DWC 5G Bucket vs Tote

[RustyR]

My first grow and I am using 5G and I can already feel these are too small for my desire. I'm growing big plants, not 4 medium sized ones. The water change is too often.

Anyone have some cool pics or suggestions of different totes or setups they have used with DWC and bigger than 5g containers?

I Think ideally I want something that is 30-40CM Tall and then quite large radius , but probably will end up square..

 

[Mr. Mohaskey]

How do you change? Are you doing RDWC or more of a bubbleponics type system? Swapping out large containers can get heavy at 8.34 lbs/gal

 

[RustyR]

I'm just doing 5g, no RDWC. So I have a big garbage pail I use to top off the water level daily with an aquarium pump and once a week I change out the entire bucket with a new solution/microbes.

Just DWC with airstones in it.

 

[Mr. Mohaskey]

Well to answer your question, bigger than 5g pales will most likely get you into totes. I have used 5 gal buckets when I first started and it grew great, just a PITA to swap if doing more than a few. You can grow big with 5 gal buckets though. How big you thinking?

 

[bubblescrogs]

Probably ride it out with what you've got and see how you get on - might be surprised what you'll get out of a 5 gal. I'd be inclined to just turn what you've got into a RDWC system with one big tote as a res (25-30 gal) on the next run. I grow 4 under 2 x 250w LEDs and lights seem to be the limiting factor (about 6-8 Oz per plant). They are in 4 gal pots with the res filled with 20 gal of soup. When they are drinking heavily in flower I top off the main res maybe 2-3 times a week. But it's way easier in an RDWC - just empty the dehumidifier back into the external res and drain/refill it with nutes once a week. Keep the res outside the grow space to control the temp better and make it easier to fill/drain.

 

[RustyR]

Probably ride it out with what you've got and see how you get on - might be surprised what you'll get out of a 5 gal. I'd be inclined to just turn what you've got into a RDWC system with one big tote as a res (25-30 gal) on the next run. I grow 4 under 2 x 250w LEDs and lights seem to be the limiting factor (about 6-8 Oz per plant). They are in 4 gal pots with the res filled with 20 gal of soup. When they are drinking heavily in flower I top off the main res maybe 2-3 times a week. But it's way easier in an RDWC - just empty the dehumidifier back into the external res and drain/refill it with nutes once a week. Keep the res outside the grow space to control the temp better and make it easier to fill/drain.

I have 2 plants in my 5x5 with a 1000W light and I think I vegged em too long already lol they are huge. I thought about doing RDWC but DWC was lower bar to entry (they are pretty close since you can just buy a full RDWC system.

I like what you said about the water outside the tent but don't you have to run a pump to recirculate the water which is constantly increase the temp of the water because the pump will off put heat when it moves it around? This was the part of a RWDC I didn't really like.

Right now in veg the plant seems to drink the entire bucket in a day! I was thinking of getting one of these huge totes just for one plant, I've seen pics some where person doing similar with two plants in one and I can see how that would work since I'm doing 5g per plant now..

I have a four plant limit that's why everything is so scaled.

 

[bubblescrogs]

I have 2 plants in my 5x5 with a 1000W light and I think I vegged em too long already lol they are huge. I thought about doing RDWC but DWC was lower bar to entry (they are pretty close since you can just buy a full RDWC system.

I like what you said about the water outside the tent but don't you have to run a pump to recirculate the water which is constantly increase the temp of the water because the pump will off put heat when it moves it around? This was the part of a RWDC I didn't really like.

Right now in veg the plant seems to drink the entire bucket in a day! I was thinking of getting one of these huge totes just for one plant, I've seen pics some where person doing similar with two plants in one and I can see how that would work since I'm doing 5g per plant now..

I have a four plant limit that's why everything is so scaled.

Even if you go the bigger totes it'll still be a PITA to get in there and top them all off. Tbh I haven't had any issues with the temp increasing from the pump. Maybe a degree if anything but it's sitting at 79f at the moment anyway (I don't run a chiller). As long as you're running enzymes it should be fine. Oversizing the pump and run it on low helps it run cooler too. If your 5x5 is pretty full already in veg, good luck getting in there for water changes when they flower! Having an external res will use the space much better. Once you've done the last trim at the start of flower, don't need to get into the tent at all until they are done (less risk of bringing in nasties or snapping a branch while you're trying to do a water change/top off). I'm in an 8 x 4 with an external res and it's still a fair bit of yoga to get in there for trimming.

 

[RustyR]

Even if you go the bigger totes it'll still be a PITA to get in there and top them all off. Tbh I haven't had any issues with the temp increasing from the pump. Maybe a degree if anything but it's sitting at 79f at the moment anyway (I don't run a chiller). As long as you're running enzymes it should be fine. Oversizing the pump and run it on low helps it run cooler too. If your 5x5 is pretty full already in veg, good luck getting in there for water changes when they flower! Having an external res will use the space much better. Once you've done the last trim at the start of flower, don't need to get into the tent at all until they are done (less risk of bringing in nasties or snapping a branch while you're trying to do a water change/top off). I'm in an 8 x 4 with an external res and it's still a fair bit of yoga to get in there for trimming.

