rdwc

Hey there to all would like a couple questions answered if possible plz new to hydro.
#1 would like to use a recirculating pump on the outside off 2-5gallon buckets and a 82L reservoir I intend to veg for 7-8wks. Can someone tell me what size and brand recirculating pump should I purchase.
#2.with that size reservoir how long before i add or change nutes and water?
#3.is the reservoir also my control bucket and will I have to install a float and have it higher than the two 5gallon buckets?
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

#1 I use a Hailea HX 4500 for my setup works great (see signature) I use 9x 5 gallon buckets.

#2 I use the same all around 5 gallon.. In the start of a grow i dont add anything and change the water each week.. But at the end of the grow i add 15 gallons of water/nutes weekly between changes..

#3 Yes its also your control bucket you could install a float so water/nutes can be added from another rez and keep the same waterlevel between changes.. But always monitor your control bucket values can change quickly due to many circumstances.. The other rez does not have to be higher if its bigger but i would minimum keep the second rez above the water level of the primary rez so gravity can use the entire second rez..

Thanks for the reply EUROHIGH.so its OK to just run the two buckets with air stones and run the pump outside of the 82L res.
Do not really want to run another rez.
Then you fill the rez to what level you want your water mark to be(1-2) inches below net pot.and the level in the Rex would be the level in the buckets.
Just trying to understand.beer with me.

I highly recommend running airstones in your rez aswell.. I fill the water mark up to the net pots.. I want as much water in my system as possible to buffer for ec/ph stability.. yes the level in your rez are almost the same as in the buckets but since you are pumping water into the buckets from the rez the water level will be slightly higher in the buckets no big deal..

Thanks a lot for the info.and if I have 4gallons in each bucket do I also add the amount of water in the Rez also to see how much nutes per gallon.is it depending on how much water in the system you add notes.

Sorry about the spelling,I mean nutes

Luv, this is the setup that I run, works out pretty well for me, check out my thread, Girl Scout Cookies RDWC Scrog Grow. Essentially it's a 4 site, one res / control bucket, recirculating dwc system, built it from scratch. You could propbably build the same setup I've got going for around $375-$400 including the nutra-dip tri-meter which you will definitely need if you're serious about having a top quality setup. Obvioulsy that number does not include the reflector or other hardware that you will need but simply reflects the RDWC system itself. That being said, $400 is nothing compared to what you would pay for an undercurrent system from current culture (check their website out, it'll give you some good DIY ideas, cch2o.com). As you can see in the picture, I do not have an auxilary reservoir that tops off the system as the water is depleted. Would it make things a little bit easier, maybe, but I don't find that it's very difficult to top of the control bucket every few days or so. Let me give you a little run down of how the system works.

All the buckets are connected to one another via 2" pvc pipes. The point is to create a continuous circuit of pipes to allow flow through each of the buckets leading from and finishing back at the control bucket. Start at the control and work your way around the circuit unitl you arrive back at the control. In each hole you create in the buckets for the pipes to go into (3" holes for 2" uniseals) you will insert a 2" uniseal, basically a large rubber grommet to keep the water from leaking out. You can buy uniseals everywhere online, shop around and get a good deal, for the 2" ones they are about $5 a piece, kinda pricey but you get what you pay for and you really need them for such large holes. Now you can't really see it in the picture, but on the left side of the system, in the middle of the connection between the first row of buckets and the second row, you will place a pvc tee that has a 1/2 or 3/4" threaded outlet (whichever size your pump is designed for) to allow you to screw in a threaded bard which will attach to a return water line. This return water line is subsequently connected to a water pump, I use a dannaher mag-drive 250 GPH pump (around $60 or so), connect the water return tube from the pvc tee to the pump inlet, and then attach another piece of tubing to the outlet of the pump which is then run back to the control bucket. What this does is constantly recirculate the entire nutrient solution throughout the system. Water flows through the buckets, gets sucked from the water return tube by the water pump and is deposited back in the control thus perpetuating the flow of water and nutrients. After you get it all setup, there's really very little maintenance involved, essentially making sure that the control is kept at whatever water level you prefer to run your system at, which needless to say, can be avoided by connecting a reservoir to the control. Me personally, I wouldn't worry about the res, having to do daily top offs really lets you get to know your plants better and on top of that, if you fuck up your nutrient mix and your plants burn, then you're gonna have to swap out all your solution and that's just a huge waste of money. Anyway, I hope this helps a little bit, if you decide to build a system like mine, let me know, I'll do my best to help ya out! Here's a few before and after pics for ya. You should think about doin a Scrog, little bit more involved but well worth the extra time and effort spent.

Thanks DSA.
I just had a look at your grow and its what I want to do scrog and all .and your plants look great.are you running your water pump outside of the control bucket?
And can you explain how to mix the nutes to the amount of*water I am using.
If I am using 2-5gal.buckets with 4gals in each,do i fill my 82L tote with eight gals or do I fill the tote up to the level in the buckets.
This is my first hydro grow.taking all the info I can get.or and how do you post pix using andriod phone.
Thanks.

and any ideas or suggestions on a water pump,would like to run it inline and not in the rez.about 400gph
thanks again.....

