop Outdoor 3/4" Drip Irrigation/Hydroponics Y Filter with 155 Mesh Screen - 3/4" FHT X 3/4" MHT Hose Thread Connections : Garden & Outdoor

www.amazon.com

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

I was able to cheat in my above method, so I didn't have to lift the control bucket so high, I busted a small hole in the zipper of my tent to push through my 1.5" pvc supply. But I still put my pump inside my tent to return the water "uphill" through 3/4" hosing out the actual tent ports back to my control bucket.

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

my overall recommendation depending on the scale you are going for is probably to skip the "R" res/bucket solution all together, and go with straight DWC, large individual totes. No connections, no res, no complicated designs, no troubleshooting, no leaks, no questions about flow and water/nute mixtures, something to consider anyhow.

I dont like that because its makes life so much harder in the long run.
If you get the system working right, and you get the correct monitoring, rdwc systems can be almost totally automated.
Ph control, nutrients, water changes.
Its really amazing how easy life can be.
Not to mention you cannot (not very easily at all) grow scrog with DWC. Water changes are a pain with really any type of trellis system.
My RDWC uses my inline water pump, and a splitter, to divert the circulating flow, out of the system and down the drain. So all I have to do is flip a switch and it starts emptying everything and finnishes in about 15 min.

 

[Mr_Manny_D]

Aahh...I hate seeing homemade holes in tents or diy that's overkill, messy, or not thought through, anticipating the "what if" scenearo.

 

[SuperiorBuds]

Always pull low as possible from the totes. You can then do the U up and out of the tent through the lower vent hole, as long as the top of the return is lower than the high water mark. (You can even go higher w/ a water bridge, but if the bridge breaks you risk a flood on the tent-side so not a good recommendation.)

Having the reservoir outside the tent will help with temps, eliminate concern for light leaks, and will make res changes much easier. This even lets you swap the reservoir during the dark period, which you can't do with it inside the tent. It's well worth the extra thought to make it work.

 

[THT]

makes life so much harder in the long run.

It sounds like you are making it harder than it needs to be also. I have never once done a res change on any of my DWC grows. Its an extra step that you don't have to take to grow perfect healthy plants. In reality, RDWC is more parts, more complexity, more expensive, more potential points of failure, and honestly none of that is worth having no discernable difference in the grow.

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

It sounds like you are making it harder than it needs to be also. I have never once done a res change on any of my DWC grows. Its an extra step that you don't have to take to grow perfect healthy plants. In reality, RDWC is more parts, more complexity, more expensive, more potential points of failure, and honestly none of that is worth having no discernable difference in the grow.

Nope, I prefer to do rez changes every week and half. It does have a ton of benefits.
And I'm not doing that in dwc with a trellis, simply not happening.
My rdwc is extreamly unlikely to have issues with the quality products I used to build it.
I dont have to adjust PH, and I can use a single water chiller on all my plants.
You can't do that in dwc

 

[THT]

You can't do that in dwc

I don't have to adjust PH either, and I don't have to use a water chiller at all, to each their own. I am able to use DWC without any of the excess and get great results with low effort.

 

[ҖҗlegilizeitҗҖ]

I don't have to adjust PH either, and I don't have to use a water chiller at all, to each their own. I am able to use DWC without any of the excess and get great results with low effort.

You don't adjust PH?
Or ever change your water once?
Or control the temp of the rez?
I mean, I guess if you want okay results thats fine.
I like top shelf product and maximizing yields, no offense. I'm sure you can make great product, but there's no doubt if you never change out your water, don't use a chiller, or control ph, your yield WILL be compromised. In addition you are prone to crop failures from improper nutrient feeding/uptake and root rot.

 

[SuperiorBuds]

I don't have to adjust PH either, and I don't have to use a water chiller at all, to each their own. I am able to use DWC without any of the excess and get great results with low effort.

In your environment that works, great, but that is very atypical of DWC in general.

You don't adjust PH?
Or ever change your water once?
Or control the temp of the rez?
I mean, I guess if you want okay results thats fine.

Everything is fine, until it's not.

How do you combat lockouts if you don't pH or change the res? How does the pH stay steady while the plants are absorbing ions from the water, especially if it's not being changed out? How do you ensure you keep DO levels high enough w/o a chiller?

I have to know, what type of yields are you pulling from this system?

I don't doubt it's working for you, but with no protection in place it's only a matter of time before you have a failure.