Haha I got in there for my first full bucket change since they been growing and yes it is a PITA to literally lift the whole plant so I can get the bucket out.
Can I ask, why do people use recirculating systems instead of say a reservoir outside the tank and a float valve that just keeps it filled to the same level? Then I could put a spigot on the bucket to full drain it if I ever need to and remove the need to have a powered device running.

 

[Nizza]

I'd check out the PA hydroponics videos and consider buying the 7gal/13gal square buckets that have access on the edge. You can upgrade them to rdwc if you want also

 

[Kindbud421]

I have 2 plants in my 5x5 with a 1000W light and I think I vegged em too long already lol they are huge. I thought about doing RDWC but DWC was lower bar to entry (they are pretty close since you can just buy a full RDWC system.

I like what you said about the water outside the tent but don't you have to run a pump to recirculate the water which is constantly increase the temp of the water because the pump will off put heat when it moves it around? This was the part of a RWDC I didn't really like.

Right now in veg the plant seems to drink the entire bucket in a day! I was thinking of getting one of these huge totes just for one plant, I've seen pics some where person doing similar with two plants in one and I can see how that would work since I'm doing 5g per plant now..

I have a four plant limit that's why everything is so scaled.

Gravity feed your reservoir

 

[Kindbud421]

Gravity feed your reservoir

In-line valve.

 

[ProPheT 216]

My first grow and I am using 5G and I can already feel these are too small for my desire. I'm growing big plants, not 4 medium sized ones. The water change is too often.

Anyone have some cool pics or suggestions of different totes or setups they have used with DWC and bigger than 5g containers?

I Think ideally I want something that is 30-40CM Tall and then quite large radius , but probably will end up square..

2 8x8x8 rw cubes and ditch the dwc

 

[Mr. Mohaskey]

I run a rdwc/waterfall with res outside tent. It has a spigot I can turn on and off for easy drainage. Only lifting I do is 5 gal buckets of water to carry to drain area.

 

[amneziaHaze]

I got 2x70L pots you can find them in diary.
I wanted to ask why do you res change soo much is your mix that bad? I usually do 1 change in whole grow
I pump the tank full with trichoderma soo they eat anything that trys to grow in the tank

 

[RustyR]

I'd check out the PA hydroponics videos and consider buying the 7gal/13gal square buckets that have access on the edge. You can upgrade them to rdwc if you want also

Thank you this has been very helpful. I see his RDWC "waterfall system" seems very efficent. I guess that's kind of what I'm realizing is being efficent and ease of use for particular grow tent size. Right now I just have 2 buckets in a 5x5 and unless I did a lot more training I can just see how simply have 4 plats (to form a nice square canopy) would make things way easier. Then the question becomes what system to use and the way he's operating his systems seems very simple.

I also KNOW I want something bigger than 5g and I can see he uses 15g + the recirculating factor I could see just takes it to 2 more levels of ease. I think I may ultimately buy / copy one his systems.

 

[RustyR]

I got 2x70L pots you can find them in diary.
I wanted to ask why do you res change soo much is your mix that bad? I usually do 1 change in whole grow
I pump the tank full with trichoderma soo they eat anything that trys to grow in the tank

Thank you I check out your grow it's nice to see. The reason I change the res so often is just cause I was listening to podcasts with growers and they were changing their water every week. Simply to rebalance the nutrient mix I guess. So I just been following suit on that. I do add great white mycro to it when I do a full water change. Since I only have 5galloon buckets they pretty much drink all the water in a day or two so its really only level a very little bit of water with left over nutes that would build up IG. I top it off with full nutrient water, not plain RO.

 

[OldMedUser]

Rubbermaid Roughneck tubs worked great for me for about 50 grows since '01. The short ones hold 35L when filled to an inch below the net pots and the tall ones hold 50L. I would top up every 3days once the plants were big and using lots of water. RO water with AN nutes so I could go the whole grow and never change nutes. Weekly changes are for those who like to spend money especially in the veg stage. I'd top up with RO then check ppm and use syringes to add more nutes to get back to my target level. No need to check pH with the AN nutes. Easy-peasy.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Same here with 300w light plants drink max 2L a day
Npw that i think about it my mini grow with 60w allsoo drank 1L a day

 

[calvin.m16]

Nice! I'm tired of lugging coco around and plan to go full hydro using similar totes. What are your air temps like? It's interesting some people run fancy chillers and rdwc when you can just top off a tub of aerated water instead. On single strain runs would you ever consider running a main reservoir that just auto tops off the tubs using float valves?

I'm in a basement and run LEDs so I don't think temps would be a big problem when it comes to the water?

 

[OldMedUser]

I'm in a basement and run LEDs so I don't think temps would be a big problem when it comes to the water?

I run HIDs in my basement but it's always cool down there so don't need AC and even in the summer have a heater working a bit to maintain 75F in there with no exhaust fan going as it's on a temp/rh controller set for 80F and 60% RH. Very dry up north here too.

If your room temp is say 75 the water will likely be 70+. Danger zone so peroxide or bleach if running sterile. Small doses twice a week to keep the rot away. I've never used bleach just 35% food grade peroxide at 0.5ml/L and up to 8ml/L daily if rot starts.

Rarely had rot.