Alright so assuming that you ARE going to be using a reservoir as well as a control bucket, you want to connect the res to the control using a float valve. Essentially, you'll drill a small hole in the control where you want the water level to remain at, I generally keep the water an inch or two below the bottom of the net pot. Next you'll screw the float valve into the control bucket hole and then connect the threaded barb that the float valve has to a threaded barb connector that you will insert in the bottom of the res. What this will accomplish is when the water level in the control drops, the float valve opens and allows water/nutrients to flow from the res into the control.

Now as far as mixing your nutes goes, you'll want to add all the water to your system via the control bucket, if you go with the 2" pvc pipes to connect the buckets the flow is amazing and the water will evenly distribute itself throughout the system almost instantly. As far as your 82L tote goes, whatever level you have your water at in the control is the level its going to be at in your buckets. My suggestion is that you go to any grocery store and buy one of those 4 gallon filtered water bottles and use that as a measuring tool to accurately measure how many gallons are going into your system (this will be very important as the amount of nutes you will add in is relative to the amount of water you have in your system). Now once you have your water filled to an appropriate level, it's time to add in your nutes. I use advanced nutrient's line-up of pH perfect grow and bloom fertilzers with some boosters added in. Advanced says to feed 4mL per L of water once a week with weekly water changes (flipping out your whole nutrient solution and adding in a fresh one). Personally, I don't go by their calculators. I start at 1mL per L and then work up from there until I have an ideal ppm. PPM will vary greatly depending on what strain you grow, what light you have, and the age of the plant. My plants are nearly two months old now and they're at a ppm of 850 give or take and they are absolutely loving life. Starting out though you're going to want like 100-200 ppm and then bump it up as the plant gets bigger. But again, all you have to do is know how much water you have in your system, read the bottle of whatever nutrient you decide to go with, then cut their feeding estimate in half, get yourself a measuring cup that has mL on it, measure yourself out some nutes, and pour them directly into your control bucket. Note: nutes should be added one at a time and allowed to circulate through the system for a minute before you add in subsequent nutes. Last but certainly not least, once the nutes are fully circulated through the system (mine takes about 5-10 mintues to fully mix all the nutes in and balance out the solution) then you're going to want to pH your water. Shoot for 5.8 as this is the ideal pH for hydro. And remember, make sure you invest in a constant read meter that shows pH, PPM, and temp. I have the nutra-dip tri-meter which I love and you can pick up for around $165. This is something that you will absolutely need and do not skimp on it and get a cheap one, you're going to want to know exactly what's going on in that nutrient solution at any given time.

Now as far as the water pump goes, as I discussed before, you want to run it inline. Place the pump in front of the control bucket between the control and the grow buckets. Remember the pvc tee I was talking about? Connect preferably black vinyl tubing to the tee (you'll need to screw in a threaded barb to the pvc tee in order to do this) and then connect the tubing to the water pump's inlet. Then connect the outlet of the water pump to some more vinyl tubing and run it straight up and into the top of the control. This will give you a waterfall effect adding more oxygen into the nutrient solution as well as providing the needed circulation to keep the system running smoothly. I would not go with a 400GPH pump though, that's going to be WAY overkill if you are only going to be running two grow sites, a 250GPH mag-drive pump is all you'll need. Go to plantlightinghydroponics.com and shop around, they have literally everything you could ever want or need and it's the best prices around.


Not too sure about posting pics from an andriod phone, sorry! Try uploading them to your computer first then adding them from your desktop.

Thank you very much DSA u have cleared up things for me and some other people who r considering RDWC.
And sorry for the late reply work shift and did a double and Xmas stuff.widely.lol.
Anyone else hav any suggestion s on an inline pump and where to purchase.3-400gph.

OK DSA sorry for the long response.I purchased the pump and airstones and want to purchase some nutes but don't know how much to purchase.question.
1)If I have 4 gals in the two plant buckets and 4gals in the control bucket.,do I have to add the water in the PVC piping as well and then add notes per gal.so is it 12gallons plus?
2)if I add a reservoir to the system do I put pH water alone in the rez.or do i mix nutes in per gallon in rez?

Just need this info so I will know what size nutes to purchase.

Hey people need some help here folks...

Hey man sorry for the long response time! As far as nutes go I use advanced nutrients pH perfect stuff. A lot of people don't like advanced but I get good results with em. For when you are calculating how much nutrient to put into your system I would simply call it 12 gallons, no need to worry about the water in the pipes. I would start with 1L of each of the nutes you want to run. You could go with 500ml for boosters and root zone conditioners.

I personally don't like to run a res because I don't mind having to top off the girls every other day or so but if you were to use one I would put simply plain pH'd water in it so it constantly tops your system with just fresh water, then if you need to add nutes as your ppms gradually go down, just add more to the control bucket. Hopes this helps!

DSA thank you very much.just want to k ow what size bytes for a 8 WK grow and 9-10 WK flower,any ideas?

Sorry about spelling nutes

It really depends how you wanna do things. During my grow I don't really do nute change outs, I just top off with fresh H2O and nutes as necessary. I've found with the flow of this system, nute uptake is great and I don't get any salt buildup. But like I said, I think you'll be able to get by with 1L of each base nute and then 500ml of any boosters you may want to add like big bud or bud candy. Totally up to you though.

OK I think I will be OK for now going to order some stuff and begin.thanks a lot bro.if I run into any problems will definitely link with you

Oh in the CARIBBEAN.
But you know how it is.have to order everything...