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Mountainfarmer

Mountainfarmer

Well-Known Member
Whats up RIU. Good to be back. After taking the past four years off i've decided to jump back into the game and push that old envelope again. This will be my first attempt at hydro. I have done several dozen grows in dirt but mostly Promix. After researching the many different ways one can do hydro I have settled on either RDWC or flood and drain. RDWC is appealing because of the speed and efficiency of the plants. Secondly because it appears RDWC can support larger plants. Lastly, because of the volume of water, there is a larger buffer between success and failure. I like flood and drain because of its simplicity and how it affords the user time away from the garden. Whichever method I apply I do not think I can go wrong either way. I am leaning towards RDWC.

I am thinking either 20 or 32 gallon roughneck trash containers. I went to Lowes and these are the sizes they had there. There will be 8 of them with 1 control tank. They will be sitting under (6) 1000 watt HPS lights with air cooled reflectors. This room will not be sealed. All heat from the room will be exhausted outside and fresh air will be brought in from outdoors. The flower room that I will be using dimensions are 10'x22' with 12' high ceiling. Space is not an issue. I will veg in a different room under T5's.

I have several questions. What are the advantages or disadvantages to using larger or smaller containers? I did the math and if I am using (9) 32 gallon containers lets says with 30 gallons in each one that is 270 gallons being used at once. What size pump will I need to recirculate the water? I was thinking a 900 GPH pump should do. From what I have gathered I will need to chill this water as well. Assuming the ambient temperature is around 75 degrees F, will a 1HP chiller keep the water in the system at 66-68 degrees? If not what size will I need? Does anyone have any ideas about how to insulate these containers? I am thinking that if I can insulate the containers then I could possibly get away with a smaller chiller.In a system with this much water, how much nutrient solution will I be using to run a complete flower cycle? As far as dissolved oxygen and the addition of air stones, I am thinking 3-4 large air stones per container. I am looking at the General Hydroponic dual diaphragm air pump. It states that it pushes 320 mph/24,800 cc/minute. Not sure what that means exactly but the pump gets great reviews for its power and for how quiet it is. At first glance I am thinking I will need 2 or 3 of these pumps to get the DO that I am looking for. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts or input will be greatly appreciated. Oh yeah I forgot the most important part. I will be running TGA's ripped bubba and galactic jack.
 

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THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
best tip I can give when doing rdwc or flood and drain is

get a filter bag for any pumps your using as they get clogged with roots and nutes and bits of coco/rockwall and perlite

Keeps them working way longer and if you get a 50 or 25 micron bag it can also block bugs being sent back up to the flood tables in flood and drain

Also look into under current dwc good way to link up a load of dwc buckets to a res

and good water fall will give as much air as airstones it`s good to use both

Get a small compressor or one of the Hailea V pumps, I currently use a V20 with 4 x 50mm airstones in a 200L waterbutt and its just right

I would say go with 1 x 50mm airstone min per 50L of water, I have a compressor type Hailea, I was going to use that to set up 2 to 6 dwc or rdwc or udwc some time but my current grow has to stay coco... Been looking at a few places cos I`d like to set up a full hydro garden again too been missing it

So yeah as for airpumps 10L per min per 100L seems to work well, you could probably drop to 5L per min for 100L but my guess is 10 to 20L per min is probably optimal

how hot does it get where you are ? Just wondering because once you go over 50/100L buckets you normally don`t have to chill unless its really warm

normally you can just top/res change with cool water
 
Mountainfarmer

Mountainfarmer

Well-Known Member
Good idea on the bag for the pump. As far as getting hot here. We are heading into the winter months here. I live in the New England region. I was also wondering with such a large mass of water and the cool temperatures if I would be able to get away without running a chiller. Guess there's only one way to find out.
 
T

THE KONASSURE

Well-Known Member
Mountainfarmer said:
Are you saying that I only have to run the air pump some of the time?
Click to expand...

No I run the airpump 24/7

Well bar a small cloner I would normally go 30/60L at the very min for hydro, I like a 150L to 200L water butt or a 90L waste bin as my smallest starting "kit" for blooming one big dwc plant

but even to run 1 90L dwc you`ll want a 100L to 200L water butt so you can store and condition the water

so often I just grow in coco sacks and keep a 200L water butt its almost like doing hydro bar no res changes just flood out the sacks

Main hassle is the old coco and dwc probably yields a bit more, I use 30L to 80L sacks, so if I was going to dwc I`d get 60L to 120L waste bins cheap use them to build the system, or a big beer chest chiller cooler
 
GeneralGrower

GeneralGrower

Member
I use the yellow and black totes from Home Depot like http://hygrohybrid.com/ uses and they work really good! I will suggest getting real screw on bulk heads and not using the uniseals as they put pressure on the walls of the container and can eventually crack over time! From what I've learned is it's more about the width of the container than the height, just like plants that grow in the 400 gallon smart pots in California, they are superwide, not that deep, so the roots spread out and create a bigger footprint making them very stable. If you haven't checked out Hygrohybrid on youtube or his website, I highly suggest that, I've learned a lot from him and his videos are very intuitive and to the point. He has a whole series on DWC and RDWC, check it out. As for insulation, I just use this stuff from home depot http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-16-in-x-25-ft-Double-Reflective-Insulation-with-Staple-Tab-ST16025/100012574
 
Mountainfarmer

Mountainfarmer

Well-Known Member
GeneralGrower said:
f you haven't checked out Hygrohybrid on youtube or his website, I highly suggest that, I've learned a lot from him and his videos are very intuitive and to the point. He has a whole series on DWC and RDWC, check it out.
Click to expand...
His videos are actually the reason I chose RDWC. Seems very effective. He uses the uni seals too. I'm gonna check out some more of his vids.
 
Yesdog

Yesdog

Well-Known Member
Reflective insulation is best (as @GeneralGrower pointed out).

Also make sure that any plastic you use (containers, lids, pipes) is black plastic! Most of the other colors pass light through (just use a flashlight to test). If you don't get black plastic, there's rubber spray-on undercoating you can use- also acts a bit like insulation, but definitely blocks out light.
 
GeneralGrower

GeneralGrower

Member
Mountainfarmer said:
His videos are actually the reason I chose RDWC. Seems very effective. He uses the uni seals too. I'm gonna check out some more of his vids.
Click to expand...
Cool, yea, I recently saw a newer video of his and he switched to the more expensive bulkheads because one of his containers cracked from the uniseal putting pressure on it, so If you're looking for long term security definitely get the better quality bulkheads I run uniseals myself currently but I'll be changing my design up soon, I don't have a very big area to grow in and I'm only doing 2 ladies. Hygro is now running Current Culture's system they provided for him so I'm looking forward to seeing if he gets better results from a proprietary system or about the same as just building your own.

 
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