EZ Stor 8 and 13 Gallon Buckets and Under Current Lids

[ZenWolf]

For the DIY'ers out there:

EZ Stor 8 and 13 gallon square buckets have become really popular lately for people throwing together their own hydroponics systems. I happened to notice the similarity between those EZ Stor buckets and the reservoirs/buckets in the Under Current brand name recirculating DWC systems...

Turns out the brand name lids for the Under Current systems with the cool corner access panel and different net pot options are a perfect fit on the EZ Stor 8 and 13 gallon buckets (and are sturdy and come in white). So if you don't want to mess with trying to adapt the flimsy EZ Stor lids or your EZ Stor bucket lid has split apart at the weak hinge point... Consider just buying the lids for the Under Current systems.

They are a bit more expensive than the EZ Stor container lids but IMO worth it for the sturdiness, the access port, and not having to mess with cutting circles for net pots that are larger what you can do with a hole saw. Shop around a bit for a good price on both the EZ Stor buckets and the Under Current lids. A lot of places (including Amazon) are WAY overpriced at the moment. But you can usually find the EZ Stor containers from the large plastic distributors for a quarter of the price you'll find on Amazon. And the Under Current lids vary in price a lot from hydroponics store to hydroponics store but it's worth shopping around a bit among them for the lowest price (some hydroponics retailers overprice them quite a bit).


For reference, attaching pictures of the Under Current system lids and the EZ Stor square buckets:

 

[70's natureboy]

Those lids look awesome but kinda spendy. If weed was still $400/oz I would buy some.

 

[ZenWolf]

Those lids look awesome but kinda spendy. If weed was still $400/oz I would buy some.

Have to shop around a bit online to find them at a decent price right now. Same goes for the EZ Stor containers. But I found the Current Culture lids for a little over $15. I found that was cheaper than me buying a specialized tool in order to make a circle cut larger than 5" and I wasn't happy with the only other lid available for the EZ Stor containers which weren't made for continuous use.

Grow Green MI has the Current Culture lids for sale online at a good price: https://growgreenmi.com/current-culture-lid-8-16863 (about $16/each) but my local hydro store had them as well for a buck or two less.

For the buckets, the going price on Amazon is like $50 each at the moment. But I ordered mine from https://www.hawthornegc.com/shop/product/ez-store-container-buckets-8-and-13-gallon-and-lid_1 for under $20.

That came out to ~ $35 per DWC site and reservoir (if doing RDWC). Which beats any brand name commercial DWC system out there by a long and is a far step up from using round 5 gallon buckets and trying to make those flimsy EZ Stor lids work. It is an Under Current site in every way just without the silk screened Current Culture brand name on the side of the bucket (which sell for $115-$150 each). Saves anyone looking at a Current Culture system $75+ per site.