cannabineer
Ursus marijanus
(Nick Riviera voice) Hello ev'rybody!!!
I am tiptoeing back into indoor agriculture after 11 years of lying fallow. I used to run NFT, but I don't want to do that for a coupla reasons.
1) I'm in a rented house, and I don't want the bulky items associated with NFT. I imagine that they'd be a complete bitch to very quickly relocate should a landlord appear.
2) I needed considerable vertical space, since the reservoir had to be below the drain end of the NFT troughs. I don't really have that now, what with the space I need to leave for a good light, probably a 600W HPS supp'd with T5s running actinic bulbs.
So I'm settling on DWC as a good modular way to at least get going until I've accumulated the research (and cash!!) for something more sophisticated, like maybe aeroponics, when I get a grow space that I own. I want to feed the buckets from a common reservoir. I want to use buckets and reservoir so I can "one-stop shop" when adjusting pH and EC.
I cannot sink the reservoir below floor level.
For a pure-gravity system I'd need to put the bottoms of the DWC buckets above the fill mark in my main reservoir. This would waste over a foot of vertical space. I'd like to have a way circulate my nutewater that does not rely on floats or other level sensors. I also want a system that actively returns overflow to the reservoir, and can drain the buckets on demand for efficient nute servicing. My question is: how?
I'm imagining a four-bucket setup in the grow space that receives nute from the res by active pumping. The buckets drain by gravity into a separate container (which I'll call a catch bucket) that ideally is outside the grow space alongside my outboard res.
Is there a pump that'll send outflow from that bucket into the reservoir, scavenge all the fluid (except maybe half an inch) from the bottom of the bucket, and not mind slurping some air during the process? Or that will turn itself on when liquid is there, then off at some minimum fluid level?
More to the point, is such a pump cheap to buy and operate?
If this does not look like it'll work, can someone suggest a way to run RDWC such that I can have this outboard res? I need that res to mind and adjust pH, temp, EC and of course water level. I want the system to be "gravity safe", no spills, in case of a power outage or a failure in any active fluid-handling component. If I'm asking too much or otherwise (cough!!)
on drugs ... talk to me!!
Stray questions.
1) Any experience here with continuous pH monitoring?
2) Any suggestions for a CO2 meter that reads from 0 to say 2000 ppm, has a continuous remote readout (i.e. sensor in the grow space but readout a wall away) and won't break the bank?
PS I like to formulate my own nutrient from scratch. They worked brilliantly for my NFT, but even with a buffer added I had to bring pH down every day. Thus my interest in a continuous pH monitor that really truly works.
cheers 'neer
I am tiptoeing back into indoor agriculture after 11 years of lying fallow. I used to run NFT, but I don't want to do that for a coupla reasons.
1) I'm in a rented house, and I don't want the bulky items associated with NFT. I imagine that they'd be a complete bitch to very quickly relocate should a landlord appear.
2) I needed considerable vertical space, since the reservoir had to be below the drain end of the NFT troughs. I don't really have that now, what with the space I need to leave for a good light, probably a 600W HPS supp'd with T5s running actinic bulbs.
So I'm settling on DWC as a good modular way to at least get going until I've accumulated the research (and cash!!) for something more sophisticated, like maybe aeroponics, when I get a grow space that I own. I want to feed the buckets from a common reservoir. I want to use buckets and reservoir so I can "one-stop shop" when adjusting pH and EC.
I cannot sink the reservoir below floor level.
For a pure-gravity system I'd need to put the bottoms of the DWC buckets above the fill mark in my main reservoir. This would waste over a foot of vertical space. I'd like to have a way circulate my nutewater that does not rely on floats or other level sensors. I also want a system that actively returns overflow to the reservoir, and can drain the buckets on demand for efficient nute servicing. My question is: how?
I'm imagining a four-bucket setup in the grow space that receives nute from the res by active pumping. The buckets drain by gravity into a separate container (which I'll call a catch bucket) that ideally is outside the grow space alongside my outboard res.
Is there a pump that'll send outflow from that bucket into the reservoir, scavenge all the fluid (except maybe half an inch) from the bottom of the bucket, and not mind slurping some air during the process? Or that will turn itself on when liquid is there, then off at some minimum fluid level?
More to the point, is such a pump cheap to buy and operate?
If this does not look like it'll work, can someone suggest a way to run RDWC such that I can have this outboard res? I need that res to mind and adjust pH, temp, EC and of course water level. I want the system to be "gravity safe", no spills, in case of a power outage or a failure in any active fluid-handling component. If I'm asking too much or otherwise (cough!!)
on drugs ... talk to me!!Stray questions.
1) Any experience here with continuous pH monitoring?
2) Any suggestions for a CO2 meter that reads from 0 to say 2000 ppm, has a continuous remote readout (i.e. sensor in the grow space but readout a wall away) and won't break the bank?
PS I like to formulate my own nutrient from scratch. They worked brilliantly for my NFT, but even with a buffer added I had to bring pH down every day. Thus my interest in a continuous pH monitor that really truly works.
cheers 'neer
Never Again.
guess 
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